hi, anyone recommend an easy and cheap way of cleaning the oil and dirt safely off the outside of a petrol engine?
had a leak but now been repaired!
what substances can i use etc...?
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WD40 always works for me. It's also very unlikely to damage any non-metal components.
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Gunk. Or whatever it's called now. Visit Halfords or other motoring shop.
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White spirit and paintbrush.........
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Paraffin would do if you have any to hand - I think that's the main ingredient in WD40 anyway.
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Gunk it's never been bettered.
ndbw
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Gunk. Yes, still available from motor factors. Don't use over a tarmc drive though.
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Fairy Liquid is cheap and effective,Gunk is even better. Take care around electrical connectors,rubber belts etc.
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wd 40 it is then, safe and easy.
thanks
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In the good old days of owning a car with a leaky engine, I used to use genklene and a paint brush. Disappointed genklene has since been banned, but the last car I remember having an oil leak was my old mk2 Cavalier (some 10 yrs ago), so it's not quite so bad.
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<< the last car Iremember having an oil leak was my old mk2 Cavalier (some 10 yrs ago), so it's not quite so bad.
The last car I had with an oil leak was a RWD Escort in, I think, about 1980. The change to FWD seemed to largely eliminate the problem.
--
L\'escargot.
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A good dose of Surf or similar, dissolved in warm water, and then sprayed on using one of those squuezy bottle, leave for an hour or so, and blast off the gunk with a hose - or even better a pressure washer.
As mentioned before, ensure that electricals and especially fuse boxes are kept dry.
Use of plastic bags, Durex rubber products and cable-ties helps here.
Once the engine has been sprayed clean, do the standard WD40 trip over the leads, plugs etc
Also - VERY NB - relube the working bits - throttle linkages etc. There is a conditioner product on the market as well, which is useful for the ancillary belts.
Also, pull the leads off the plugs, roll up some kitchen paper into a taper, and use this to absorb any water in the plugwells.
Alternately, speak to your local car salesman, and ask where HE gets his cars' engines cleaned - may be worth a few squid to get it done 'professionally'.
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>>Alternately, speak to your local car salesman, and ask where HE gets his cars' engines cleaned - may be worth a few squid to get it done 'professionally'.
Wouldn't recommend that myself. I regularly see staff from local main dealers using the jetwash at the garage next to my office on the underbonnet areas. I'm always amazed that the cars can still be started after this treatment!
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They can't always. Underbonnet steam cleaning is best done on a warm engine, quickly.
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On my XJ12, large amounts of water around the engine are a big no-no. I used one of the small steam-jet cleaners, that look like a large electric kettle. They are usually marketed to aim at the bathroom cleaning market. Mine came with a wand on a flexible hose. I sprayed degreaser on a small area, stirred it up with a toothbrush to get all the dirt dissolved, then used the steam jet to blow the liquid into a cloth stuffed into the right place. It's a slow process, but the end result is a clean engine without any electrical problems.
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Read that as TIZER for a moment... Now that was a real de-greaser, when guzzled out of the bottle on the pavement, with 4d of chips and extra scraps.
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