Quickest/best way to clean a greasy, grimy engine.

[bull]

I was considering using a power washer or steam cleaner but for obvious reasons I'm a little wary about getting water in some places it doesn't belong. The engine is out of the car and sitting on the floor of my garage and I don't really want to spend six hours scrubbing every little nook and cranny so I'm wondering if you fellers have some hints for me.

[RallyeMike]

Pull all the plugs and run each cylinder compression test one at a time. You will be able to turn the motor over on the garage floor using the crank bolt. throw some blocks under the motor mounts to keep it all steady.

If you leave the exhaust manifolds and most of the stuff bolted to the engine, you can take it down to the U-spray-em and degrease it there wthout fear if you use a little caution.

[bull]

Hey Mike, not to hijack my own post but how fast have you gotten your Charger during some of those rally races? How much does it cost to enter? It sounds like a lot of fun.

[Headrope]

I find that the automotive blend of Simple Green works incredibly well. It only costs about $5 a gallon here, and it's concentrated so you don't need to use much.
I filled a beer mug about half full of the Simple Green, dabbed a parts cleaning brush in it and "painted" the block. The majority of the grime rinsed off with a regular pressure garden hose.

[RallyeMike]

Hey Mike, not to hyjack my own post but how fast have you gotten your Charger during some of thoe rallye races? How much does it cost to enter?

I've been limited to 140mph due to safety rules of my division. This year I'll be limited to 165-168mph. It's not inexpensive, but is worth the price if driving fast is your thing. Prices vary depending on the class you enter and which organization you run with - check out the links below. Definitely worth doing it once, if not regularly.

..... we now return you to your regulary scheduled thread:

The nice thing about U-spray car washes is that the mess goes away, is not at your house, and the oil, grease, and cleaner gets filtered from the water through the car wash system and disposed of properly (at least in theory). I use the same method to clean smaller parts as Headrope.

[bull]

Pull all the plugs and run each cylinder compression test one at a time. You will be able to turn the motor over on the garage floor using the crank bolt. throw some blocks under the motor mounts to keep it all steady.

If you leave the exhaust manifolds and most of the stuff bolted to the engine, you can take it down to the U-spray-em and degrease it there wthout fear if you use a little caution.

I read those links this morning. It looks like a lot of fun. I moved the engine rebuild topic to a new thread for more responses, but thanks for the input. I will try it.

[andy74]

i am going to try that simple green and hose idea this weekend,i had a few fluid leaks in the engine bay,going to try and get her cleanned up

[Bandit72]

i use easy off oven cleaner...works GREAT!

[Headrope]

Oven cleaner doesn't eat the gaskets? I've often thought of using it, but wasn't sure if it would be too caustic.

[palindromes]

I just cleaned mine recently using the simple green solution.  It worked pretty well, but I still had to use a wire wheel on my air grinder to get the casting numbers & other tight spots clean.

[Bandit72]

Oven cleaner doesn't eat the gaskets? I've often thought of using it, but wasn't sure if it would be too caustic.

i've never had a problem with it