95 civic lx
Under the hood has become pretty dirty, any good ways to clean it up a little?
Not looking for a shine and gloss, just a quick cleanup to make things friendlier to both my eyes and my hands
Like spray it down with a hose (which I'm guessing would be a bad idea)

 

i just use a wash cloth and just put some kind of liquid on it and if u have a stock header i painted the heat cover black and it made it look alot cleaner

 

You got a picture of that? I'd like to see what it looks like
And is there anything I -shouldn't- clean with a cloth and water?

 

picture under the hood
https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...&pictureid=632

and i just would be carfull around the plugs and such i mean just really use ur common sence

 

whats more effective is to cover your air filter (if it is an exposed one like on short ram intake) or the hole that goes to the stock intake, and all electrical stuff with saran wrap, and then take engine degreaser and soak the engine in it while it's a little warm, and let it sit for about 5 minutes. Then spray it all off with a hose.
When I do this, I do all it at the manual car wash, so that I can use the pressure washer.


here's the engine bay cleaning DIY:
https://www.hondacivicforum.com/foru...ead.php?t=9880

 

sounds a little advanced for me
but magnificent
Maybe I'll use it when I'm older, have more time and money
But until then, I'll stick with a mild soap-water solution and a washcloth.

I really appreciate it guys, I'm bookmarking that DIY for later

 

I was just thinking about this, and since I really don't know much about this stuff, cars...
Would it help if I posted pictures of my bay, both the top and bottom?
It's all just stock and no ABS, but I'm not sure what all the electrical components are and where are the sensors would be (granted it's probably just where the wires are/connect)

 

Truthfully, the only thing i covered was my intake filter (short ram intake) with a plastic grocery bag. Then I degreased everything, and blasted it with the pressure washer at the car wash. Just don't point the pressure washer at the alternator or the battery, but they'll be okay if they get a tiny bit wet... I wouldn't spray the battery at all though.

 

the battery isnt a problem.... only thing i bagged up when pressure washing was a grocery bag over the whole distributor, pieces of some more bags over the main engine harness plugs and then i used a gallon of SIMPLE GREEN cleaner sprayed all over the engine bay really thick... sprayed about half the bottle and then after about 10-15mins i sprayed it all over again thick until all the cleaner was empty, waited another 10mins and pressure washed the whole engine bay!







simple green degreaser works great!!!!!!! spray it on let it soak in and then pressure wash it off just put a bag over the distributor and you should be fine.... the coil and distributor cap is the most important thing to cover up and not spray directly!!!!!!

and you need a pressure washer... a garden hose sprayer will not be enough to get it all! so spray it down at a self serve car wash for best results. just be sure to bag the distributor before spraying it with anything and bring enough quarters

and be sure to wash off the outside of the car when your done as well so the oil and junk and cleaner doesnt dry on your exterior paint!
mine was HORIBLE as you can see

 

^nice job

I actually used some stuff from the auto parts store in a big black spray bottle labeled "Engine Degreaser"
It worked great