Cleaning Engine Bay
 

By using the advice I've read from other R-F members, I was able to clean my engine and engine bay this morning. I also followed "most" of the suggestions from the owner's manual, by covering the alternator and fuse box. I didn't worry about covering the battery. I made sure the engine was cold and not running, hosed it off, sprayed with Simple Green, waited 15-minutes, rinse and repeated one more time. Then I removed the coverings from the fuse box and alternator, fired it up and ran it for a bit to dry it out.

Now, here's my real question. I was able to hand-clean the fuse box OK, but what they heck do you guys do to get the alternator clean? Due to being covered, it's still caked with mud/dirt/grime. I was half-tempted to spray it a bit while the engine was running, but I figured the manual suggests to keep it covered for some reason, so I didn't want to temp fate. Now I have a pretty clean engine and bay, but the alternator looks like a pile of mud sitting there.

Anu suggestions? How do you guys take care of this?

why the hell would you be afraid to spray anything under the hood?

myself I've done it often, I used GUNK stuff on my WARM engine, let it sit for like 10mins and then sprayed with a pression hose everything, then I went for a ride, nothing wrong happend....

Hell I didn't cover anything.

Maybe because everything I've read up to this point, says that various componants should not have direct water contact.

... with a running or stopped engine? I'm assuming you suffered no ill-effects by blasting the alternator directly?

the only i have ever covered was the maf sensor... ive full on blasted the alt several times... ... its almost time to do it again...

I don't cover anything

nonono..engine off for sure and I make sure I don't blast water on it. I use a regular hose with no pressure sprayer attached. Get it all wet, spray on the simple green, wait a little and then hose it all off. For the stubborn parts I'll thumb the hose nozzle a little to get the water to spray a little harder.

you going to want to stay away from the alternator fuse box and the airbox... cant think of anything else that would be affected///

Ever consider just going at it with a damp rag or anything?

Never, ever. It's way too tedious.

not really, lol

x2. everything is ok

u used BlackMagic engine clean and drenched it with that stuff on a warm engine NOT RUNNING, and then used a shower spray from my nossle to get it off. everything runs 100%

I don't cover the fuse box, batery, or alternator, but I don't try to spray them either. I only use a regular hose and be gentel so as to not soak them or anything

Simple Green is your friend.
Attachment 208926
Attachment 208927
I always use the fan type spray on the engine....works wonders for me, then i start it up and let it run for awhile when im done. Ta-Da!! good as new.

**if you have an intake like mine, you may want to cover it with something....like a bag or something similar.

What I use is a product called SLAM, my buddy details cars for a living so I kinda have to trust him.

My process is as follows:
with engine running
Spray SLAM over everything under the hood and the hood itself
let soak long enough to turn pressure washer on
rinse thoroughly
wash truck with engine still running
dry truck
turn engine off
spray TKO(detailers product) on plastics

and this is what she looks like after not being able to see any black under the hood from mud caked on from fourwheelin with it.
Attachment 208877

I've sprayed my alternator as well, both with the truck running and with it off. Never caused any problems.

I have given up on cleaning out my engine bay. Even though the Ranger hasn't seen Wharton in quite some time, and won't again, it always smells like Wharton mud, and is always somewhat dirty looking.

Just cleaned my motor yesterday. Soaked it in greased lighting, washed the truck, then sprayed everthing off, and held the hose over the alt. to clean it out well. The only problem I had was my alt. was wanting to hang up after I cleaned it(overchargin my batt. it was charging at 18v instead of the 14v) but it only hung up for about 5 seconds. Everything runs fine. Ive never covered up anything. 146k miles and still running REally strong. ;)

Damn man! That looks ****in good.

I simple greened mine Thursday. It helped, but 25,000 mile old red dirt is a b***h to remove.

pressure washer and nothing else works for me... don't cover anything up either

just found out my buddies got a pressured steam cleaner. hehe.

so wait, can you use a pressure washer? or only use light spray???

I just disconnect my battery from both positive and negative, rubber band a torn bit from a plastic bag over each terminal, and have at it with a hose... The electronics get fried by water when the water lets the electricity jump around where it's not suppost to go, so if you take away the electricity and let everything dry overnight, then you'll be fine. (or at least so says my non-professional logic, and it hasn't failed me yet, so I must be close :-p)