Steaming the engine

[wayneb911 2]

Okay so what needs to be covered when doing this.

As you all know the engine is removed and its now on a tripod for working on. Plan to wheel it out and jetwash it. Is there anywhere to take caution while doing this. ie cover the dizzy? What about plug holes etc. Plugs are still in by the way.

Engine is a 2.2 NA 81 car

[ramjet 1,067]

Personally I would degrease it with a stiff brush and use only low pressure water. High pressure water has a funny habit of getting just where you don't want it. Much like sand on the beach.

[esprit22 79]

Just stick it in the dish washer!

[mike.griese 0]

Not sure if you have the same brand, but in the US we have a brand called Gunk that has a line of engine degreasers that work very well with low pressure water. They tend to work best on warm engines. Since yours is on a stand, I would recommend the foaming cleaner and let it stand for 10 minutes or so before hosing off. For caked on dirt and oil, use a stiff nylon brush and reapply the cleaner until you get down to aluminum.

[andydclements 683]

Be wary of high pressure as Michael states, it can get into the oil side of theengine if you're not very careful.

If you do want to go that route. Cover the dissy really well, seal the dip stick tube, crank breather inlet and outlet manifolds.

I tend to use parafin/ diesel first to loosen and remove nasty oily depsosits, then move to a de-greaser with a fine mist of water at the end to rinse.

[slewthy 238]

I was also thinking about the cleaning bit and decided that I would regret pressure washing the lump.

I've cleaned a 30yr old citroen lump before which was black, despite the original colour being green. I used hot water with a degreaser plus pan cleaning sponges, rubber gardening gloves and lots of effort. Came up nicely and the gear box looked new. Also get a packet of cheap toothbrushes for those hard to reach areas.

[Matt-watts 105]

If your going to rebuild it then strip it down and clean it part by part

If your just going to run it as it is, or sell it, I would use gunk then hot water and a sponge and them green scouring pads

Matt

[wayneb911 2]

Thanks everyone.

Think i will avoid pressure washing then and do it all by hand and see how i get on. Ideally i want to try and avoid a rebuild but wont know till i put it back in. Since its sat for so long it may well be inevitable anyway!

[scottmgibb 1]

When I had my engine in bits I used Sealey's Cleaning solvent - http://www.sealey.co...&productid=5075 - though at 25ltrs it is quite expensive to buy... Very good, and very easy to clean off.

Getting things clean 'externally' was not something I spent too much time on (and never will, since I drive the car everyday), and considering the literal river of mud the road I had to drive to the garage for its MOT had become, this was no bad thing...

Scott

Edited October 19, 2009 by scottmgibb

[nello 333]

I wouldn't bother. Steamed an old TVR of mine once and could not start it for ages.....

[molemot 521]

I always use a pressure wash gun coupled to the airline from my compressor..fill the gun with paraffin and squirt away. Never worry about getting stuff forced inside..I don't use that much pressure and it's all coming apart anyway!! A bit of a scrub around with stiff brushes and the jobs done.

Edited November 21, 2009 by molemot

[red vtec 139]

Just GUNK it, leave it on for 10-20 minutes and then jet wash it off, but make sure you can wash it off the drive!! I did my engine and gear box on the car, got rid of all the muck.