my car is 17 years old,despite the clean rust free body,the engine bay and chassis are coated with thick nasty black goo,I don't want to use GUNK* because I hate the smell and it's extreemly flamable and bad for fresh ground water especially. I've heard of people using the power sprayer at car washes to clean this stuff off,even though its illeagal in most places.what precautions should be followed to protect electronics? how do used car dealers get the engines in those junkers so clean? I leak lots of oil so it'll get dirty again fast but I'd like to see a clean enginge for once and find out where the oil is leaking from.

 

what i do is cover up the distributor cap and air intake with trash bags or other plastic. then spray the whole engine compartment with simple green, soak the whole thing, use the whole bottle if necessary. After that is done i let it sit for about 5 minutes and then just spray it off with my hose. it keeps my engine looking pretty clean.
good luck

 

thanx cobrakiller,simple green is good for everything,it does a fantastic job on windows.I don't think I'll attempt that with out a can of silicone to dry out the wires(just in case) a good excuse to the car wash tommorow and check out the ladies.I'd really like to scrape the melted shopping bag of of my borla intermeadiate section,smelly burnt plastic is a turn off to most women.

 

I suggest using plastic wrap (Saran wrap) to cover the distributer and air cleaner. You have to use quite a bit, but you can make sure it's covered completely.

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'86 IROC-Z
305 LG-4, T-5
Arrest Me Red
T-Tops
50k Original Miles
K&N Air Filter
Stage I Chip
Begging For More

 

I took care of it today,it blasted that $h!t right off.it was hard to get into some of the creveses,but now I know what to focus on next time,the engine is still butt ugly stock.I think I could have done a better job rinsing because the car reeks like simple green, much better than burnt oil smell though.