my bay is a freakin pig sty after fixing a few leaks its impossable to see where the rest is comming from ive been doing a lot of searching and it comes down to this high pressure steam/water or not? I use the good old aussie export degreaser from k-mart and a brush for the first go. also thinking of getting a detail done by car groomers 665 south road " ive lost the pamphlet " thoughts? hints? tips?

yer go down to ya local car wash

get the hi-pressure gun out, spray their degreaser on the entire engine bay, then go back to water, and spray it all off !

if you have a pod, Make sure you seal it up in a plastic bag !

well i use the steam dream and its less hassle but wat ever u prefer dude.

i agree with Ice_Magik, actually a high pressure washer is like the best $150 you could spend. we brought one ages ago and it cleans just about everything.

and for cleaning the engine bay just dont go to hard, it actully peeled off a layer of concrete when we were using it!

and buy degreaser in bulk, can never get enough of that stuff

You can use the highpressure hose on your paint in the engine bay, but i wouldnt go blasting your engine and components.. Good way to get water places it should be going.

It can also loosen plugs and undo things.

Grab some degreaser, bucket of warm water and go at it with your hands.

I'm not sure whether anybody does this, but I have found that auto car wash degreaser good to give your whole car a once over, then drive it through the auto wash. :D

For me, I found that it loosens all the crap stuck to the front bumper/headlights/bonnet from highway driving, removes the brake dust from your wheels/hubcaps and therefore when you take it through the auto wash it comes out looking cleaner. Saves using the dodgy brushes... :doubt:

And yes, my paint is tip top. I mainly do this as the gap between washing my car is much greater with water restrictions so the degreaser gets all that ground in stuff thats been on the paint for months.

k bye :cool:

You can use the highpressure hose on your paint in the engine bay, but i wouldnt go blasting your engine and components.. Good way to get water places it should be going.

It can also loosen plugs and undo things.

Grab some degreaser, bucket of warm water and go at it with your hands.
That's exactly why i dont use the spray guns. Though i dont clean my engine bay all that often, think i've only done it once since i bought the car. Rocker cover needs a new paint job me thinks :).

Yeah, I just grabbed a tub of industrial degreaser from bunnings, put it in a bucket with a sponge, removed some stuff to get to the lower parts of the engine and went at it.

I also got a few spray cans of degreaser to get to really tricky places, let it sit for a while and got in there with a scrubbing brush. Scrub away, then wipe it all off with a rag of some sort.

High pressure hose with degreaser is the best to go, but its best to get a air gun and blow out/around all electrical connections/components with compressed air

ct 14 and high pressure hose ...dont use on paint ...wet guards to stop over spray affecting paint . then spray ct14 around engine bay hose off within 5 min

yer go down to ya local car wash

get the hi-pressure gun out, spray their degreaser on the entire engine bay, then go back to water, and spray it all off !

if you have a pod, Make sure you seal it up in a plastic bag ! :stoopid:

this works wonders... also getting at it with a tooth brush before washing away the degreaser - my head was covered with loads of oil from leaky rocker cover

make sure you got a can of wd40 or something - when your car wont run or wont run properly cos mis-firing, you spray all the electrical connectors with it, and the sparkplugs, etc and she'll start again

I'd avoid high pressure hoses in your engine bay unless you really know what you're doing.

Avoid spraying water on anything electrical - eg plugs, distributor, coil, alternator.


I usually warm the engine up first, then use spraycan degreasers (works better than liquid).
Can or 2 is enough to cover all the greasy bits on any AstronII, plus the engine bay sides.
Let it sit for a few minutes, use old paintbrush to move any thick greasy dirt.

Then just hose off with garden hose pressure, don't need the Karcher.




make sure you got a can of wd40 or something - when your car wont run or wont run properly cos mis-firing, you spray all the electrical connectors with it, and the sparkplugs, etc and she'll start again
All that WD40 oil will just make a big mess again... :doubt:

yep took a bit of advice from everyone on this one 2 cans of aussies export degreaser and a dish brush gave it a good dose to the " assies export degreaser" and a scrub still lost of places that arnt clean ie " the plate under the front spark plugs! " but the car was was useless the hoses were hung from the roof and not long enough to reach UNDER the engine or car is there a car wash with nice long hoses around anywhere ive had a bad oil leak for a while now and the crud is pretty caked on the chassis and under the engine but it looks much beter than it did.. i also read the you should use parrifin wax <-- for show cars and stuff -- anyone done this

http://www.guidetodetailing.com/articles.php?articleId=25

Heaps of degresser and was off with tap water, then high pressure steam clean. works the best.