About 85% of Americans use a car to get to work every day. That number makes clear the importance cars play in most of our lives.
Despite that importance, it seems as though most car owners don’t take the time to care for their vehicles the way they should. One of the many responsibilities the majority of car owners forgo is cleaning their engines.
Learning how to clean your car engine is important for a couple of reasons. First, a clean engine shows you take pride in your vehicle. More practically, getting old grease off your engine reduces its flammability and can help it perform better.
If you’re unsure where to start when it comes to engine maintenance, keep reading. Below, we break down cleaning into 5 simple steps.
- Get Rid of Engine Bay Debris
Before you do anything to your engine, get rid of any loose debris that are sitting around. You can do this by sweeping debris out or by using compressed air.
Getting debris out of your car before starting the formal cleaning process reduces the chances that they’ll get caked into your engine when you start spraying de-greaser on it (more on that in a moment).
- Take Out Your Battery
Electronics aren’t big fans of water. While your engine’s electronics should be able to stand up to some spray, to err on the side of caution, take steps to protect them.
Seeing as how many common engine problems stem from battery issues, the first proactive thing to do when it comes to electricity is to get your battery pulled out.
When doing this, make sure your car engine is off and use gloves to remove the battery’s conductors from your car. Also, never touch both conductive ends at the same time, even with gloves.
- Protect Wiring
Do you see exposed wiring in your engine? If you do, try to shield that wiring from water.
There are several ways you can achieve that end. Our favorite method is by wrapping them in plastic trash or grocery bags.
Again, your car’s electronics should be able to take some moisture so no need to 100% ensure that water will not come into contact with wiring. As a rule though, the less contact the better.
- Run Your Engine
If you’ve ever tried to wipe cold grease off of your engine, you know first-hand how tough that can be. Rather than going through that painful exercise, run your engine for 5 minutes to heat your grease.
Heated grease will be looser which will make your how to clean your car engine ambitions a lot easier to accomplish.
- Spray Degreaser and Rinse
With your engine warm and your car off, spray degreaser onto your engine and wait five minutes for it to work its magic. After 5 minutes, spray your engine down with medium/firm water pressure.
If the results aren’t what you were looking for, feel free to repeat the process!
You Now Know How to Clean Your Car Engine
Knowing how to clean your car engine is a great skill that’ll make your car look better and run more safely. Those are both advantages that are well worth pursuing so we implore you to give your car’s engine a clean today!
For more insight on all things related to cleaning a car engine and general automotive topics, consider checking out the newest content we have posted on our blog.
