Cleaning an engine bay

Last week our Transit decided to empty the contents of its engine all over the engine bay. We were lucky that no damage was done so one new oil cooler later its back up and running. However the engine and bay are covered in oil so are there any safe tricks to getting it clean again ?

Steam clean would probably be best as it’s dry. Don’t jetwash it.

I’d probably just suck it up and pay someone who does it all the time to do it.

What I’ve done in the past…

Start the engine and leave it running throughout the process. Pop the bonnet and spray Jizer everywhere. Close bonnet and drive to nearest garage with pressure washer. Open bonnet and give the engine a blasting with the jet washer. Close bonnet and drive home with lovely and clean engine 🙂

Remember… Leave the engine running. I’ve done a few cars and vans with this technique. No damage done 👍

I’d probably just ignore it unless it presented a fire risk or other hazard. Failing that then

pay someone who does it all the time to do it.

Screwfix heavy duty degreaser in a pump up spray.
Apply liberally and allow it to soak , maybe overnight. Some sort of protection for the drive might be necessary.
Next day , re apply then go down Tesco and abuse the jet wash.
Be like new after if you spend a few hours on it.

That’s what shampoo was originally designed for 😉

Transit

all over the engine bay.

make sure some gets underneath – it will help it stop rusting

spray Jizer everywhere

😮 Maybe some degreaser would be a better idea, but hey it might just work 🤣

Driving around with degreaser dripping everywhere probably isn’t great for the local environment.

Driving around with degreaser dripping everywhere probably isn’t great for the local environment.

Better or worse than oil dripping everywhere ?

People used to spray old engine oil on the vehicle underside to help keep rust away, I’d just look at it as enhanced undercoat. Unless you can smell it in the cab just forget about it.

Any washing risks causing an electrical fault

Gunk products are just for this.  Paint some on in the accessible areas and then use their spray foam to get to the trickier bits.  Leave to soak and wash off. I use a variable jet wash on lowest setting with the engine running but really it should be steam cleaned. Once it’s done move the vehicle & sprinkle biological washing powder on the ground, leave it 30 mins and jet wash away. An environmental catastrophe.

really the best plan would be to take it to a valeter & get it professionally steam cleaned.

hot_fiat
Full Member
Gunk products are just for this.

Username checks out.

This happened to mine, also a Transit (left the filler cap off after topping up, it went everywhere)

Cleaned it up as best I could. It smelt bad for quite a while. The alternator died a couple of weeks later, that could be a coincidence of timing or could be that it didn’t like being sprayed with hot oil. Definitely clean the alternator if you can!

Fortunately the worst of it is on the opposite side to the alternator, unfortunately it seems to have coated the electrics.