what's the best way to clean engine bay ?

[EM5PWR]

[quote=ard;1079873]So it means you are really careful.

Or

You've never removed the dipstick!




Couldn't resist...

A[/quote ] Really careful...

[M5CCIE]

Originally Posted by whatheheck

I have a post on this already. Try scrubbing bubbles. It is $2.99 a can.

The best engine cleaner!

Cover your HID ballasts and bulbs. Cover any exposed connectors with Saran wrap.

Spray on Scrubbing bubbles everywhere in the engine. Scrub with a toothbrush heavily greased areas. Let it soak for 2 minutes, then hose off with water.

Start the engine, let it warm up for 5 minutes, then let me know what you think.

I do mine 4 times a year. See picture attached after scrubbing bubbles treatment.

Thank you. It worked amazingly good.

[whatheheck]

Thanks for the update.

Glad it worked for you too.

Originally Posted by M5CCIE

Thank you. It worked amazingly good.

[eclips]

Thanks for the tip, Whatheheck... did mine over the weekend and wound up doing my wife's car as well. Results are amazing and that was without using the toothbrush. Couldn't stop, so I did the Tubi's as well.

[M5CCIE]

I was so impressed I used the bubbles to clean up my Trex deck. It worked just as good. Next, I would try it on pimples instead of Wintex ;-)

[whatheheck]

Thanks for posting updates. Glad it worked for you guys too.

It is really so simple and so easy to use that I now use it on all of my 3 cars on a bi-monthly basis. Spray on and hose off. Sparkling clean! Cant get any easier than that. And yes, I use it to clean my Tubi exhaust too and works really well. No hard scrubbing or brushing required.

Sorry for the late reply. My wife and I just came back from a 2 week Mediterranean Cruise. Great cruise and I had fun, except I missed my beast so the first thing I did this morning was to take her out for a drive and stretch her legs and my legs. What an awesome machine. I love my beast.

Originally Posted by eclips

Thanks for the tip, Whatheheck... did mine over the weekend and wound up doing my wife's car as well. Results are amazing and that was without using the toothbrush. Couldn't stop, so I did the Tubi's as well.

[Nabio]

They sell scrubbing bubbles in like 4 packs at Costco. It worked well when I tried it recently after reading Dan's thread. I suggest you wear latex gloves; you won't lose any dexterity heavier gloves would do and you don't get the nasty hand afterward. Just buy those big toothbrush type brushes from a hardware and go to town.

I'm sure streaming water on the engine won't do much harm if you take care of electrical connections and parts. Anywhere the water could get in and cause damage probably would already be leaking oil out / air in. The S62 is not like the ***** Star with some hidden hole/vulnerability.

[Justin13]

Originally Posted by whatheheck

There really isnt very many parts and connections you need to cover so this is really no big deal. Takes 15 minutes.

Here are my recommendations:

Cover your HID ballasts, HID connections, and HID bulbs. Believe me, I know this first hand as after I washed my 2000 540i five years ago (I didnt cover anything), started the car, turn the headlights on, the headlights no longer worked. Ballast quit working on one side, HID bulb burned out on the other side.

Moisture also accumulated inside the headlight assemblies. I dont recommend pressure washer or high water pressure.

Cover with plastic or saran wrap the entire passenger side A/C filter which houses the ECU and all sorts of connections inside. You accidentally get water in there and you will be asking for trouble.

Any other exposed connectors, wrap them in saran wrap. That's it. Again, this is playing it safe trying to avoid issues later.

Never wash your engine hot.

I dont recommend aluminum tape. Aluminum tape is very conductive. If you get water trapped underneath the aluminum tape, and you forget to remove it once you're done washing your engine - I dont know what will happen.

I will post photo when I come back from vacation.

After coming across this thread while doing a search on engine cleaning I thought I would give the "scrubbing bubbles" a try. I would like to know where the alternator an ECU are. Perhaps Dan could just load that photo of his engine in Microsoft Paint and draw circles around the areas to be particularly careful with and then post it online.

[Need4Spd]

Sorry man, but I just can't have other board members try this. Seen too much stuff go wrong for letting this pass. Consider yourself lucky untill now, the amount of warning lights coming etc on cars that I have seen washed with water is endless...

I subscribe to Dan's theory about covering things up with plastic that you don't want to risk getting wet. I will try the Scrubbing Bubbles method, b/c it looks so good afterwards. I think a "warm" but not hot engine isn't all that bad and might actually help w/o staining anything.

Here's a thought about getting things wet. I've only cleaned my engine compartment a few times, using only plain water. I've had to replace all four of my cam position sensors. I swear that each CPS failure has followed an engine wash by no more than a few weeks. Coincidence? Probably. But be really careful with water under the hood.

[mottati]

the ecu is pretty well sealed away, pass side (US) back corner, below the microfilter housing, in a plastic compartment.
Alternator is to the right and down a bit from the fan. I've washed down my engine compartment many times without issues, but you never know i suppose. When i was a detailer, in h.s./college, we'd blast away at the engine bay with the pressure washer, only incident i ever had was blasting off the fuse box cover of an old 320i. (once we found the cover, all was fine)