Cleaning up power steering / atf fluid from engine bay?

[Q V]

I was thinking of using engine degreaser & some shop towels. Any other ideas? Entire front half of engine bay is lightly coated in this stuff. Getting to the little nooks & crannies are gonna be hard.

[Tom Denham]

Degreaser /engine bay cleaner works great. Buy some plastic sheeting, Degreaser /engine bay cleaner and some rags.
Lay the plastic under the car and use it to cover the alternator , electronics,and other parts you don't want degreaser/water in.Spray the cleaner let it work , may require some light brushing, then rinse with water, DO NOT spray water into the electronics or or electrical parts.

Let it dry before starting.

All these instruction should be on the Can of engine bay cleaner degreaser.

[George Schilling]

I just cleaned my engine bay with my high pressure sprayer. Worked great. It was really dirty.

[Mako Koiwai]

Someone (Tom Philips) at the last AX told me to spray the engine down with water ... then spray armorall everywhere ... close the hood, run the engine for 5 minutes (15?) ... and it will be like brand new!

[Steve Towers]

After the wet cleaning (engine degreaser, high-pressure, whatever) use a leaf blower to get the water out of the nooks and crannies. I bought a cheap electric one and it works excellent for this sort of thing. Also does a good job of getting water out of wheels, etc., after washing a car. After you get the engine bay degreased for the first time, for subsequent cleanings you can use a spray bottle of windshield washer fluid (it's a mild degreaser) for maintenance cleaning. The windshield cleaner won't discolor aluminum or rubber like some of the degreasers can.

[Mako Koiwai]

Here's Tom Phillip's method:

After cleaning the engine compartment with the degreaser, letting it dry (the leaf blower sounds good to me), drive the car around the block to get it warm, not hot. Then spray Armorall Tire Foam generously everywhere you can see and get to, even the underside of the hood, close the hood for 15 to 20 minutes. Open the hood and wipe up any excess you can get to. The engine will look like it has just been detailed.
I've done this to all my cars and the motorhome and it works great.
I still haven't figured out where all the gunk goes, but at this point, I don't care.

[Christine Grice]

Here's Tom Phillip's method:

After cleaning the engine compartment with the degreaser, letting it dry (the leaf blower sounds good to me), drive the car around the block to get it warm, not hot. Then spray Armorall Tire Foam generously everywhere you can see and get to, even the underside of the hood, close the hood for 15 to 20 minutes. Open the hood and wipe up any excess you can get to. The engine will look like it has just been detailed.
I've done this to all my cars and the motorhome and it works great.
I still haven't figured out where all the gunk goes, but at this point, I don't care.

Does this method tend to cause belt squeal if you get the armorall on the belts?

[Tom Denham]

Here's Tom Phillip's method:

After cleaning the engine compartment with the degreaser, letting it dry (the leaf blower sounds good to me), drive the car around the block to get it warm, not hot. Then spray Armorall Tire Foam generously everywhere you can see and get to, even the underside of the hood, close the hood for 15 to 20 minutes. Open the hood and wipe up any excess you can get to. The engine will look like it has just been detailed.
I've done this to all my cars and the motorhome and it works great.
I still haven't figured out where all the gunk goes, but at this point, I don't care.

Armor All is water based.

There is a Engine detailer, that is an epoxy when dry. much better than something that was designed for tires and plastic.

Only use this after cleaning your engine.


Use the right tool/product for the job.