engine cleaning?

[mike_flemming]

The engine bay of my 95 lumina is..well less then clean. The car as apparently been undercoated twice and theres a ot of grease and grime in there. any thoughts about a good way to clean it??

[tblake]

i've heard good things about Simple Green, never have used it though. Steam cleaning always does a good job. When spraying it, try to stay away from the alternator, coil packs, and PCM in the plastic case under the radiator resivior. Other than that everything else under there is fair game.

[gw84]

I have a similar question. What is a good degreaser/cleaner to use on the engine cover where it says "3.1 Multi Port FI" (On my '93 of course). I was wondering if a brake cleaner would do the trick.

[Blue Bowtie]

I use hot water from a garden hose, laundry detergent, a stiff brush, and degreaser where necessary. I don;t worry about wires, connectors, coils, and whatnot. If it can't take clean water, it probably won;t take road spray. I've started with soem fairly nasty engine compartments, and it usually does an adequate job:

[gw84]

Boy, that 3800 series II (plastic?) cover in my '99 LTZ is super easy to clean compared to the 3100's. Thanks for the input! BTW, this is a totally different subject but: I noticed that my mechanic filled the cooland resovoir up about 8-10 inches above the HOT line. Could this be a problem. It's just an overflow tank isn't it?

[Blue Bowtie]

On a '95, it's simply overflow recovery. In later years, it may be an expansion tank in some W-body cars.

[gw84]

should I try to remove some of the coolant in my reservoir? The level is quite high, even when cool (the is still some room at the top of the tank for overflow)