DIY: Best and easiest way to clean your engine

The above post got me to take another look at the areas where I had previously said paint had been removed. Turns out I was wrong and just experienced the same, but very heavy, milky residue. As mine had dried it took a bit of effort to remove, but did get most of it. Possibly I did not thoroughly rinse, although both regions in questions were vertical surfaces. Could be there was excess dirt that the SB's did not fully loosen and the stuff sort of soaked into the dirt and thus did not rinse out completely. Something to watch for.

So, I'll retract my comments about paint removal, and apologies to Dan and anyone else if I caused any alarm or hesitation on having used the product.

Will try again on some vehicles that are less, um, nice.

 

Crappy cellphone pic.
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Thanks for sharing info Jim.

No apologies needed.

Dan

 

Wow! Super clean!

Thanks for sharing photo.

Dan

 

Thanks! My second application of scrubbing bubbles, first application of Griot’s Engine Bay Dressing. I did plastic over the oil pressure sensor and cam solenoids this time just for caution!

 

Good for you! Better safe than sorry.

My oil pressure sensor started malfunctioning and its still unreliable / intermittent so I will replace it soon.
I dont know if its because it got wet or its simply reached the end of its life as my car is a 2006 so its 12 years old.

It also threw some codes & idled a little rough (I have a post here somewhere) and threw a CEL so I cleaned the variator control valve solenoid connectors with contact cleaner and let it completely dry.

Did an engine reset and CEL is now gone and car is back running with no idle issues.

I plan to replace the variator control valve solenoids sometime soon just as preventive treatment as they are known to go bad after around 30K miles or 10 years.
At least that's what I read here.

 

Worked great !!!!
Thanks!!
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Is that TDF??? AWE SOME

 

Yes sir!!! My fave color by far on a 360 or almost any model!
Cheers!!

 

Plus my Enzo...always looking good....
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Wow, that looks amazing!

Thanks for sharing!

Dan

 

Beautiful car!

Dan

 

Thanks...couldn't get Enzo to look in the camera that day! Shy I guess!

 

Dan,
Thank you for the advise. Tried looking up where the oil pressure sending unit and variation control solenoid valves are but no luck.
Can you post a pic and circle which items should be wrapped for a newbie .
Will post before and after pics.
Thanks in advance!

 

Sending unit circled. Hard to reach but you can go from underneath where the access door is for the oil filter.

Variator solenoid is facing the cabin fire wall on the cylinder head cover. I could not see it.
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Thank you for the pics!
Appreciate it!

 

Thanks Dan for sharing photos of F430 Oil Sending Unit location.

Michael, here are the locations of variator solenoid control valves.
Based on our experience these may be sensitive to liquids including the connectors so if you plan on cleaning your engine I highly recommend you cover the ones circled and arrow pointed (variator connectors) issues.

Hope that helps.

Dan

Photo courtesy of member Mark Stewart.

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Thanks for the tip. It works good. Didn't see a big difference but I have a pretty clean engine compartment.
Two things:
It did turn my air boxes a powdery gray. Solved it with an application of WD40 and wiped down. WD40 applied and wiped down works good on all parts. I've done that for years on my cars to "wet out" the black plastic and metal parts-- even hoses. Gives a nice look without that slimy Armour-All look.

I did get some water spots but was able to wipe the side panels and such with a damp cloth and they were gone. So I suppose it would be a good idea to dry the panels with a towel.

I can see where it would be a good way to go on the suspension parts, inner wheels for brake dust, and other undercarriage parts. Going to give it a try there.

 

Great post, very informative!

 

Very nice post and thanks for the info Dan. Can anyone tell me what the UK equivalent of scrubbing bubbles is?


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Hehe is there a “Sowrry! We’ll scrub while you have tea and crumpets then guvnor!” product over there?

 

It can be bought in UK from Amazon

 

Sorry I dont know the answer to that question.

Hopefully someone here from the UK will chime in.

Dan

 

Good point I just got mine from Amazon anyway, like most everything else.

 

Hey Dan.

Already a big fan of all Griots products I decided to follow your lead and attend to my engine detail.
Very pleased with the results..!
Thank You,
Kaspar

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