Avandacar – If you love your car, then you must want it to be clean. When talking about cleanliness, it’s not only the exterior but also the interior, including the part under the hood, the engine. Even though the engine is not directly exposed to the outside environment, dust and debris still can sneak through the small openings around the hood and the front end of your car.
But cleaning your engine is not as easy and simple as washing the exterior of your car. This chore may sound daunting, but if you know what you’re doing, then it’s quite simple. Here are several steps you should take in how to clean your car’s engine safely and efficiently.
Schedule and Prepare
The first thing you should do is make a schedule when you will clean your car’s engine. It is recommended to do this during the summer, especially with some wind and low humidity. Wind and low humidity would help to dry the engine and all of its components after the cleaning.
Next, you need to prepare your car. Make sure your car is completely cool down before you clean your engine. If you just came home, wait for at least 15 minutes before you start to clean. Hot engine components can be damaged if suddenly sprayed with cool water and more obviously, they could hurt you.
Remove
The next thing you should do is open the hood and then remove all plastic covers under it since these plastic covers can be cleaned separately. Also, don’t forget to remove the negative terminal from your car’s battery. This will protect your car’s electrical components from any damages from the water. If you’re not sure, you could also remove the battery altogether even though this is not necessary.
Cover Delicate Parts
You also need some plastic bags or sheets to cover the sensitive electrical components. These components are the engine control unit, ignition wires and the battery. If you have an exposed engine air intake in your car’s engine bay, you may want to cover it too.
But, if you’re the type of person that will be extremely careful during the rinsing, you can skip this part. However, covering the delicate parts of your engine’s bay is recommended in how to clean your car’s engine safely since it will allow you to clean your engine more thoroughly and the risks of you accidentally damaging anything will be greatly reduced.
Degrease and Scrub
Next you need to use degreaser, both kitchen cleaner or specified engine degreaser would work. Spray the entire engine compartment with your degreaser and do it thoroughly. Remember to not hold back, you need to cover every square inch.
After that, you need to scrub. But this step depends on how dirty your engine is. If your engine is not so dirty, you could skip this step. But you may find some areas such as the valve cover need some serious scrubbing after building up dirt and oil. While you’re cleaning your engine, you might notice some tints on your car window and you might as well also learn how to remove car window tint.
Rinse and Dry
Now it’s time to rinse your engine after the thorough cleaning. A standard hose would be enough but if you have a power washer, set it on a light setting. Thoroughly rinse the entire compartment, from back to front and wash away all the degreaser. Important to remember not to spray directly into electrical components and don’t spray too much water into the areas that won’t easily dry.
After that you need to dry the engine with a rag or a shop towel. If you have compressed air available, that’s much better since you can blast air in the crannies and nooks to remove any excess water. Drying process is not only to remove water but also any remaining grime.
Finishing and Repeat
Now that your engine is completely clean and dry, it’s time to reinstall the negative terminal on your battery you removed before. You also need to remove the plastic bags or sheets you used to cover the electrical components.
Your engine is now clean and ready to go. But it is important to remember that the key in order to make this process simple is to do it regularly so your engine doesn’t get too dirty. An hour of this work every year or two will keep your engine clean. A clean and gleaming engine bay is guaranteed to give you a good drive every day.
There it is, how to clean your car’s engine safely and efficiently. Cleaning a car is not only about the exterior, but cleaning the engine is also very important. Do this regularly and both you and your car will be happy.
