How to Clean Your Engine Bay: A Comprehensive Guide

Hey what's up guys!? Welcome to another  episode of Pan The Organizer! Today,   I'm going to show you how to clean your engine  bay! Now, if you've never done this before,   it can seem quite intimidating right? A lot of  components, some mechanical bits and pieces,  

electronics, but if you use some common sense  and some precautions it's actually quite simple   and safe to do. I've been detailing cars for  over 25 years now and through those years I've   detailed hundreds and hundreds of engine bays and  never once did I have an issue, because I'll be  

sharing with you all the tips and tricks on how to  do this properly. I'm also going to be showing you   what kind of products equipment and tools I used  to do the job, and by the way, I'll link those in   the description under the video for you guys to  check them out, so all you have to do is sit back  

relax and enjoy the show! And also you're going  to have a first person view or perspective of   how I do this I'm going to be strapping this  GoPro to my head so you'll be able to follow   along for the journey. So without further ado,  stay tuned, let's go ahead, and start the show!  

[Music] Guys, let's jump right into this  engine bay detail. First order of business,   always wear some nitrile gloves when you're  detailing to protect your hands from the chemicals   and any other personal protection equipment that  you might need. Work either in a ventilated space,  

if you're working outside that's fine just don't  work in direct sunlight. Also make sure that the   engine bay is cool to the touch so if you just  drove the vehicle let it rest for a few hours   you don't want to be using any chemicals or cold  water on a hot engine block because you don't  

want anything to be expanding or contracting and  potentially run into any issues. talking about   issues your don't be worried you're going to hear  a lot of things and people trying to scare you   right the majority of vehicles in the last decade  to the last 15 years have a lot of watertight  

components so you can use water just don't focus a  high pressured stream on one given area for a big   amount of time and you'll be safe so for example  my pressure washer I set it to roughly 1000 PSI to   wash cars which is roughly 69 bars if you're in  Europe and that's more than enough and keep the  

water flowing you can use a regular garden hose  if you want as well as far as the sensitivity of   different electronic bits and pieces well there is  the alternator that you might want to cover with a   plastic baggie if you feel that it's exposed like  this one but the majority of the vehicles today  

have a lot of plastic cladding underneath the the  hood so you don't need to take too much precaution   the battery terminals are usually protected  you can disconnect the battery if you're really   scared I won't do that today I've done a hundreds  and hundreds of detailing jobs for engine Bays  

so I'm not worried about that any other older  vehicles if you have any sensitive Electronics   like distributors or any exposed Electronics  perhaps an old ECU unit that's super exposed or   some fuse boxes that might be wonky wanky or that  kind of stuff you might want to protect as well  

so let's grab a plastic baggie and we're going  to cover the alternator and that's pretty much   all that's needed this is a 2021 Nissan Rogue  that my girlfriend purchased brand new last   year so the engine bay isn't that dirty uh but  what I recommend is that you guys clean it and  

of course if you clean the engine bay often once  or twice a year you should be fine with regular   maintenance so all we see here is a bit of dust  right accumulation you have these leaves dirt   and debris before I show you what we have for  detailing tools products and equipment what we  

need to do is first start by blowing off with  either compressed air or a leaf blower or maybe   if you have a vacuum you're going to vacuum up  all this dirt and debris that might be around the   vehicle so all the loose stuff so for me I'm going  to grab my car dryer which is a blower basically

[Music] so that we removed or knocked off any loose dirt  and debris I'm going to show you the simple uh   chemicals the equipment the tools and the products  that we're going to be using today so first of all  

we're going to need a Degreaser so what I like  is koshemi GS this is a pH 12 and a half so an   alkaline cleaner basically an all-purpose cleaner  and they're a green star for use in the engine   bay they recommend to dilute one to five or one  to ten so one part of product for five parts of  

water or one part of product to 10 parts of water  in a spray bottle so what I did here I have this   carpo dilute spray bottle I diluted koshemi green  star five to one so five parts of water to one   part of product in a spray bottle I'm gonna have  also this kochemy this is their act the foam this  

has a pH of nine and a half you're going to see  why I'm going to use this we're going to first   start by spraying the Degreaser we're going to  let that dwell and to prolong the dwell time and   to get further into the nooks and crannies  and all the crevices and hidden Parts we're  

going to use this active foam diluted one part of  product to 10 parts of water in this foam Cannon   and then a few brushes that we're going to need  so some flag tip brushes here we also have these   work stuff brushes so different sizes different  tips different configurations this longer one  

here that we're going to use for the hood  as well and any intricate areas where you   need where you need to dig deeper inside you can  use these kind of easy detail brushes as well if   you don't have a foam Cannon by the way you can  use a foaming pump sprayer like this axle series  

foamer from Miralax this is a very good one I  have a review of the amerilx pump sprayers on   my channel if you want to check those out and at  the end we're going to rejuvenate and protect all   the plastic bits and pieces the vinyl the rubber  that's underneath the hood with a selection here  

