There are still some of ‘those guys’ around.

Ive been ‘aggressively’ washing my engine since 2003.

Engine running for me. Same with gasser engines. That way, if you spray something and it quits, you know where to look first.

I dont cover PS cap, but avoid spraying it directly. I do not spray the under hood fuse box, etc on drivers fender well/firewall. Everything else is fair game. I specifically stick the nozzle under the fuel filter, HPOP, 5-way plenum and turbo. After the steam goes away, reinspect and start with the places you missed.

It takes several sessions to get to get to Sous Clean!!

My secret Ingredient is mechanics hand cleaning wipes. I prefer the yellow/white tub at autozone, etc (I’ll have to look up brand), but GoJo and other brands are also effective. These are the best thing possible to clean hoses, wire loom, plastic parts like fan shroud, intake tubes, batteries, etc.

This is the minimum ‘clean’ for anything I work on. I charge a cleaning and diagnostic fee for every truck I work on. Working on dirty stuff SUCKS.

 

Be aware it is not advisable to wash a diesel engine with a fuel injection pump while running, like the 6.9 for instance

 

Luckily, we don’t have one of those.

But i I have absolutely washed the **** out of those too. I am curious though, why do you advise against it??

 

The tolerances on the roosa master style rotary pumps are so close that cold water on a hot pump can shrink the housing enough to cause the pistons to score on the cyl walls.

 

Here ya go

 

Well how about that!! Good stuff.

 

I don't wash my engine with it running simply because of the air boat fan connected to the front of the engine. Also, I can be very clumsy at times and don't feel like falling onto a big *** fan spinning round and round. It is no big deal to wash the engine with it running, just not my preference. I have always preferred the engine to be cool/cold anyway so I could get on the radiator support and get the hose where I wanted it to be. Recently when I was cleaning the oil and debris out of the valley after fixing my HPO line to the passenger head, I soaked the valley, plenums and valve covers with SG. Let it sit for about 15 minutes, then came back with a low pressure nozzle on shower and rinsed the SG and oil off the higher surfaces. Then, I turned the nozzle to jet and was spraying under the Y-pipe and pedestal and toward the HPOP in order to get all of the crap to flow down the drain in the back of the valley.

I then took the nozzle off and let the hose run for about 2 minutes just flushing the valley out. This was with the truck at a slight downward angle toward the rear which aids in draining the valley. Easy, done and no injury or water spray from the air boat fan.

Different people have different ways of accomplishing tasks, and that is great. I have a preference on how to wash the engine that has worked for me for 20 years. Based on the images I posted above, I think I will stick with my method. Reason #1 is that it works well, reason B is because I am too damn old and grumpy to change something like that now.

 

It is easy to maintain a clean engine with degreaser and a garden hose.

Not likely a difference in cleanliness between hot and cold engine.

Seems like I’m always starting with a NASTY engine that has never been cleaned and leaked gallons of oil out before they brought it to me to fix!!! That pic above was one of the nastiest engines I’ve ever seen. Oil leaks and dirt roads for years. Probably could have started with a shovel in the valley...

Rick Miller used to be our resident clean engine baseline.

 

Once you get it good and clean it's easy to maintain. What I do it shine my flashlight around the nooks and crannies once in a while and make note of any oil sweat or buildup, then when I go to the car wash I hit those spots with the high pressure and rinse down with the low pressure spot free rinse. Crud tends to collect around and under the brackets up front where it's hard to see, and around the boots.