High pressure washing of engine bay ok or not?

[amsandun]

Hi all,

I just did the 2nd service of my car couple of days ago and I noticed that after washing the undercarriage, they washed engine bay area with high pressure water and also dried it up with high pressurized air. Is this normal practice or not recommended at all? I remember I read somewhere in AL that engine washing is not a wise practice or something. Anyway no any problems occurred after that. Engine bay looked very clean as well. ? Can you guys give me some clarification on this so I can be vigilant next time. I hope they know what they are doing.

TIA

[kmeeg]

6 minutes ago, amsandun said:

Hi all,

I just did the 2nd service of my car couple of days ago and I noticed that after washing the undercarriage, they washed engine bay area with high pressure water and also dried it up with high pressurized air. Is this normal practice or not recommended at all? I remember I read somewhere in AL that engine washing is not a wise practice or something. Anyway no any problems occurred after that. Engine bay looked very clean as well. ? Can you guys give me some clarification on this so I can be vigilant next time. I hope they know what they are doing.

TIA

Absolutely not. There is a procedure how to clean the engine bay. Pressure wash is a big no to engine bay.

[kmeeg]

See tip #7 from this video at time line 4:05 mark.

If you ask why washing 4x4 vehicle washing tip? In my opinion that is maximum dirt you can get dirt on your engine bay.

 

 

[Hyaenidae]

The users manual of my car says:
 

Quote

 

"Clean the engine compartment at the beginning and end of winter. Pay particular attention to flanges, crevices and peripheral parts where dust containing road chemicals and other corrosive materials might collect.

If salt and other chemicals are used on the roads in your area, clean the engine compartment at least every three months.

Never spray or splash water on the electrical components in the engine compartment, as this may cause damage.

Do not bring the nearby parts, the plastic parts and so on into contact with sulphuric acid (battery electrolyte) which may crack, stain or discolour them.

If they are in contact, wipe off with soft cloth, chamois or the like and an aqueous solution of neutral detergent then immediately rinse the affected parts with plenty of water."

 

 

Edited November 12, 2018 by Hyaenidae

[Davy]

4 hours ago, kmeeg said:

See tip #7 from this video at time line 4:05 mark.

If you ask why washing 4x4 vehicle washing tip? In my opinion that is maximum dirt you can get dirt on your engine bay.

 

 

4x4 vehicles have a much higher tolerance for water damage than regular road cars, so this example is probably not the best. Another thing is that this is a diesel engine. Petrol engines have high tension leads and ignition coils that are more susceptible to damage. 

The other thing is that when you wash the engine while it's hot or running, condensation can build up inside the electronic components. We all know what that means. Contacts can eventually corrode and circuitry can get damaged. Some cars nowadays have the ECU in the engine bay, so even the smallest amount of water can cause water damage. 

If you must clean the engine bay, just use high pressure air to remove all dust first. Then spray degreaser carefully, making sure you try to avoid electrics. Use a rag to wipe off the dirt and excess degreaser. You can use a brush to scrub off stubborn grease marks or dirt. 

[kmeeg]

2 hours ago, Davy said:

 Petrol engines have high tension leads and ignition coils that are more susceptible to damage.

Almost all the service stations I visited they use kerosene (is that kerosene?) they use to clean the engine bay. I trust that is bad too?

 

[Davy]

25 minutes ago, kmeeg said:

Almost all the service stations I visited they use kerosene (is that kerosene?) they use to clean the engine bay. I trust that is bad too?

 

Kerosene degrades rubber. A big no no. 

[Hyaenidae]

1 minute ago, Davy said:

Kerosene degrades rubber. A big no no. 

Anything I can do to prevent those white plastic reservoirs (PS fluid, coolant etc) from turning yellow?

[Davy]

7 minutes ago, Hyaenidae said:

Anything I can do to prevent those white plastic reservoirs (PS fluid, coolant etc) from turning yellow?

The main reason for those parts turning yellow is due to UV exposure. Apparently the plastic polymers in those parts are highly susceptible to UV. I'm not sure how to prevent it from turning yellow. Maybe our resident expert on plastic materials @Sampath Gunasekera might know.

If they're yellow, you can use bleach or something to whiten them again I guess. There are even commercially available products like Retr0bright that help you restore plastic that is gone yellow. They're meant to be used to restore retro game consoles and stuff, but should work on any white plastic that has gone yellow due to UV damage.

