engine clean up

I want to clean my engine because i have an oil leak that i need to take care of and i dont know exactly where it is at.
question:
does anyone know of a good engine cleaner they can recomend, and how do i go about it. I have heard that i dont want to put water under the hood and then i heard that you can as long as you dont get certain things wet.
can someone set me straight on this? how can i clean my engine?
Thanks

Where is the oil leaking from? If it is a simple leak, then I would get it fixed. I personally would not worry about cleaning the engine. I have heard it does much more harm than good.

I dont know where it is and the mechanic couldnt tell which is why he said i should get it cleaned to begin with.

I had a small oil leak, I thought it could be from any of the seals. I made sure that it was not from the oil pan and then I added one of those products to stop oil eak. It stopped the leak and I am wating for the next timing belt replacement to change seals. If it is a small leak , it might be something reasonable to try. Good luck

Thanks a lot, im gonna have to look into that.

I've had good luck with a foamy engine spray cleaner from the Gunk company. You'll need to put plastic wrap over your distributor cap before you spray your engine. Then just follow the instructions on the can....it's very easy. I used to do this with my long gone older Camrys (87 & 92) but I wouldn't attempt it with my newer (03) one. There's just too many electronic thingies that can go haywire if soaked like that.

You could get the stuff wet just make sure it is dry before you start the car. I usually just blow out the water making sure NOT to spit in it to make it worse. For plastic and rubber places I used WD-40. I have done the WD-40 on the metal pieces as well. It took a while for the smell to go away put did a great job. The gunk works great, but the WD-40 works a lot better. This spring I plan on touching up the with some high temp paint and clear coat. For internal cleaning run lucas tune up in a bottle I believe it is called. You put in with a full tank of fuel. Also GM top end engine cleaner is very good. Yes you are reading correctly General Motors Top End Engine Cleaner. It is supposed to be sprayed in vaccum lines. But I have done it threw the throttle body too. It is available at GM dealers service centers. I think it is like eight dollars a can and the lucas is a 4 dollars a can. Also you can drain a quart of oil and run a quart of tranny fluid threw as well. I probably gave you more information then you wanted but I figured it would save a post.

Thanks a lot Bossman and Wicked, I appreciate the help. no such thing as too much information and i hope to try some of this stuff soon.

I also failed to mention that the car will sputter and run like hell hit the engine after the top engine clean product. Just keep reving it and keep it at about 2500-3000 for atleast 1 minutes then randomly rev up and sometimes up to the limiter do this way all the stuff gets blown threw the engine and out the exhaust. Also take the car for a romping. Get the revs up and getting it going. I found this works best. Also be sure to keep the throttlebody very clean and you will notice the performance difference of the car. You may notice a gain in performance after the top engine cleaning product.

haha, thanks wicked, good to know ;-)

where can I get them ? autozone personel say's they've ban here in california so he gave me a chevron added to the tank instead and stp spray for the intake.

You could get the stuff wet just make sure it is dry before you start the car. I usually just blow out the water making sure NOT to spit in it to make it worse. For plastic and rubber places I used WD-40. I have done the WD-40 on the metal pieces as well. It took a while for the smell to go away put did a great job. The gunk works great, but the WD-40 works a lot better. This spring I plan on touching up the with some high temp paint and clear coat. For internal cleaning run lucas tune up in a bottle I believe it is called. You put in with a full tank of fuel. Also GM top end engine cleaner is very good. Yes you are reading correctly General Motors Top End Engine Cleaner. It is supposed to be sprayed in vaccum lines. But I have done it threw the throttle body too. It is available at GM dealers service centers. I think it is like eight dollars a can and the lucas is a 4 dollars a can. Also you can drain a quart of oil and run a quart of tranny fluid threw as well. I probably gave you more information then you wanted but I figured it would save a post.
you mean threw a 1/4 of tranny and motor oil,top end engine to the intake/throttle all together or one by one? there's no top end engine here in california where can I buy those at google ? or just use any brand like STP? Thankz in advance!

i usually use degreaser and then when its all watered down i blow it off with an air house. u just got to make sure that all the waters is gone b4 u start the car

i usually use degreaser and then when its all watered down i blow it off with an air house. u just got to make sure that all the waters is gone b4 u start the car
Is to clean the inside of intake/throttle ,I knew about the external thankz!