Whenever I'm working under the hood I'll spend a bit of time trying to keep things clean and work away at any grime that builds up. Right now I have the fan and fan shield removed and I find I can reach down to some areas that have never been cleaned. What brand of cleaners do you find effective at cutting through old oily road grime buildups over top painted surfaces? Thanks. M.D.
I always had good results with Greased Lighting. Spray it on and wipe it with a paint brush then hose it off
We buy this by the gallon: http://www.clean-rite.com/purplepower_industrial_strength_cleaner_degreaser.html
Try the chemical injector, Frank. That siphons the cleaner directly into the line(like the car washes do) and makes it a one step type deal. I've always wanted to buy a hot water blaster because that works even better and eliminates the chemicals altogether.
I'll spray down the area with Purple Power or similar and let it soak a couple minutes, then hit it with the power washer... Gives the chemical a chance ot work, never seen much difference using a siphon on really greasy stuff(though it works well enough to clean vinyl siding)...
I've learned to do just the exact opposite on the really tough built up junk that's tough to pre-scrape. Otherwise applying topically and letting sit just softens and strips the upper most layer without affecting the thicker gunk very much. Kinda like using stripper on 7 layers of paint. Then you have to scrape/blast, reapply product over again, and repeat several times which takes considerably more time and more product/$$. Using the pressure washer with an adjustable chemical injector allows you to "hydro-squeegee" the bulk of the gunk off before applying the final degreaser agent to get that last little bit of residue out of the way prior to painting. You can also take blankets, towels, rags and bags to protect the sensitive electronics and shiny parts over to the carwash and use the engine degreaser setting to do similar on a budget.
Purple power or simple green. Both do a great job at not damaging paint, and they work quite well. Also, make sure to scrub any spots that are heavily soiled, then pressure wash, but use the largest degree nozel
ive only had my 70 mav for about 2 months, so no way i can say on that. BUT, on my 06 liberty i have always used mean green after each 5k mile oil change. i spray it on wet on a warm engine, let it sit for 5 minutes then spray it wet again with the same mean green. after 5 more minutes, i hose it off, then drive it for about 10 minutes to boil off any water. here is a video that i made that shows how clean my engine is after 110,500 miles.
