1996 Corolla Station Wagon Oil Spill on Engine Need Help

[rising_pika5]

Hello, this is my first time posting on these forums. Last Friday, I refilled my car with oil, but forgot to put the cap back on fully. I discovered several hours later, that the cap had fallen off the oil tank and oil had spilled all over the engine compartment. All over the belts and down into the area all inside under the hood. Is it safe to drive the car? Will the oil damage the belts? Or any other part of the engine?
Second, what should I do about cleaning the oil of the engine area? Should I have it professionally steam cleaned? A friend of mine suggested using the product Gunk and applying to all the oil and then hosing it off? What is the best way to go about cleaning it?
Thank you for your help,
Jon

[GSS123]

I hate to omit this but I changed oil and forgot to replace the fill cap. Some stranger flagged me down and said oil was running all over the side of my car. This is after driving 20 miles. Needless to say I freaked out thinking a ruined my engine. That was at least 100,000 miles ago.

Here's what I did. Went to a power car wash and washed the engine. You will have to do this several times over the next couple of months because oil will be flinging off the engine belts and every time you open the hood more oil flecks will show up needing washed off.

[rising_pika5]

In the meantime, is there any danger to the engine or other engine components from the oil?
And, you said you took your car to a power wash, but how did you wash out your engine?

Thank you for your reply.
Jon

[GSS123]

As soon as I discovered the problem I purchase more oil, filled the engine to correct level and drove to the car wash. I didn't wait around and think about it. I just started spraying the entire engine compartment. I would try not to direct high pressure water towards the distributor cap.

I had not problems with any of the components that were covered with oil.

Just get to work and start cleaning up the mess.