I have four different products so the first  one motor plast this is an engine conserver   so you can put this on a wet surface or a dry  surface once you cleaned it same thing goes for   McGuire's hyper dressing I diluted this four to  one for a natural finish but you can have high  

gloss medium gloss satin or natural water-based  products so it won't crack or fade any of the   rubber components or Plastics under the engine  bay there is one in aerosol form Chemical Guys   black on black so you spray and you shine and  same thing for the stoner trim shine to restore  

all that color and shine like an oem appearance  and a few microfiber towels that's pretty much   it it's super simple so now what we're going to  do we're going to take the pressure washer we're   going to start with the hood so always work from  top to bottom right you don't want to have your  

clean parts and then finish with the hood and  have all that dirt and junk dripping back onto   your clean surface and we're going to rinse with  the pressure washer so here I'm using my crenzla   1122 TST pressure washer and I set it to roughly  a thousand PSI for washing cards which is more  

than enough just make sure you keep your wand  moving don't Focus the jet too hard definitely   don't use any high powered gas pressure washers  that throw out three thousand or four thousand   PSI in the engine bay you don't want to do that  that so we're going to work from top to bottom  

first knock off a bit of that loose dirt and  debris as well with the water and by the way   under the hood you can have some things like this  these are Shields sometimes for heat rejection   other times they're used for noise insulation  so I wouldn't touch this if it's dirty just put  

a bit of APC on a microfiber towel and you can  gently wipe that off but other than that try and   leave these parts alone because you don't want  to crack them or have too much liquid and then   have them sag and potentially be removed so just  clean them manually if anything so we're going to  

work around that now with the pressure washer and  just knock off any loose dirt and debris as well foreign guys as you saw you keep the wand moving and no  worries for the electronic bits and pieces other  

than the stuff if you really really are scared  for a bit of the more sensitive stuff like the   alternator you can cover that with a plastic  baggie uh but yeah that's pretty much it also   notice that we start with the engine bay when we  fully detail a vehicle because we're gonna have  

a lot of things splattering all over the place  so when we're done with the engine bay that's   when you're going to wash the rest of your  vehicle right so let's take our all-purpose   cleaner that we diluted in our spray bottle were  generously gonna spray this so what this is going  

to do it's going to start lifting and dissolving  all that dirt and grime so be generous with this   and at these dilutions These are products  that are super safe to use so like I said   we start with the top portion but while you're  at it soak the rest of the engine bay as well  

so here we go so again this is going to start  to break down all that dirt debris the grime   the gunk the grease as well uh if you prefer  using a Degreaser if you have like a dirtier   engine you can go ahead and use that so having  a dedicated degreaser is also appropriate for  

here but usually an all-purpose cleaner as the  name States it cleans all types of surfaces so   we're going to let that dwell while we tackle  the underneath portion of the hood here we have   a bunch of different brushes I like to use this  long brush here long handle brush which is good  

for the fender Wells as well so in this bucket  here I have a bit of McKees 37 rinseless wash   there we go just to have a bit of lubrication  on the brush and we go ahead and we scrub so if   I wasn't talking and was to do this engine bay  detail in one go with the experience when you  

get used to it in 15 minutes tops I'm done so it's  not something that is going to take you hours and   hours and of course practice makes perfect so the  more you're going to do this the more you're going   to enjoy it and you're also going to see that it's  quite safe when you're using the precautions again  

some common sense there is no real fear to be  had no worries guys we're gonna rinse that out I'm gonna take the foam Cannon and again  inside here I have a one to ten dilution   of the koshemi active foam so this is a pH of  nine and a half so it's not pH neutral it has  

a bit more cleaning power so it's kind of this  they mixed their pH neutral GSF or gentle snow   foam with a bit of that green star integrated  so an all-purpose cleaner put that in and made   this foam so what this is going to allow is  that Degreaser that we sprayed on there or the  

