Engine cleaner

so the game plan over the winter months is to clean up my engine bay as much as possible. What is the best product to clean all the muck and grime up?
thanks in advance 

If it's the light brown coloured stuff on the bulk head, in the scuttle area and along the chassis legs I would leave it alone as it's the anti rust stuff VW put on when the car was made.

If you can find the product called "Totally Awesome" I get it at the "Dollar Store" cheap and the bestest thing I have ever used.  

A Toilet Brush or 2…. If you have a pressure washer….

Then there is wd-40 to soften the other oily greasy bits..

What I do is to buy 3 LARGE CANs of wd-40.  I spray the hell out of everything including the connectors, cap, wires let it sit over night…..  I then Spray the car in the morning,  I take it to a carwash and spray the heck outta it.  Hot Soap, then Rinse… I do the wheel wells and the
underneath….   After I rinse everything, I allow it to dry a minute.  I use a product called wire-dry and spray the inside of the cap, wires, coil and every connector that I can (I even open the connectors)  after this I then can start the car and not have any issues. WD-40 dissolves and softens the grease grime, and limits the scrubbing.  
The "Totally Awesome" I spray on after the wd-40 and prior to washing.  It is a fantastic product.

before




After





Me after.


Same for the engine, but I will give you a heck of a tip…. are you ready….

After the engine is clean…..

Take your favorite protectorant ie: simonize or armor-all,
Get a fine misty spray bottle.. the finer the better.
Get 1 liter of Distilled water.
Shake the hades out of the protectorant. then pour your misty sprayer 1/2 full.  Fill the misty sprayer with distilled water….

Shake the hades out of the fine misty sprayer bottle.
Spray the entire engine compartment and everything with it. If it has large drips dab them up….. Now close the hood and go to sleep,  in the morning open the hood and look at the shiny brite and great looking car.

(the fine spray evaporates and leaves a really nice non-oily shine.)


On the wheel wells I spray a fine mist of wd-40, and wipe it off, it keeps it shiny, and then future cleanings aren't that bad.

I have a pressure washer, so sometimes I take it to the carwash, and other times I clean it at home.

You asked.

Briano1234

Finally a picture of you in the flesh so to speak!👍🏼
Looking at your t-shirt you use that to clean everything from Mk1's to huge diesel locomotive engines! 😉  😂

Brian have you ever tried 'Dry Ice' cleaning? 🤔
If not have a look on YouTube for some awesome videos, you can do the car inside and out! 😉

Had my engine and bay done back in 2015 which had never been cleaned since it was built. Very common in Austria 🇦🇹 because of waste issues.

The results were very good but I felt the Detailer was not very experienced and didn't really give it a hard going over, that and dry ice isn't cheap. 👍🏼

Cracking work as usual, you do set the standard and the bar fairly high I guess, it clearly pays off! ☺️

Golf Cabrio said

Briano1234

Finally a picture of you in the flesh so to speak!👍🏼
Looking at your t-shirt you use that to clean everything from Mk1's to huge diesel locomotive engines! 😉  😂

Brian have you ever tried 'Dry Ice' cleaning? 🤔
If not have a look on YouTube for some awesome videos, you can do the car inside and out! 😉

Had my engine and bay done back in 2015 which had never been cleaned since it was built. Very common in Austria 🇦🇹 because of waste issues.

The results were very good but I felt the Detailer was not very experienced and didn't really give it a hard going over, that and dry ice isn't cheap. 👍🏼

Cracking work as usual, you do set the standard and the bar fairly high I guess, it clearly pays off! ☺️

I have seent he dry ice cleaning, but as I am a cost effective tightwad  I try to get by on the cheap.  

I have tried about every cleaner over the years, and that "Totally Awesome" is the cheapest (a dollar a bottle) bestest stuff that I have ever found.

Pictures


Longhair hippy days


Better 3/4