am i crazy??

[leslieo]

When I first got my 97 accord ( five days ago) I looked under the hood, and everything was pitch black (dirty)... SOO... like all my past cars, I took it down to the car wash and gave it a good hose down, first spraying it with simple green. I left the car running while doing this. When I mention this to people, they think Im crazy. They say "that cant be good", "you left the car running and did that?", "Ive never washed under my hood".

Soo.... my question is... Am I crazy for doing this? Am I going to get electrocuted or are there wires that shouldnt be put through water like that. It did make a different now under the hood and you can actually see the words "VTEC" on the engine!!!

[97Accord-SE]

The only way you could get electricuted would be if you had a bad connection somewhere or of your spark plug wires have an arch( spark jumps between wires) the only thing is that i would make sure you dont have any leaks around the seal for the spark plug wires, and that there are no bare power wires. But doesnt the smell of the burning chemicals bother you??? I would recommend shutting off the engine though before spraying any water on, but it shouldnt hurt anything as long as everything is in good condition.

[slowdive]

I've never heard of anyone opening the hood and hosing down the engine with soap and using high pressure water on it. the only problem i see is the high pressure water might do something not so cool to an engine part. why do you leave the engine on when doing this anyway? guess seeing that vtec emblem brought a relief to your face, i mean it might of sprayed off and said GEO METRO-TEC

[leslieo]

LOL...

that's a good one..Geo Metro-tec!!! I love a good chuckle every so often.

I leave the engine on while washing just so that in case water does get in something it shouldnt, maybe heat from it running or maybe something that is running (like the belts, etc), can get rid of it so it doesnt do damage.. does that make sense?

Smells?? burning chemicals??? I did put the Simple Green on it but I didnt smell anything unusual.

So is it normal for people to wash under the hoods???

[loesch8102]

It should be normal, but no. lol.
Another thing to worry about though...do you still have the stock intake on that? If not, like if you have a K&N type filter exposed, don't use high pressure water on that. Water can get sucked up into your motor and high pressure water isn't good for the filter itself either.

[AKKORDINGLY SICK]

YEAH THERES A SPECIAL WAY OF CLEANING UR ENGINE BAY CALLED STEAMCLEANING IT, THEY DO IT FOR A REASON, CUZ THERES ARE A LOT OF MECHANICAL PARTS IN UR ENGINE THAT RELY ON RUNNING SMOOTH BY BEING GREASED UP, SO BY SPRAYING EVERYTHING WITH WATER SOME THINGS MIGHT GET DEGREASED AN MAY NOT WORK UP TO PAR... I.E. PULLEYS TIMING BELT ETC.

[sp3cial_bl3nd]

if your engine's hot you might crack the block too....

[Dr.Okka]

Yeah, you're crazy. (like a few of us here)

There is a reason for a hood and why flood damaged cars are considered "damaged". Car engines aren't submersible unless specifically designed for such an environment.

[ShavedUpAccord]

OMFG you do not clean your engine with it running, HAHAHAHA n00bs!!!
Plus there are certain ways of doing it because some electrical wires are not supposed to get wet, omg running? hahaahha lmao !!!!!!
certain parts also have to be covered before you clean it.

[accordztech]

i washed my engine with it running for the last 13 years. i have had no problems. i just cover my distribitor cap. i dont jet water into the alternator...just pass over it....i did this to many other cars as well.

if u wash ur engine when its off and its still warm, it will warp i know for sure. only cold on cold is the best but damn who has the time to wait...i have to go to the gas station to pressure wash it.

just look at my engine.

http://www.angelfire.com/ri/RacerInc/mycar.html

i never had a electrical problem.

[Dr.Okka]

Well, hey. Why should it be a big deal. You wash your engine the way you want. We're all obviously content with how we do things. Nuff said.