Clean the engine bay

raperfam · 01-08-2011, 01:58 AM

Hey guys any of you ever power washed your engine bay and motor? I would love to clean mine up but scared to spray water all over the place. Does anyone has any tips on how to get 33 year old grease off my motor?

---thanks in advance.

Daladim · 01-08-2011, 02:24 AM

Sure thing. I do this on a daily basis. Not on my Jeep of course, but what I do for a living is clean vehicles. And yes, I have done this on my Jeep. One of the first things I did actually. It helps to find any possible leaks.

Anyway, chances are, you have a distributor and a carburetor. These two parts don't agree well with water. It is necessary to cover them before proceeding. I used a couple plastic bags on mine, then wrapped electrical tape around the bases of them to give a decent seal. After sealing up those two parts, use a liberal amount of strong degreaser, and spray down the entire engine bay with it. Then let it soak real good. You may need to do a bit of scraping if it's real thick, or even use a solvent, but be careful with solvent, because it may hurt plastic and wiring insulation.

Then, once you got that done, pressure wash the block while trying to avoid direct contact with the distributor and carburetor. It really isn't all that hard. If, after you're done, you find that a bit of water got into the distributor and caused it to not fire, squirt a bit of WD-40 in the cap to displace the water. That should fix the problem. If you got water in the carb, well...

Yeah, it's not really that big of a deal, and fuel injected engines are much easier to do. The thing to watch for is not to knock anything loose, so pay real close attention to where you point that nozzle. If you have old cracked wires, be extremely careful around them. You never know what kind of damage you could do. For instance, just today I peeled the paint off the bumper of a Cadillac SRX by not paying attention to a particular rock chip. It wasn't a problem for me however, because it was a former Mary Kay pink Cadillac, and we need to completely repaint it before we can put it on the lot anyway, so no harm done.

Just realize there is a lot of pressure coming out of that end. If you understand this and keep it in mind, you should be OK.

tjturtle · 01-08-2011, 08:33 AM

Daladim is right(I work at a stealership as well). The only other thing I would add is to make sure the engine is cool, or you will get deposits from the cleaning chemicals that will drive you batsh*t if you have anything shiny under the hood, not to mention the fumes.

82JeepCJ7 · 01-08-2011, 01:30 PM

I use Castrol Super Clean full strength. I spray everything down real good and let it soak for a few before I steam clean. I have found a plastic soda bottle bottom will fit on the Carter BBD 2 barrel just right and seal up great. Just drill a hole in the center of the bottom and trim the bottle off until it will seat onto the carb throat and use the wing nut to hold it down. Wrap the dizzy in plastic and hit it.

raperfam · 01-09-2011, 01:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 82JeepCJ7

I use Castrol Super Clean full strength. I spray everything down real good and let it soak for a few before I steam clean. I have found a plastic soda bottle bottom will fit on the Carter BBD 2 barrel just right and seal up great. Just drill a hole in the center of the bottom and trim the bottle off until it will seat onto the carb throat and use the wing nut to hold it down. Wrap the dizzy in plastic and hit it.

I like the idea of using the drink bottle---thanks guys

**BioTex** · 01-09-2011, 06:02 AM

The only thing I do different, is that I wrap the carb and distributor with a small towel before I wrap in plastic. This way if any moisture does find its way behind the plastic, it gets absorbed.

Also, wear eye protection. The chemicals will get splashed everywhere.

Machinist · 01-09-2011, 06:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BioTex

The only thing I do different, is that I wrap the carb and distributor with a small towel before I wrap in plastic. This way if any moisture does find its way behind the plastic, it gets absorbed.

Also, wear eye protection. The chemicals will get splashed everywhere.

good idea!

Bubba Ray · 01-10-2011, 07:07 AM

Wear your old clothes and use a face shield!

fletch_n_me · 02-13-2011, 08:28 AM

Hey all - I am embarking on this project today as it is going to be near 70 in Atlanta. I have noticed that it doesn't seem that any of you have the big round airbox over the carb...which would be crazy hard to bag. Do you all think I should replace that? I hate the way it looks but I guess I am not sure what to replace it with.

BagusJeep · 02-13-2011, 08:53 AM

These are not exactly high performance engines so breathing is not unduly restricted by the standard setup. Having said that everyone seems to have replaced it with an aftermarket filter so someone must think it helps.

The original setup, if maintained, had a hot air feed for winter which would be jolly useful and were quiet.

Mine have chrome pancake filters from Taiwan which are "washable" and were fashionable circa 1985. At least they seem to keep out the dust but apart from that are noisy and generally rubbish and smaller than the standard filter. If I had the opportuniy I would reinstate original filters.