Rep Power: 0

I want to clean the engine bay of my 2005 Civic. I purchased Autoglym Engine & Machine Cleaner but was concerned when I read the instructions it said to hose with plenty of water to rinse off. My main concerns were water ingress into air vents and electrical components. Can someone please advise which areas I need to cover with cling film. I've attached a photo of my engine bay. Maybe someone could be kind enough to mark the regions with red circles in Photoshop.

Many thanks for your help!

 
Rep Power: 238

you aren't really going to hurt anything under the hood. just don't soak the sensitive areas. it's ok to get them wet, but can do damage if they are 'submerged'. just keep the hose away from the alternator, fuse box, and cruise control module. you'll be fine.

 
Rep Power: 812

i strongly recommend not spraying water in the engine bay. just get a cloth, some degreaser, and some plastic dressing and wipe away the dirt. most of those plastic pieces are easy to clean. the header shield you can either paint black or polish it with a buffer and metal polish.

 
Rep Power: 256

x2 on degreaser and a rag or a bucket of degreaser wipes like greased lightening.

 
Rep Power: 238

Meh.. to each their own.. I've done it. You can't tell me that it doesn't get wet in there when you drive in the rain. Granted I used a hose with just a lighter misty kinda spray, but it works, like I said just don't douse anything. Use as little water as possible.

 
Rep Power: 812

t doesnt get wet in the rain. thats the whole point of having a hood. ive opened mine and its completely dry after a huge downpour. the side edges are wet ofcourse but its just metal with nothing important. there are lots of electrical connectors, alternator, air filter, etc that should never see water.

 
Rep Power: 0

There are a million guidelines about this out there. First off, do it when the engine's cold - that hot exhaust manifold will not like cool water. When I do mine once a year I go ahead and spray it with a garden hose, but cover up the battery with a grocery sack first and avoid the alternator as much as possible. I tried a heavy-duty canned degreaser once, but it didn't do much. Best thing is to rinse off as much of that dust as you can and hit it in spots with Greased Lightning. You can use a car wash solution as a milder alternative to clean up areas you can reach as well. Then put on a little rubber/trim protectant cause that'll clean up some grime and make it a little shiny. It's hard to get the bowels of the engine compartment clean, so I just worry about up top. I blow off some of the water with a lawn-and-leaf blower, then start the engine and let it idle for about 10 minutes to dry it off. This is what I came up with when I last did it (taken with a cell phone-sorry):

 
Rep Power: 230

i have also done it with spraying and never had a problem. your car looks stock, so you should be perfectly safe. just follow a couple simple rules. give it just a light misty spray to get it wet, spray some degreaser around, mainly on the dirtier spots and wait 2 or 3 minutes. then just spray again but try to avoid spraying directly at the alternator, and dont go high on pressure unless youre spraying from up high and making more of a misty type action just to rinse the stuff off.

if you had some mods done like an intake or hid ballasts, youd have to cover that stuff up with garbage bags but your car looks like youd be perfectly fine.

 
Rep Power: 0

What method works better to polish header shield? Any tips to get it looking like new?

 
Rep Power: 812

get some metal polish and just keep applying it til it turns near chrome. its easier if you have a buffing wheel and dremel, but ive done it by hand. took a couple hours. if its too far gone, you may need to sand it first (like rust and stuff).

 
Rep Power: 0

What kind of buffering wheel should I use?

 
Rep Power: 0

I spray mine down once a year as well. In usually I'll just get some degreaser and just hand clean everything. Back to black usually helps on some of the things I have under mine. You could also paint you valve covers and heat shield. Just make sure you cover the important things and that you try not to spray them Don't spray anything electrical or you airfilter and DO NOT do any of this when the engine is hot.....

Heres some pictures I took just to show how well it worked for me.


I had alot of built up grim and oil down by my injectors and Intake manifold


Overall picture


Picture of the turbo side.

I could have done better but I get lazy some times.....