Engine Wash

[Grind]

I've heard of people who ended up in trouble after washing their engines. It has something to do with water settling in the electronics and messing things up. One person had to change their entire engine and the other guys engine did not start initially but after a few hours it started, stuttered for a while, idled very rough and eventually smoothed out.
Can anyone shed some light on this situation because my engine is in a mess and in desperate need of some cleaning.

[Spyrogyra]

my advice to you would be to
1) remove the spark plugs and cover the shafts proper. make sure no water gets down there, use some old plastic bags and stuff it good
2) cover your Distributor, Alternator and other "exposed" electrical contacts. Make sure that your Dist. does not get wet at all, it will be a while before you'd be able to start the car if it does and you'd want to start it as soon as possible to dry the engine out.
3) use as little water as possible and DO NOT use soap, use an engine degreaser like Amsoil power foam.

Good luck

[scooby]

i had a prblem last week after engine wash ....i stuttered like hell after ....although i covered my dist it had condensate....i dried it up and everything was ok again ...i almost sheit down mehself jed....

[Hook]

Spyrogyra, y not 2 use soap?

[Greypatch]

well said all electronics contacts and devices should be protected...

[Spyrogyra]

Spyrogyra, y not 2 use soap?

leaves residue that can lead to corrosion. also that residue becomes bonded to the metal when the engine gets hot and becomes impossible to remove

[WadadliX]

use some wd 40 on the distributor, around the plugs, battery and any electronics that need protecting. use an engine degreaser. make sure the engines is hot. i usually let it idle for a while and leave it on during the wash and after to ensure that anywater evaporates. use a low pressure of water and don't aim it directly at anyelectronic devices. most of the problems i have seen comes from the plugs an distributor gettin wet...it causes stuttering

[MISHI]

well frm what i learned, for efi engines. it's best to wash them when they are cold. Use an engine degreaser, clean all around and wash it off. Do not do this when the engine is hot and do not start the car immediately after. Heat as stated earlier condenses all around the electronic parts, connections, etc and can short out something important. Best to do this on a day you don't have any plans to go anywhere. Leave it for a few hours to dry. If U want, spray some wd40 by alternator and U should be good

[Empress]

before you wash, cover all areas as advise above and spray your electrical plugs with WD40 or somthing like that....

[JUS4SHO]

YEAH I SPRAY ALL MY ELECTRICAL PLUGS WITH LPS1 OR WD-40 BEFORE AND AFTER THE WASH NEVER HAD A PROBLEM AND I DOES REAL USE WATER IN DEY

[blu-rolla]

1) remove the spark plugs and cover the shafts proper. make sure no water gets down there, use some old plastic bags and stuff it good

only remove the plug wires. cover the plugs and dizzy with plastic bags and use maskinn tape. put on the fuse box as well. either remove the air filter and cover the hole, or just cover the whole filter and done.
use the Abro foaming cleaner and spray EVERYWHERE (cold engine). the grease will start running off. if the engine is hot it will evaporate before it starts to work.
5 to 10 mins rinse off with low pressure hose. use a wet cloth to clean the area around the spark plug openings, as you dont want pools collecting from using the hose.
leave a while for excess runoff, then remove all plastic carefully making sure you dont put water in the areas yuh protecting. if water did get around the plugs, use a syringe and get out as much as you can, then use WD40 to dryup any remaining moisture. have lots of dry rags handy.
put the plugwires back in the corect order and start up.

and yuh orn like boil corn(curls?) .