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Icky, greasy, ugly engine compartment

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jaybird

jaybird

Yoda
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Okay, so I hate it whenever I open the bonnet of the B.

Do I find someone to steam clean it? WHAT do I use to clean it? How do I clean it without messing important stuff up? I thought about buying a gallon of Gunk or some sort of degreaser, soaking her down and hosing it off. Repeat til pretty. But would that even work? What will cut through this ick?

Dahubby's leaving tomorrow morning to go fishing til Thursday or Friday. Car show is Sunday. I don't want to have to beg, bribe, barter,coerce, nag to get this done Saturday, so I intend on doing it myself while he's gone. I can get the kids to help wax it and detail the insides, but need some suggestions for the engine bay.
 
It is tough to get a really dirty engine clean in one go... sort of like trying to do a year's worth of flossing the night before your dental appointment.

I use Gunk engine cleaner (or the generic brand) on the block and soap (like Dawn or such) on the rest. It would be great if you could just spray the stuff on and hose it off but I have never gotten anywhere w/o scrubbing. An assortment of brushes from 'scrub the floor size' down to old toothbrushes are needed plus lots of old terry cloth to use a wash rags.

You should probably cover the distributor and any other electronic parts to reduce the possibility of it not starting. I never cover anything but then nothing stays damp for long under the Arizona sun.

I have never tried the steam cleaning or engine cleaning settings at the local self-serve car wash but fr a very dirty engine this might be a reasonable first cut. Definitely cover the ignition during this process as being stuck at the car wash with a wet ignition would be no fun.

Hard, messy work but once it is fairly clean it gets easier. Each time you work under the bonnet or wash the car get the engine compartment a bit cleaner than before and slowly you will close in on a tidy look.

PS: You will want to wear gloves and even then a basic part of the process seems to be transferring the dirt from the engine to you so you can then go inside and wash off.
 
Well bollocks! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif

I hadn't thought of the car wash, was thinking more along the lines of having a detailer do the work. So I called a local detailing, they do engines...($80 for the works, engine, undercarriage, trunk, wash & 2 coats wax, all detailing/protectant)...BUT the kid sounded about 18 years old. He asked what type of car I had and I said 'an MGB.' And he said what is that, a motorcycle? I politely ended the conversation. Besides, all I want is the bloody engine cleaned.

It's pretty nasty under there. Gunk and Dawn and a lot of various scrub brushes will get it done huh? Wear gloves hey? You suggesting I not get my nails done until this job is completed?

And I only ever floss the night before a trip to the dentist.
 
Simple Green will clean you engine bay and motor. Easy on the enviroment also. If it is real bad take the car to one of those do it your self pressure spray places. Soak the engine and engine bay with Simple Green. Take a towel or plastic wrap and wrap up the distributor. Clean the rest of the car and after the cleaner has had a chance to soak in, pressure clean the engine bay. I also take a can of that air pressure sprays used to clean computers and keyboards and blow the water out of the fuse box and make sure the rest of the electrics are dry.
 
Like they said... use plastic wrap and tuck it over and around the distributor, coil, fuse box, and any exposed connectors to keep the bulk of the moisture out. Warm the engine (avoid getting it or the exhuast "hot") then spray it liberally with gunk, simple green, or another engine degreaser. You might go through several cans of gunk before getting it off. Let it all sit for 15 minutes or so then use a jet or fan of water to wash away the junk - repeat if necessary.

Be sure to wash away all the degreaser you can and be prepared to wash and wax the car soon after if you splash any on the paint.
 
I don't know the condition of your bay, but in my case, I striped everything out of it and am going ot shoot a new coat of paint after rebuilding everything in there and a chrome bumper conversion. I've been at if for a couple of months but it should be done in a couple more. I'll finally be about to show off that V6 I have in there. Looks like I'll be waxing the engine bay once I get done.
 
[ QUOTE ]
It's pretty nasty under there. Gunk and Dawn and a lot of various scrub brushes will get it done huh? Wear gloves hey? You suggesting I not get my nails done until this job is completed?

And I only ever floss the night before a trip to the dentist.

[/ QUOTE ]

LMAO jaybird! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Thanks for asking this question,..am interested from a "preventative maintenance" standpoint. I'd like to keep mine as nice as I can.

BTW,..it took 2 days to clean the engine bay in my B,...and that was with nothing in the engine compartment at all.
They used a light acid solution to break down the 30 years of grime /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/tongue.gif

Jerry
 
Adam...nasty, grimy, greasy, dirty, oily, gunky, gooey, icky pretty much sums it up. But I promise you I'm NOT emptying it out to clean it. I don't even do that sort of cleaning in my house! That can wait awhile until I save up for a paint job.

TWO DAYS Jerry? And it was empty? Good grief.
faint.gif


I want this done by Friday, so I can spend Saturday prettying her up (after the kids wax her for me) I have tomorrow evening (after bumming with my mother all day) and evenings after work. Acid solution for 30 years of grime? *ugh* I have 30 years of grime too, the way it looks. This is going to be a bit of a job, isn't it?

