Degreasing and cleaning engine.

I got some engine degreaser yesterday and i'm going to wash my engine today. I have never done it before. So i need a little help. What all should i cover up. I know the intake needs to be. But other then that what should be covered up? Can i use the degreaser on the valve cover and wash that off?

I also got some gloss black enamel spray paint for parts of the engine. Any tips on that?

And help would be great!

There was a GREAT thread on 3si a while back.

just watch out for your intake....other than that go crazy man. i used to work at a chevy dealership doin detailing. we'd have a bucket with water and degreaser and scrub under the hood....then spray it down with the hose. if u still have a stock airbox you shouldnt have to worry about the intake at all

I do have a stock air box. So really i shouldn't have to worry to much huh?

Well there is only a small oval opening on the bottom of the front side other than that it should be tight, and if you mess up your air filter you can get a K&N stock replacement for 40$ and gain probably .5 hp and a cool sucking sound lol and never have to replace it again.

Well there is only a small oval opening on the bottom of the front side other than that it should be tight, and if you mess up your air filter you can get a K&N stock replacement for 40$ and gain probably .5 hp and a cool sucking sound lol and never have to replace it again.

yeah...what he said...

Well...i do have the K&N replacement filter. It came with it already in there when i bought the car. But thanks for the info!

Aren't there some type of engine degreaser thingy that you could just spray on and wipe off instead of having to flood your whole engine with water? I'm too chicken to do that....but I would like to clean up my engine a bit. :)

ive cleaned many of engine bays. do it on a sunny day and leave the hood open so it can dry out. it'll be fine

Watch the plugs and distributor cap and such. I do it at work all the time, and 9 times out of 10, the car is fine if you just powerwash the whole damn thing and flood the engine bay, but I have seen it do damage a few times, so just be wary to not flood electrical things. As far as your intake, just put a plastic bag over it and rubberband it in place.

Also dont let it sit on the plastic stuff too long, and if u have some things painted like i do some degreasers ,if not all of them, will take off the paint :(

Igovert500, when you said "Watch the plugs and distributor cap and such." does that mean dont degrase and spary off (with water) the valve cover?

Just use caution, don't drench them.

didn't want to start a nwe thread so this looks like a nice place to put it so how much does it cost to get your engine detailed

Why spend the money when u can detail it urself? :)

Those are my thoughts also, unless your worried abolut messing something up.

im scared haha

ITs pretty common sense how to clean you engine .... just spray on a towel and rub off!

I was scared too. But after i did it, it wasn't that bad. Nothing to be scared of.

90% of anything a detail shop will do, you can do yourself. Only a few things would I recommend leave to a person with experience. For the price we charge at our shop to detail, it simply isn't worth it unless you are loaded and lazy.