[Twin Turbo]

Water and electronics make a bad combination.

No manufacturer asks to use water in engine bay to wash it.

Edited November 13, 2018 by Twin Turbo

[Hyaenidae]

54 minutes ago, Davy said:

The main reason for those parts turning yellow is due to UV exposure. Apparently the plastic polymers in those parts are highly susceptible to UV. I'm not sure how to prevent it from turning yellow. Maybe our resident expert on plastic materials @Sampath Gunasekera might know.

If they're yellow, you can use bleach or something to whiten them again I guess. There are even commercially available products like Retr0bright that help you restore plastic that is gone yellow. They're meant to be used to restore retro game consoles and stuff, but should work on any white plastic that has gone yellow due to UV damage.

UV exposure under the hood?

As you can see the PS fluid reservoir has already turned yellow. I'm not sure if it's the plastic material... or the PS fluid itself might be causing this? I'm worried that the coolant reservoir will turn yellow just like the PS fluid one. 

This happens in all lancer EXs apparently 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Hyaenidae

[Davy]

22 minutes ago, Hyaenidae said:

UV exposure under the hood?

As you can see the PS fluid reservoir has already turned yellow. I'm not sure if it's the plastic material... or the PS fluid itself might me causing this? I'm worried that the coolant reservoir will turn yellow just like the PS fluid one. 

 

This happens in all lancer EXs apparently 

 

Yellowing due to UV happens regardless of whether it is directly under the sun or not. It is just a matter of time until the coolant reservoir and windshield reservoirs start to go yellow. It happens on all cars. Not just the EX. I guess it has to do with the construction of the plastic as well. On the EX, maybe the power steering reservoir is more susceptible for UV damage than the other two. In fact, the power steering reservoir used on the EX is a really old design/construction used on the CS and even on the CK Lancer. It maybe even be due to the darker colour of the power steering fluid. 

The reservoirs on my CS3 were sparkling bright when I bought the car and slightly more yellow after my 7 years of ownership. I had never washed the engine bay or used any harsh chemicals/degreasers on it, and the car was mostly a weekender. 

Here's an engine bay in relatively good condition 1996 Toyota Corolla:

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Davy

[Hyaenidae]

1 minute ago, Davy said:

 

The reservoirs on my CS3 were sparkling bright when I bought the car and slightly more yellow after my 7 years of ownership.

This is how it looked like when I bought the car... I hate entropy.

If it's UV rays causing this I think I could coat the reservoirs with some plastic protectant (intended for dashboard plastics) or some spray wax. 

[kush]

Even the agent do not wash the engine, they just wipe it with a cloath

I newer take it to local stations to wash as even high pressure on the under carriage is not good it damages your rust proof

Wash it at home use a "pol mudda" to wash under wheel arch if you have to

If you are avoiding agent for the service stay with the vehicle do not let them use high pressure on the engine bay

[ruki123]

Same thing happened to me couple of years back.. the service center pressure washed the engine bay but I stopped him immediately. At that time i didn't notice much except for some wired noises which went away after couple of minutes. But the sad thing was my tachometer stopped working the next day. And the speedometer was playing havoc as well. I doubt it might have shot a couple of sensors and messed up a fuse or something.. Eventually I replaced the coil pack, cam sensor, crank sensor, plugs etc

[amsandun]

13 hours ago, kmeeg said:

Absolutely not. There is a procedure how to clean the engine bay. Pressure wash is a big no to engine bay.

 

1 hour ago, kush said:

Even the agent do not wash the engine, they just wipe it with a cloath

 

1 hour ago, ruki123 said:

the service center pressure washed the engine bay but I stopped him immediately

Thanks everybody for your inputs. I had my doubts that's why I posted here. from next time on I will instruct not to wash engine bay area. Is it necessary to clean the engine bay during the service or after a certain time interval. Then what are the options I got? can I do it myself? 

@kmeeg thank you. your video link was helpful. in tip#7, he put de-greasing agent while the engine is on. In the comments section, I saw many people commented against that.after everything he washed the engine with normal water without pressure. Kind of confusing to me. ?

[kmeeg]

32 minutes ago, amsandun said:

 

 

Thanks everybody for your inputs. I had my doubts that's why I posted here. from next time on I will instruct not to wash engine bay area. Is it necessary to clean the engine bay during the service or after a certain time interval. Then what are the options I got? can I do it myself? 