I'm going to make a couple phone calls to some people in the car club. I'm thinking I'm going to HAVE someone clean it for me. The only person I know that did detailing, and that I would trust to do it, is out of that line of business now. But I'm thinking there has to be a shop around here somewhere that will do it for me. Properly. And not think an MGB is a freaking motorcycle.

But just in case, I'm going to Wal Mart to get Simple Green & Gunk. Can't hurt to have it on hand, right?
 
Oops,..that was 2 days,.cleaned, ready for paint. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif
And you've seen pics of what mine looked like before I started on her,..a real mess. Yours looks great!

I'm sure the detailing shop will be fine.
Heck,..they could think an MGB was a lawnmower for all I'd care,..so long as they cleaned it nice! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
 
Believe me, if I find someone to do this, I'll be standing right next to him the entire time.
 
Jaybird, You can do this and all the cleaners work fine if you can hold off while they do a bit of soaking. The car wash is best, just do as all advised and cover the electrics and I will add a couple of things. 1. and always first, safety glasses, the spray will always hit something and come back at you. That brings me to No. 2, old clothes with rubber gloves and being girlie a ski mask. You will be proud of yourself.
 
"if you can hold off while they do a bit of soaking."
That would require patience. Okay. I can be patient. Really I can.

"safety glasses"
Dahubby has those. Somewhere. Funky-looking things. Hope they fit over my glasses or we're in trouble.

"rubber gloves"
Hmmm. I have garden gloves (cloth) and dahubby has some leather work gloves. And a honking big pair of rubber ones, but no way could I function in those, his hands are like bear paws. I'll pick some up at the store.

"and being girlie a ski mask"
Girlie?! Hehe. I don't own a ski mask. My face will survive.

So I'm going to the carwash, sarah wrapping and ducttaping all the important bits up (dizzy, ignition, fuse box...anything else?), putting on my rubber gloves and goggles. (thank the gods I don't have a ski mask...folks around here will think the bird has finally lost it) Then I'm going to soak everything down good with the degreaser, grab a book and sit there awhile and wait. Then hose it down VERY carefully and wala, shiny new engine bay. (after a couple repeats I have a feeling)

I'll take before/after pics. And bask (i.e. gloat) in the satisfaction of seeing dahubby pop the hood when he comes home and the look on his face. Since someone seems to think I can't do this.

Good grief. I just realized I have a shopping list that consists entirely of the automotive section of the store. There's far too much testosterone in this forum or something!
 
It'll take a few goes at it, that's for sure. My first run at my engine bay I hit it with Gunk from the top 2 to 4 times, and then I hit it from the bottom 3 to 5 times (in total I went through 2 full cans). It cleaned up the vast majority of the mess under the bonnet enough that my hands aren't instant black when I think about working on the car any more. I need to have a few more runs on my engine compartment (it's still a little dirtier than I care for), but I'm in no real hurry I'm a long ways off from even thinking about entering my 'B into any shows. I'm not concerned with show quality on my car ATM, but I'd like it to be clean enough that I can make adjustments without having to soak myself in a parts cleaner bath.

I think I'll eventually be bitten by the show quality bug, but that's a ways down the road especially since there's a lot of things that I need to put back on, replace, or rebuild before that happens.
 
I few small words of caution (& a short story):

When you go to buy gloves, try to get the chemical resistant kind. there are quite a few out there that are flexible yet effective.

a couple of weeks ago I was wearing those really thin vinyl/latex kind (the ones that come in the box of 100 for approx $9) and something I was using got into (or ate through) my gloves and I have a fair amount of chemical burn on the back of my hands and in-between the knuckles.
/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif
 
Go easy on the paint, some of te chemicals will take a toll on the paint. Some will strip it and others will fade it....red to pink. I wore gloves, and chemicals ate through the gloves so I didn't use them. The chemicals took off my finger prints and I couldn't feel my finget tips for over a week. I think I was using purple power. It's good stuff though.
 
YIKES! If it took off your fingerprints, it would definitely melt my acrylic nails! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif I do have a box of those latex gloves and was thinking they'd work. Thanks for telling me! I'll keep it off the paint as much as possible, I don't want my red fading to pink!

I don't want the car show quality particularly. Just clean and pretty! I don't even plan on officially 'showing' it on Easter Sunday. Just parking it with all the other MG's from the area. I (we) had a show vehicle back a few years ago. '52 Chevy 5 window, stepside pickup. Was fun going to the show, have a few trophies to show for it, but that wasn't the purpose of buying the B.
 
You'll know you've turned the corner on cleaning under the bonnet when you find yourself washing your hands *before* you work on the engine.
 
Oh Geo. Now that scares me a bit!!! Besides, there's a limited amount of things I can do on the engine yet. But I'm learning!
 
[ QUOTE ]
You'll know you've turned the corner on cleaning under the bonnet when you find yourself washing your hands *before* you work on the engine.

[/ QUOTE ]



Yea !!.Right..suurrre... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/jester.gif But once it is clean it is sure alot easier to keep it that way.


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