Cleaning up under the hood

What is the best way to clean up the engine compartment? Like the intake and all other alum and steel parts. Thank You

When I was detailing cars back in the late 80's (had my on detail shop) I used white kerosene in a spray bottle and used a little sponge to wipe the grease and grime. However, with all of the electronic parts under the hood I would use that proceedure with extreme caution. I have done some newer cars for family and friends and in a lot of cases just rinsing down the motor worked pretty good, after that I would spray a rubber/vinyl dressing over the entire compartment. You may want to try that first if the engine compartment is not too dirty. If there is some dirt you can try a commercial engine cleaner just follow the directions on the bottle (you can purchase an engine cleaning product at any parts store). If that doesn't work then you could try the kerosene method.

What I usually do is get the engine started and let it run while I hose it off. After rinsing down the engine I let the engine run for a couple of minutes to help dry off some of the engine . Next I take an absorbant cloth and wipe down the rest of the engine compartment to get rid of all of the excess water. once that is done I will then spray down the engine and engine compartment with the rubber/vinyl dressing. Make sure you spray it down from different angles to get full coverage. I will then wipe off the excess dressing from all of the painted surfaces (the dressing will make the painted metal shine as well as help remove small amounts of dirt and grime) I do not wipe off the hoses I let the dressing sit and dry on it's own and it produces a nice glossy finish. I also spray dressing on the under side of the hood around the insulation panel and then wipe it off to put a nice shine on it.

After that is all done I will wash the car with a good car shampoo to remove any dressing from the windshield and fenders.

When all done I run the engine to operating temp. to burn off the dressing, the engine will smoke a little.

I hope this helps out if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me I'll get back to you A.S.A.P.

Good luck

Autozone sells a great engine detailer, if im not mistaken its called "CD2". You always want to wash the motor first (to get loose dirt and degreaser off), let the motor dry, spray detailer on & whipe off. CD2 does a great job of making hoses look new, bringing the shine back to plastic, giving metal surfaces that new luster, and the best part, it smells great (artificial cherry smell) so you don't mind working around it for the time it takes to detail a motor compartment.

I find when I hav done the BIG clean, geting all the dirt/oil/road grime off as good as possible before I used a engine degreaser(which is mostly keosene).

I also try to keep it clean on a regular bases, so it doesnt build up, which will require some Elbow grease!
I use old tooth brushes for tight spots abd old rags to soak up crud and cleaners. Just my :2cents:

Oh ya, Like Dan said some newr cars dont like to get wet under the hood.