@kmeeg thank you. your video link was helpful. in tip#7, he put de-greasing agent while the engine is on. In the comments section, I saw many people commented against that.after everything he washed the engine with normal water without pressure. Kind of confusing to me. ?

I think its better not to use water at all as @Davy said;

<4x4 vehicles have a much higher tolerance for water damage than regular road cars, so this example is probably not the best. Another thing is that this is a diesel engine. Petrol engines have high tension leads and ignition coils that are more susceptible to damage. >

 

[kush]

38 minutes ago, amsandun said:

 

 

Thanks everybody for your inputs. I had my doubts that's why I posted here. from next time on I will instruct not to wash engine bay area. Is it necessary to clean the engine bay during the service or after a certain time interval. Then what are the options I got? can I do it myself? 

@kmeeg thank you. your video link was helpful. in tip#7, he put de-greasing agent while the engine is on. In the comments section, I saw many people commented against that.after everything he washed the engine with normal water without pressure. Kind of confusing to me. ?

why do you want to wash the engine bay, get a blower and blow away the dust and wipe with a moist cloth if you are obsessed with having a clean engine bay. Other wise leave it alone.

[amsandun]

1 hour ago, kush said:

why do you want to wash the engine bay, get a blower and blow away the dust and wipe with a moist cloth if you are obsessed with having a clean engine bay. Other wise leave it alone.

No I didn't want to wash the engine either. It raised a concern bcz service center guy did that way. So now I get it. I will stick with not to water wash engine and look into other methods if it becomes necessary to clean it a bit (not regularly though). Thanks brother...

[Quiet]

Those service guys using high pressure washers on door edges after opening doors and trunk is also not good. They did it to my car two months back and the door sensors stopped working. They started working only after the car was parked for a day under the sun. 

 

Edited November 13, 2018 by Quiet

[john cooper]

On 11/13/2018 at 2:28 PM, Davy said:

Yellowing due to UV happens regardless of whether it is directly under the sun or not. It is just a matter of time until the coolant reservoir and windshield reservoirs start to go yellow. It happens on all cars. Not just the EX. I guess it has to do with the construction of the plastic as well. On the EX, maybe the power steering reservoir is more susceptible for UV damage than the other two. In fact, the power steering reservoir used on the EX is a really old design/construction used on the CS and even on the CK Lancer. It maybe even be due to the darker colour of the power steering fluid. 

The reservoirs on my CS3 were sparkling bright when I bought the car and slightly more yellow after my 7 years of ownership. I had never washed the engine bay or used any harsh chemicals/degreasers on it, and the car was mostly a weekender. 

Here's an engine bay in relatively good condition 1996 Toyota Corolla:

 

Change the power steering fluid, change coolant and change windscreen washer fluid on regular intervals (when was the last time you change this?)

you will get more out of them but still climate play a major role and deteriorate the plastic which you can't avoid.

regards

JC

[Davy]

2 hours ago, john cooper said:

Change the power steering fluid, change coolant and change windscreen washer fluid on regular intervals (when was the last time you change this?)

That's not my engine bay. It's a photo off the Internet I linked to show yellowing of the coolant and windshield washer reservoirs. 

[Sampath Gunasekera]

On 11/13/2018 at 7:03 AM, Hyaenidae said:

This is how it looked like when I bought the car... I hate entropy.

If it's UV rays causing this I think I could coat the reservoirs with some plastic protectant (intended for dashboard plastics) or some spray wax. 

Heat also work on plastic and make it off- colour. You can't use same plastic  material which  used to make water reservoir  for wiper, for making PS fluid reservoir. They should use an advanced plastic which resistant to PS fluid to make PS fluid reservoir. But when they add additives to resist with PS fluid, then they may loose colour property. Final plastic formulation is a combination of our required properties up to a certain limit , and one additive may limit the the adding of another additive .  So this decoration is difficult to overcome and in Mitsubishi this is very common  (including mine). As far as I know no other permanent option ignoring it or replacing it with a new unit. But I found below video from the net. But I am not sure it will work on PS fluid reservoir or not.  Different plastics behave in different way.

 

Edited November 23, 2018 by Sampath Gunasekera

[DeDywka]

I think it`s better you to contact with  car wash brisbane. I know that the engine must be clean but i don`t use such service. Please give me know when you will get the answer on your reply.

[Netrograd]

Well, when I see that the car is dirty, then I wash it. However, for example in winter, I rarely wash my car myself, and at this time of year I regularly turn to car washes.