Help, washed under hood, can't keep car running.

[PKRWUD]

Originally posted by Mustang_289
Glad you got your water problem solved! Now here's a question to the board - what's the best way to clean and keep clean under the hood if you shouldn't spray it down with a cleaner and hose it off?

There's nothing wrong with using cleaner and water as long as you prep it properly. Whe I have to do a customers engine, I get 5 or 6 cans of Gunk degreaser, a $10 roll of quarters, and go to the do it yourself car wash. I bring with me a roll of industrial strength Siran wrap (the kind used for wrapping pallets). I remove the distributor cap and wires, and wrap the distributor, the TB, MAF (if it has one), and an underhood fuse panel (if it has one). Spray it with half the cans I have, wash it down, re-spray to get the places I missed, and wash it again. Unwrap everything, put the cap and wires back on, and fire it up. I let it idle for a while to evaporate any remaining puddles.

The only thing you really need to be careful around are vacuum hoses and connectors. They tend to become brittle, and the high pressure water can crack them.

The best part of all doing it this way is that the water is recycled, and I have no mess to clean up.

Take care,
~Chris