I was looking under the hood today (we got snow in Albany, ny) and i saw water marks (salt water) under there. How do i keep the engine compartment clean? Do i just spray it down? Wipe it down?

Thanks.

I like to clean whatever surfaces I can with a damp cloth,let everything dry, and spray the whole engine compartment with CD2 engine detailer.The stuff works great.Makes the engine shine,protects all the rubber hoses/lines. I buy it at Napa or Kmart.

I know others will advise against it, but I used a pressure washer and am careful where I spray. I have done this many times with no problems. I wait until the engine is cool, then start it and spray away. After offroading, and it is covered in mud, I rinse it, and spray it with Simple Green and wash it off.

I've also done the same thing numerous times..

what product for the engine wash do you guys recommend?

Simple Green does a great job at getting it cleaned up, as Dagger said.

Simple Green works good for me..

Another vote for simple green...and the stuff is fully biodegradable.

Is simple green a spray or what. And what does it do besides clean?

I am getting it cleans off the mud from under hood. If it does that would be great considering I have alot of mud under my hood.
Thanks

This is a great thread. My sidekick decided that her Mazda Millenia needed oil after checking it on a desert trip (it didn't) and she left the oil cap off and drove away. Well, oil sprayed everywhere in the engine bay and I spayed it down at the local DIY car wash -- A LOT. Even tho i'd sprayed it down before w/out incident this time round some switch and relay shorted --- so now i'm concerned about covering the electricals before spraying down my vehicles' engines. It sure would be handy if someone can point to a quick guide on just what X engine bay areas to "protect" (air filter intake, alternator, fusebox etc) -- i'm not that familiar with the details under the X hood.

TIA,
Bob

I've used Purple power from auto zone and it works great. Comes in a pump spray bottle and off ya go. I put a ziplock bag over anything electrical I am worried about water getting into beforehand and the hose the whole works off with the hose sprayer set on 'shower'. The stuff runs down the drive and helps clean it off, too. Such a deal. Be careful not to spray the cleaner on the painted body metal. I usually clean my engine compartments once a year.

Be careful with the SimpleGreen though. Don't "wipe" it off. I did and it wore the writing off of the master cylinder decals. Doh!

Just spray it on and hose it off.

Stone

If its just salt...plain old water will work.

Simple green cuts grease really nicely.

I like my engine a little greasy though, better protection.