How to Degrease a Car Engine

Whether your car is newer or especially if it is older you know how oily and greasy the engine area can get over time. To really spruce it up and get rid of all that oily grease and grime is not that difficult of a job!

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Water hose
• Engine degreaser (Spray cans sold at auto parts stores)
• Old rags
• Paint scraper and wire brushes
• Rubber gloves
• Old work clothes
• Plastic bags
• Safety eye goggles

1. Locate and cover all possible loose wires and put plastic over the distributor and any open air filters and any electrical parts such as the alternator and voltage regulators. Just be thoughtful and cover electrical parts and wires as best as possible.

2. 

   With safety glasses on start at the upper sections of the engine and work your way down carefully spraying the degreaser on the specific areas you wish to clean which is usually most needed on the lower half of the engine and let the degreaser soak in for 10 to 15 minutes. Be careful to not spray any of these harsh cleaners on the paint on the car and also avoid spark plug areas. Avoid Splash back when spraying as you take precise aim of your target areas and just spraying the product out gently and on an angle.

3. You can spray some cleaner directly onto a rag and wipe down areas you can easily reach such as inner fender walls, the frame of the radiator and valve covers for instance which you are waiting for the degreaser you sprayed on to soak in. Keep in mind that some chemicals may take off painted finishes, so read the label of the product you choose.

4. 

   Re spray the portions of the engine you already sprayed with the degreaser and use your scrubbing brush where you can reach for loosening any heavier grease. Also a 1 or 2 inch paint scraper may be helpful to scrape off thick caked on grease

5. With the water hose on a direct stream at low pressure carefully spray water always aiming down wards to rinse off the grease that has loosened from the degreaser. The object here is to avoid splash back of the water and chemicals and be sure you have your goggels on during this stage of the job.

6. Work your way now again if needed to any sections of the engine that you may have missed with more degreaser, brushing, scraping and hosing down until all the grease is removed.

7. 
   The first step to detailing an engine is degreasing.

   A final rinse down and wiping the upper portions of the engine dry will give you a finished look.

8. Remove all the plastic covering your wires and with a dry rag wipe down any water that may have gotten under the plastic, then start the car and run for a few minutes to burn off any remaining degreaser. If you have a problem starting the car up after this, it may mean that some water or degreaser got where it shouldn’t have and normally just waiting for a while till all is completely dry is all you need to do.

Tips & Warnings

• You can lay an old blanket, quilt or towels under the engine to catch the loose grease and oil for easy disposal and also to prevent staining on the concrete.
• Be careful not to spray any degreaser or water into the area where the spark plugs are.
• Always wear your safety glasses so the chemicals won’t splash back into your eyes.
• Work in an area where the water run off will not be a problem when you hose down and clean the ground under the car afterwards.
• If you get any degreaser on the finish of your car wipe and rinse off immediately. Degreasers can be very harmful to paint.
• Discard all your oily rags into a plastic bag with a tie and dispose directly into an outside trash receptacle.