Cleaning the engine bay?
 

After seeing a few pics here on the site everyone seems to have a spotlessly clean engine bay. What do you use to clean your engine bay? Soap and water? I'd be afraid that I'd get something wet that isn't supposed to get wet and end up damaging it.

Any tips?

I just give everything under the bonnet a wipe over with my old chamois leather, (new one is for body work) every time I clean the car. Slam panel gets a polish every now and then. I've done this from new so it has never really got dirty.
I'm sure other will have had to bring theirs back from filthy so hang on for proper answers. :D

I was told steam cleaning is a no-no on modern cars, as the steam "gets to parts other cleaners do not reach", and causes problems.

Try careful WD40 spraying on dirty bits, then use an old/cheap paintbrush followed by a cloth. I used the stuff for restoring black plastic bumpers on all the underbonnet plastics on my diesel.

As per GG really - I've got an old chamois to wipe things down everytime I do I "regular" wash but, when needs must there are a couple of tricks I have.

The first is simply water+washing up liquid. Seriously, the grease-breaking-down-additives in household washing up liquid removes a fair amount of grease and grime. I use an old sponge with said solution to give most surfaces and parts a clean. So long as you don't soak the sponge/cloth then no water should get into places it shouldn't. ;)

Secondly, carbourettor cleaner or a similar product will disolve dirt/grime in an instant. Use it carefully as this stuff can get into places it shouldn't, so spray onto a cloth/old rag rather than directly onto your engine. It kind of goes without saying that make sure your engine is cold and there are no naked flames around whilst using these sort of products... :panic:

If you want to be pedantic then dismantle what you can (ie engine cover, airbox, battery and battery box, etc) to get at those areas not normally seen to ensure an all-over spangly look. :D

Thanks lads. Think I'll give it a clean tomorrow night. It's filthy at the moment. I don't think the previous owner cared about it as much as I do!

DON'T ever put washing-up liquid near your car............one of it's main ingredients is SALT !!!!!!!!!!, if you use anything add a bit of car wash shampoo.

I must admit mine was owned by a fanatic before me and so is spotless, but when i bought my range rover for off roading i still wanted to clean the bay...SAD eh... but i used wd40 and lots of time. x

Does nobody use 'Gunk' any more? Or am I showing my age?

Gunk is still available and used, problem is it needs to be washed off, that I think is a problem on modern engine installations with all the sophisticated electronics and sensors.

I've not used it for a few years, at least not on a recent car. When I bought a motor for the JZR from a bike breakers it did a great job.

I'm too worried about the copious amounts of water around the sensitive electrics to use it now. On older cars, you could wrap the lecky bits up, as there were so few!

(I've still got a can in the shed!!) (that's WOODEN SHED, not SWMBO's car)

Malcolm