Cleaning Your Engine

We have all heard the horrendous news about rising gas and oil prices. One of the best ways to help conserve gas, and therefore money, is to make sure that your vehicle's engine is properly cleaned. Cleaning your engine on a regular basis, and making sure that you do it properly, helps to ensure that your engine works the way that it should, unfortunately cleaning an engine is not the same as cleaning seats or windows of your car. Have no fear though, by using this guide, your engine is going to be the cleanest it has been since you first purchased it.

Thing to get:

• Goggles or other eye protection
• Grease cutting dish detergent
• Engine degreaser (obtained from car parts stores)
• Stiff bristled brush (plastic, not metal)
• Garden hose
• 5 gallon bucket
• Duct tape
• Plastic bags

Things to do:

1. Collect all the materials needed, and move your vehicle somewhere that you are going to be able to rinse off at. The best location would be at a do it yourself car wash, though this might cost you a little more money since you are going to be using their water system. As long as you can do this somewhere that wont cause you trouble since you are going to be getting rid of a lot of oil, sludge and dirt. By moving the vehicle you are also going to be warming it up a little bit, which is what you need to do. Do not drive to far, or allow the engine to warm up to complete operation temperatures (water and heat don't mix to well, and you may end up damaging something).
2. Remove the terminal cables from your battery. Do this by first, removing the negative cable, then the positive. You do not want to let the water hit the terminals if those cables are still connected, as it could cause a short, or some other damage. Remember, water and electricity do not play well with each other, so be sure that you take your plastic bags and duct tape and cover any electrical systems that may be exposed.
3. Using the plastic bristled brush, or maybe a large paint brush, remove any loose debris, dirt and gunk from the engine's surfaces.
4. Create a cleaning solution by using the detergent and water. Mix 2 cups of detergent for every gallon of water that you use. After mixing, brush the solution onto the engine. Take special care to apply and work your cleanser into the dirtiest areas as best as you can.
5. Using either your water hose, or the pressure hose from the car wash, rinse off your engine completely. Now, you need to apply the engine degreaser as directed on the back of the package, be sure that you follow the directions as closely as possible to avoid causing any damage to your vehicle.
6. Rinse off the engine degreaser, and allow the engine to dry completely. As the engine is drying, be sure to completely remove the plastic and duct tape. You need to remove this, or you could end up with melted plastic on your engine block, and that is a completely new problem to deal with.
7. If the engine is not completely dry prior to you restarting the engine, you may notice that it is running roughly. Don't worry if that happens, since it is going to continue doing that until the engine has completely dried out.