Cover Engine when Washing?

That looks like the correct Ferrari green bath towel.

Your all good, Bob.

 

That's exactly what I've done since I bought the car in 2008.

Jedi

 

Well, the cars have windshield wipers so I'm sure getting some water in the engine bay is no big deal. I don't cover mine, but I do blot the water up as a part of my wash/dry routine. Then I warm the car up and drive it a little bit to dry the brakes and anything else a towel can't get to easily.

 

Do the towels get wet at all? I don't use towels and only wash by hand and I don't think the engine ever got wet. There are some drops coming from the engine lid when I open it but that's all I think.

 

Home Depot sell pvc/vinyl sheeting from a roll by-the foot. I bought a piece and cut cover for the entire engine compartment. Absolutely perfect protection for all components on my 400i. Five bucks. Jq.

 

I just blot the water with a towel after washing and then drive the car as per GlenV. The car has been in heavy rain on many occasions and the engine doesn't seem to care at all. It starts instantly, wet OR dry.

HOWEVER...I will admit that regular washing my 328 caused the "Ferrari" logo on the airbox to lift and generally disintegrate. I don't know what kind of paint Ferrari used for that but it acts more like chalk than paint...

SO if you have an airbox cover with the lettering in good, original oem condition and wish to keep it that way, I suggest at least covering the air box lid with plastic before washing.

 

Hmm, double thoughts on this one. The design is made so the engine gets wet in the rain, but only the parts of the engine that can get wet without problems. My car got very wet on several occasions but I never had problems starting or running the car in the rain. Putting a towel in there might even cause water to run in places where the water can cause damage, imho.

 

Eleven years of washing my WHOLE car. Never an issue with the engine. I do have an exceptionally clean engine bay. I use simply green when needed.

Though I will say, once I got caught in a hail/sleet storm & the water pump belt broke.
And once I got caught in a deluge and water got to the coil wire shorting and caused a whole bank to fail: Slow down light on. But that was my fault for not having a tight enough wire cap over the coil. Fixed.

 

Are you crazy? Don't you know the towel change interval is 3 years MAX? Do NOT drive that car again until you change the towels!

 

I owned my GTB for more five years and didn't wash it once with soap and water. Too concerned with water getting into all of the wrong places.

 

I have had my 328 15 years. Always wash without covering engine. Always run car for 20 minutes after a wash. Never any problems. Engine bay not show car clean but very clean.

 

Pi use plastic garbage bags to cover the engine when washing the car; works great but it's very important to remember to rem

 

Remove them before starting the car!!!!!!!!

 

I used to cover my engine bay with plastic and also the front compartment as that was where the fusebox was.

 

Tempting fate and acting on impulse once again, I take the 400A through the Shell station car wash. The paint is original and just okay, so I'm not worrying about that, but this car which is inhabited by a usually benign spirit shys like a horse at the car wash pay station. It did not like the car wash and the car wash did not like it. Me, I'm a bystander behind the wheel as the car wash steals one of my dollars before inviting us, through the disembodied voice of woman, to drive in. I put the Ferrari in drive and it chooses to lurch forward, spilling the bottle of Dasani water I've wedged between the parking brake handle and the little tray or whatever that is between the seats. Half the bottle spills on the carpet in the back seat. Due to extended cursing I miss the 'anti-corrosion' mist being ejected from the floor of the car wash. I unwisely continue ahead and stop, as instructed by the woman, in front of the red light. The wash progresses. The Ferrari is thinking payback. When the water and the soap and the fake wax finally stop, the dryer comes on, causing the white vent on the hood to fly open. I hustle out of there, turn the motor off, check the stupid vent and the wet carpet, notice my handkerchief is wrecked, and then I turn the engine back on.
And, you guessed it, folks, it's a different car. Runs like it's underwater. No power in second gear, sounds I swear of gurgling out the tailpipe. This is wrecking my day, just as the car knew it would. I want to hustle it straight up on the Interstate and try to blow the water out (like I know what's wrong with it) but I got to go buy a damn bench at an auction house filled with repressed old preppies that make me wonder if I look like they do. These people care way too much about coin silver.
I creep into Uptown New Orleans on the worst roads this side of Chad. The car is having a wonderful time malfunctioning. I finally get into the auction house and they are maybe 100 lots from the bench, so I run back outside and drive the car over the Mississippi River bridge. It barely makes it up the entrance ramp. It's like it's talking to me: you-a stupido, you-a putta me inna da Shell I show-a you how I canna act! FIVE-A THOUSAND DOLLARS I GONNA COST-A YOU!!!
Over the bridge at 90 mph and back, down the ramp, back to the auction house with this enfant terrible still pouting. I park on Constantinople Street (made famous by Ignatius Rielly in Confederacy of Dunces) and go back into the auction house. I buy-a the bench. I stay long enough to see some idiot pay 1200 dollars for a rare book I sell in my own catalog for 600, then I leave.
By now, I don't care anymore. It can stick the 5000 up it's Ansa tailpipe. The Ferrari, of course, senses I no longer care. I turn on the ignition, and she's back to normal.

 

^^^ Great story, thanks.

 

A dozen washes of my 328 without any "protection" and I've never had a problem starting or running. I spray the whole car with a hose sprayer, hand wash the entire car including deck lid and louvers, then respray to rinse.

 

When I bought my car the previous owner told me how he washed the car. He said to take a sheet of thin plastic and drape it over the motor. Then, and this is very important, he said to take the keys out of your pocket and throw them in the trunk. Then immediately close the deck lid.

 

I've washed the car and engine several times. when doing the car - with my hose - I dont worry, when washing the engine couple of things I do take precaution on:

1. Plug up the clutch access cover - its perforated so water& Oil will get in there

2. Cover the belts area with a plastic bag - more for the water pump drive belts... alternator etc...

make sure the trunk is zippered and covered incase water get in there - wet carpet gets moldy pretty fast.

otherwise not really worry.

I was reading in Octane about Jay Lenno washing his car with detail spray only... and I've kind of been doing that for a long time - only really wash the car 1-2x per year or if its been out in ther rain and got spots all over it...

I get embarrased that my car is not "pristine" like others that I see -but really its for driving... I do like having a clean engine... looks better!

 

$1500 well spent. You can use a cheaper towel, but why risk it.

I know a guy who said he knows a guy firsthand through a friend's cousin who got 5 years out of a towel.

Always use protection.

To the OP: Admittedly I live in San Diego where the car never really got wet and the biggest problem is dust, but unless the car was getting detailed I just used quick detailer after every drive. Griot's Garage also sells a spray car wash that I use on my Speedster (which has absolutely no water resistance...), which gets a lot of dirt off without using a hose and water. The other good thing about this approach is that you immediately remove any squashed bugs, bird or bee souvenirs, etc., on your paint. It forces diligence on this.

On the very few occasions I used the hose on the 328, I did cover the engine with towels, but mostly because I didn't want water spotting.

 

Once or twice a year I wash the engine compartment with a 190* power washer. Never had a major problem, but have uncovered many.

 

over the last five years, I have washed the 328 once a week for a total of 250 times without ever covering up the engine. It has never failed to turn over, even once.

 

Ouch! Were the towels too old or did some other prophylactic fail to protect her?