all-purpose cleaner we're gonna have a longer  dwell time with the foam and also reach all   the deeper nooks and crannies the intricate  areas so on and so forth so let's go ahead foreign

is beautifully covered so now we have a longer  dwell time it's dissolving and encapsulating all   that dirt debris Grime grease all that stuff  so to help that now we're going to do some   mechanical agitation we have a selection  of brushes here that we're going to use  

and this is the fun part now if you've never  detailed an engine bay before you're going to   see just how much satisfaction you get from  doing this guys you can see all that dirt   just melting away just dissolving and knowing  that every single part of the vehicle right not  

just the interior and the exterior but also  the engine bay compartment is clean there's   something so satisfying about that so use a  few different brushes so I have different sizes   and different types to reach all sorts of  parts now we're not aiming for a museum  

type or Concourse level restoration here  all we want is to have clean engine bay   your mechanic is going to thank you by the way  because you'll have clean surfaces to work with there you go again work on a clean and cool  surface I should say not clean but cool that  

way you're not going to run into any issues by  working on a hot engine bay so always wait for   the thing to cool up all right so this was  one of the bigger brushes now you can take   one of the more intricate ones to get into  the little areas right and to make sure  

we reach everything hopefully everything  is fine with the resolution of course the   GoPro doesn't have the same capabilities as my  bigger Sony a7s Mark III but hopefully you can   see everything well hopefully you  can hear the audio quite crisply  

so you just go about it you're going to feel like  an artist by doing this because you're working on   everything with different brushes right to reach  all the nooks all the crannies so always have a   different assortment of different types of brushes  and they're always going to be valuable regardless  

of what detailing needs you have because you  can use some for the interior for the exterior   and you're seeing this in real time by the way  so you can tell you don't have to be super super   gentle again I know there's a lot of videos out  there a lot of people like to stress people by  

saying ah it's so complicated to do an engine  bay don't do it you're going to break everything   well again I detailed hundreds and  hundreds of engine Bays through the years   never had a single issue why because I use common  sense and the tips and tricks that you're hearing  

in this video of course use some precaution on  older vehicles right anything that's older than   10 or 15 years might not be as water typed  as modern cars today because the majority   of the car makers they really go through extensive  testing and extensive links to make sure that  

their engine bays are watertight now you can grab  these wheel brushes that have these fibers that   can go deeper inside areas like here behind the  radiator that you don't necessarily have access   to with other brushes so this is what I like from  having a different selection it allows you to get  

deeper into the nooks and crannies like here  for example and you get in between stuff and you just have a blast always guys if you  watch my videos for those of you who've been   watching for a longer time perhaps you know that  one of my goals is to inspire my viewers to go  

out there and enjoy detailing their cars and  this should be a fun experience for everyone   and by making things funner like this well  guess what you're going to be more inclined   to take care of your vehicle more often

so there we go by the way for you  professional detailers out there   when you're doing an engine bay make sure  to have your customers sign a contract that   you're not liable for any damage because  you don't know what condition the engine  

bay is in right if there's any cracked air  boxes or cracked hoses or leaking stuff that   is up to the customer to know the service the  reliability what's the state of the components   and the state of their vehicle alright  so let's go ahead and rinse all this down

foreign we're happy with that and by the way guys when  you're using a pressure washer believe it or not   you're using less water than your traditional  garden hose so you're more efficient at what  

you're doing now you could leave the engine  bay wet just like it is and spray on one of   these two dressings because they can go on wet  surfaces so for example mortar plast you would   spray it all over you'd close the uh engine  cover or the hood cover and just let it go  

for a few hours until it dries off itself levels  and you're going to have that awesome finish the   same applies for the McGuire's hyper dressing so  while it's still wet you're going to spray and be   very generous with it spray all the components  close the hood Let It Go for a few hours until  

it fully dries and then again you're going to  have a nice surface everything's going to be   protected and have that nice OEM appearance you  can use a microfiber towel to blot any excess   but what I like to do for a safety precaution  is is we're going to blow dry the engine bay  

compartment so you can have a full-blown car  dryer like I do or you can use something like   this depending on your budget this is a smaller  metrovac air force Blaster sidekick so it shoots   a filtered hot dry air so that way you can dry  the engine bay and not have any issues but I'm  

