ZoomZoomH

has anyone done a thorough cleaning of a 3rd gen's engine bay? I opened up the hood yesterday and realized things are getting kinda nasty in there with all the grimes and dirt. Since I'll be putting in a strut bar and a drop-in k&n this weekend, I might as well do some quick cleaning while I'm under the hood...

any tips & tricks?

ZoomZoomH

found it (well found your posts anyway)... thanks

carguycw

Duct tape around the caps for all of the fluid reservoirs, especially the brake fluid. My #1 tip is to remove the plug wires, duct tape a piece of Saran Wrap around the coil packs and fuse boxes, then shove a paper towel or rag down each spark plug hole in the valve cover and duct tape over these holes too- if you get ANY water down there, it will ruin your plugs and make your car run like crap (ask me how I know) 8-)

After you're done with that, hit all the metal engine surfaces with heavy duty engine degreaser, and hit the other surfaces with a milder automotive cleaner and scrub with a brush as necessary to loosen the dirt. Then hose the engine down and be careful not to concentrate the spray on any electrical parts or the dreaded spark plug holes. Remove all the duct tape, shove dry rags and/or blast the spark plug holes with compressed air to make sure they're totally dry (notice a pattern here?), hook everything back up and viola! you're done