I serviced my Pajero over the weekend, and came up with an excellent cleaning agent for cleaning the engine bay and engine out.
I mixed Clean Green with water and oven cleaner, and poured the mix into a spray bottle.
Once I had removed all covers etc., I sprayed the engine and engine bay out, wiped it all down, and then sprayed with the hose (thoroughly)
The results were incredible...
Last edited by pgoodier on Mon Jan 23, 2012 12:07 pm, edited 1 time in total.
I mixed Clean Green with water and over cleaner,
Did you mean OVEN cleaner?
Did you mean OVEN cleaner?
Be careful. Oven cleaner is bad for rust and rubbers/plastics.
I would not use oven cleaner either.
Any small residue will corrode the component badly, especially aluminium.
I prefer a bio-degradable soap such as Prepsol. You can wash it off on the lawn and it will not damage the grass.
No (petro-based) solvents for me.
Remember also that soap needs time and water to work.
I wash the engine with either clean water or a mild dishwasher solution, to wet everything, and loosen the worst grime. I use the Karcher hi-pressure washer on low pressure setting for this. Lots of foam all over.
Leave for a while, and rinse down with water (while engine is running).
Spray with Prepsol and leave for a while. Rinse (again while engine is running).
Take for a drive to get engine to operating temp and evaporate all water.
Spray lightly with diesel.
Repeat often. If you prevent grime from building up, cleaning becomes easy.
Any small residue will corrode the component badly, especially aluminium.
I prefer a bio-degradable soap such as Prepsol. You can wash it off on the lawn and it will not damage the grass.
No (petro-based) solvents for me.
Remember also that soap needs time and water to work.
I wash the engine with either clean water or a mild dishwasher solution, to wet everything, and loosen the worst grime. I use the Karcher hi-pressure washer on low pressure setting for this. Lots of foam all over.
Leave for a while, and rinse down with water (while engine is running).
Spray with Prepsol and leave for a while. Rinse (again while engine is running).
Take for a drive to get engine to operating temp and evaporate all water.
Spray lightly with diesel.
Repeat often. If you prevent grime from building up, cleaning becomes easy.
I agree with 4ePajero
I wait until the engine has cooled a bit but still warm, spray prepsol all over.
I then use a bit of prepsol and foam it up with water in a bucket. I then use a foam spunge and get foam in as much places as I can.
Leave for 5 minutes and hose off with pressure washer on low setting (and never closer than 40cm)
I don't spray anything afterwards to make it look shiny as I live on a farm with 4km of gravel to the nearest tar road so it just attracts dust.
I wait until the engine has cooled a bit but still warm, spray prepsol all over.
I then use a bit of prepsol and foam it up with water in a bucket. I then use a foam spunge and get foam in as much places as I can.
Leave for 5 minutes and hose off with pressure washer on low setting (and never closer than 40cm)
I don't spray anything afterwards to make it look shiny as I live on a farm with 4km of gravel to the nearest tar road so it just attracts dust.
Oh crap.
Thanks for the heads up. I did really thoroughly spray it out, but I am going home tonight and doing it again..........
Thanks for the heads up. I did really thoroughly spray it out, but I am going home tonight and doing it again..........
Is the diesel only to make it look shiny, or for another purpose? Wont it collect dust more easily?4ePajero wrote:Spray lightly with diesel.
Make it look shiny? - Yesmacjohnw wrote:Is the diesel only to make it look shiny, or for another purpose? Wont it collect dust more easily?4ePajero wrote:Spray lightly with diesel.
Collect dust? - Yes
Other purposes? - Yes, it stops corrosion (we live at the coast!)
Other purposes? - Yes, it makes the next cleaning effort so much easier.
....Apparently living at the coast can be a bit like cleaning your engine with oven cleaner!!!
....i've heard

....i've heard