going to use the big boy here this big boy blower  R Pro always use protective gear for your ears questions so already guys we can tell just how beautiful  this looks it's like 95 dry whatever is left  

we're gonna leave there because we're going to  be applying the dressing and by the way if you   don't have a car dryer or a leaf blower you can  use compressed air if you have an air compressor   or you can towel dry it with microfiber towels  always use of course your secondary towels not  

the cleanest ones use ones that perhaps are  used or ready to go in the garbage keep those   for engine bay detailing so you can mop up  the excess water or if you're outside leave   it dry in the sunlight and let the water naturally  evaporate so what I like to do we have a selection  

once again of four types of dressings I really  really like the water-based ones because they're   not going to promote any cracking or fading of the  rubber or Plastics because they don't contain any   solvents in them but they all work super well  so for example if you take this one here go  

motor plast so if you read in the back they say  that it's a water displacing engine conserver   treated Parts regain their new appearance which  is what we want the power units are protected   from corrosion and environmental factors by  permanently elastic protective film and it's  

temperature resistant to 250 degrees Celsius  so perfect for use in engine Bays obviously so   shake your chemicals and you're going to spray  this so you can spray on a wet or dry surface if   you spray it on wet it's going to self level  but you need a few hours for it to fully dry  

so at this point you can close the hood and just  let it continue drying on its own what we're going   to do is spray this liberally as you can see we're  going to let it dry I'm going to close the hood to   clean the rest of the vehicle off come back later  and just mop up with a microfiber towel so that  

way we don't have any unwanted high spots or any  streaking but we're going to have this brand new   appearance we're going to protect everything a  lot of these by the way also have UV protection   in them so you can always read the instructions  and the label but they're going to help prevent  

fading and cracking but more importantly they're  going to give that super nice detailed appearance   to your engine bay and at this point you can also  remove any plastic baggies that you had to cover   the alternator perhaps if you wanted to cover  your coil packs on top of the engine bay if you  

disconnected your battery you can go ahead and  reconnect that once everything is fully dry and   any other sensitive components that you guys  might want to cover use plastic baggies cover   those if it makes you feel better as well but  again on newer Vehicles 10 to 15 years as you  

saw it's pretty simple everything is pretty much  watertight and well sealed just use common sense   keep moving with your water don't stay focused on  the same area for minutes on end that's when you   run into issues and don't use too high pressure so  nothing over 2000 PSI anything between a thousand  

to two thousand PSI to wash cars is what we're  aiming for or just your regular garden hose if   you want and if you really wanted to you can use  the touchless watch appearance by using something   like a waterless wash that you would spray without  any water then use a few brushes mop up with a  

microfiber towel obviously you won't achieve this  same level of cleanliness and you'll be working a   lot harder this is the simple and easy way and  efficient way to do it and you're going to come   back at the end we're going to watch the end  results together and see how awesome this looks  

so now I'm going to wash the rest of the vehicle  and get back to this who guys just look at this   end result how awesome is that so we restored  it to this better than you appearance because   it's not only clean now but we also dressed it  everything is more accessible you're not going  

to dirty yourself when you're uh having to do  some stuff in the engine bay of course your car   mechanic will thank you so the hood everything is  nice and tidy it's now dry to the touch we used a   simple towel to buff off any residual dressing  that was there but uh yeah man what do you guys  

think drop a comment in the comment section under  the video If there are some things as well that   you do differently let me know drop a comment and  now let's go ahead and see those Final Shots so   guys let's see this radical transformation so the  before shots where you can see that the engine bay  

was quite dirty it wasn't the dirtiest engine bay  ever but it still had some dirt some Grime some   dust and it didn't quite look as good as it was  when we first bought the vehicle brand new and   in the after shots hopefully you can see the  striking difference everything is clean everything  

has been enhanced and protected as well it looks  absolutely amazing and it looks brand new now and   you can do this as well in the comfort of your  own home either once or twice a year is what I'd   recommend of course once again make sure to follow  all the precautions that were given to you and the  

tips and tricks in this video use some common  sense and you'll be fine and also I remind you   all the tools equipment and products that I used  in this video I'll link those in the description   under the video for you guys to check them out  if you enjoy this kind of a video well know that  

I have over 800 videos on my channel this is one  of the biggest car detailing channels on YouTube   thanks to you guys my viewers and subscribers  so thanks for being there thanks for watching   and in the meantime don't forget keep it tight  keep it clean and I'll see you on the next one