Oil leak and cleaning the engine

[Virginia]

I've got a nasty oil leak and can't find the source so I thought I'd clean the engine then look for it. Weird thins is that on some days it leaks a lot and on others it doesn't leak any.

 

What's the best way to clean the engine? i was thinking of self-serve car wash so it would capture the runoff but am worried about spraying a hot engine.

 

Thoughts?

 

I have a 91 6cyl, 4wd, 5 speed.

[FxRacing282]

we use brakleen, engine de-greaser works. in the past ive pressure washed, but you have to be very carefull and keep the pressure pretty low so you don't rip gaskets and whatnot.

[Randy in Maine]

I stole my wife's 1.5 gallon pump up garden sprayer, filled it up with a 50/50 mix of Castrol Purple Stuff and water. Warmed it up, sprayed it on including the bottom side, then drove it a mile to the car wash to wash the whole thing.

 

You may need to:

 

Do it a couple of times.

Bring some stiff brushes to help get the crud off.

Use a putty knife if needed.

Simple Green "concentrate" is easier on the painted parts under there.

 

Mine always starts right up, but some people put plastic bags around the distributor and the ignition reisistor.

[Virginia]

Sweet. Thanks for the suggestions. I may try to tackle this today.

[Xacto]

After replacing a long time leaking valve cover gasket, I cleaned the engine block up with paint thinner using an old paintbrush, putty knife, and lots of paper towels. I set an old dropcloth under the engine bay and that soaked up most of the mess below. I had quite an accumulation of oil mixed with dirt, so the paint scraper did most of the removal work and the paint thinner just cleaned up what was left.

[Pete M]

Be careful what you spray. Plenty of thing in the engine bay do not like to get blasted with water. (especially the throttle body area)

[Virginia]

Most of the nastiness is below the spark plug line. If you can't spray, how else does one clean an engine?

[Pete M]

Just be careful when you spray. Every once in a while we get a post from someone who's truck doesn't run right after he was hosing it off in a car wash. Usually it's because the TPS got wet.

[jtdesigns]

You can just take some tinfoil and wrap it around the TB to keep water out.