Best way to clean and Valet engine bay etc??

[Fat Audi 80]

Any one got any BTDT for valeting the engine bay. Mine is by no means bad, but I would like to get it looking a little cleaner and shiney. Is a (gentle) pressure wash a definite no no?

What other methods have people used, or is it just plain elbow grease Autoglym and a toothbrush on a sunny sunday??

Cheers,

Steve.

[Pete_RS2]

It doesn't look like your's needs much cleaning Steve.

A good way to remove grime is with WD40. Just spray it on and leave for a while. The gunk then wipes off really easy.

I wouldn't go anywhere near a pressure wash on one of these cars. The risk of water getting where it shouldn't, e.g. coilpacks, etc is just too great. I've heard too many stories of subsequent missfire troubles it isn't worth it IMHO.

[Fat Audi 80]

Thanks Pete,

No, you're right it isn't that bad, but I am one of those sad bonnet poppers "Let me show you what's under the hood"... so I like it to look as good as it goes!

I will use my plethera of polishing materials and have a go at again next spring...

Cheers,

Steve.

[Jas11n]

Any one got any BTDT for valeting the engine bay. Mine is by no means bad, but I would like to get it looking a little cleaner and shiney. Is a (gentle) pressure wash a definite no no?

What other methods have people used, or is it just plain elbow grease Autoglym and a toothbrush on a sunny sunday??

Cheers,

Steve.

Going off personal experiance only here Steve, I wouldn't pressure was the engine. There's lots of electrical connections under these hoods. BTDT with a CQ20V and had a nightmare with it, never again.

I did the S2 a couple of months ago.
I used some Muckoff (Gunk is much the same) engine degreaser, and small paintbrush (unused :mischeif: ) the wifes toothbrush, and an old spray bottle with clean water in it.
I used the paintbrush for most of the grime, and the wifes toothbrush for the hard to remove gunk. Elbow grease and a couple of pairs of those surgical gloves to stop your hands getting really grimed up.
Leave the degreaser on for a good 20/30 minutes and then use the spray bottle to get the grime off. The spray bottle is alot less violent than a pressure washer.
After I'd let it dry for a couple of hours, I used the autoglym bumper care stuff and sprayed it allover under the bonnet,,,,,,It looks awful to start with, but once dried it came up nice and shiney.
TBH yours looks quite clean to start with, mine was thick with grime and took me a good 4/5 hours to clean up, so I reacon you should do it in 2/3 hours mate.

[Fat Audi 80]

Thanks, that sounds like good advice. (I did pressure wash my last A80 sport to no detrimental effect, but I am certainly not taking any chances on my beloved S2.)

I will try the spray bottle of water after a thorough degrease, (found the Autoglym one to very good and not bad value too ).

I will post some more pictures next year once I have had a proper go.

Cheers,

Steve.

[Ski]

My trusty mechanic (tim cooper) pressure washed mine after a head gasket jobbie!

looks the biz!

[Crawford_S2]

Rightly or wrongly,I plastered my ABY coupe in degreaser, gave it a good scrub, then gave it a spray with traffic film remover( used for cleaning trucks). Once it had sat for 5 minutes gave it death with the jet wash

Then once it had dripped dry for a tea or two and a general chin scratch about a leaky oil cooler, i took off the coil pack cover and dried the slight ingress of water. I put it back together and off i went to gatwick, no probs

I have done this loads on all my cars before and granted you do get the odd misfire, a dry out and refit of ignition bits sorts it I also drive in the rain and snow and have been known to go through puddles Is this bad


P.s. I always bag up after marfet alarms cos they are only made to last till the first damp spell.

[sal_s2]

I've pressure washed mine a couple of times,both times with the engine running.
Never had a problem so far

[GlynRS2]

Another thing that makes a big difference to the appearance is to replace the coolant resevoir with a lovely clear new one. I think they are about £25 from VAG Parts. It is amazing how much the rust stained yellow plastic drags down the overall under bonnet appearance.
Obviously it is a good idea to replace your coolant & flush out the system at the same time as you wouldn't want nasty rust stained coolant spoiling your nice new bottle.
Otherwise I would say your car looks about as clean as it gets.

[rotoryboy]

I remember one of the lads using a large amount of brake cleaner in one of those garden pump and spray things. All cleaned and evaporates.

[Jas11n]

I also drive in the rain and snow and have been known to go through puddles Is this bad

Notice I said

Going off personal experiance only here, Steve

Lucky you,,,,I couldn't get my CQ20V to start for 2 days

[Fat Audi 80]

There is strategic jetwashing e.g a quick squirt here and there to rinse the degreaser, and then there is Blasting the entire engine bay to try and get rid of all the muck without using a solvent!

However, I will be sticking to the decreaser, toothbrush and polish method....

[Crawford_S2]

Notice I said

Lucky you,,,,I couldn't get my CQ20V to start for 2 days

Sorry to hear that dude, sounds like you may have had underlying problems anyway I do now see your point, treat it gentle son. But i have a fair knowledge of these things having worked at main stealers as a valeter in my younger days, if a car did stop i soon got it going again

[Crawford_S2]

There is strategic jetwashing e.g a quick squirt here and there to rinse the degreaser, and then there is Blasting the entire engine bay to try and get rid of all the muck without using a solvent!

Totally agree, if you blast the electrical side of things to ******y water is going to get in, i hold the lance further away and scoot quickly over busy bits. If you use enough of the right solvent you don't need any more.

[Sir Buff]

Spray all electronic stuff (plugs) with oilspray or something, then you can do a pressure wash. But be careful.

And please replace your water-cooler.