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My engine bay is in need of a good clean!
It was made apparent when I looked under the old man's '05 A4 3.2Q Avant engine bay - being an 05, it's a few years old but the engine looked like it was fitted yesterday!

What's the most suitable/easiest method aside from Jet washing it, which I'd rather not do; too high of a pressure I think for potential 8 year old hoses and clips...

M

Do NOT jet wash it!

Cover of as many electrical connectors as you can, spray on a degreaser, leave it, then wash off with a damp cloth.

Finally polish all the plastic bits with interior shine stuff.

Will get round to doing mine on sunny weekend.

A decent degreaser and plenty of elbow grease!

I did mine a while back with a generic off the shelf engine bay cleaner/degreaser. Came up quite well. If you want the whole thing to look really clean, you'll need something to turn the plastic black again, a new coolant expansion tank and a spot of polish on the Y-pipe.



Alternatively, keep the bonnet closed!

I did mine last week, all I used was Auto Glym Engine and machine cleaner.
I sprayed onto the larger parts, and places away from connectors, and onto a cloth first for bits that were small/near electrics.
Then rubbed it clean with a seperate damp cloth rinsed in clean water and left to dry.
The whole lot took less than 2 hours.
I personally dont believe in then adding cockpit shine or similar, as it can make it sticky and attract more dirt!

Damp cloth and a bit of megs natural shine keeps mine clean

As above but after you degrease use APC and you can finish of with armarol matt finish as this will not attract dust or dirt and looks good on the pipes. Have used this for a long time on my cars.
Jason

rs4boy is that a new coolant expansion tank? Asine looks that horrible cream colour. Was thinking of removing it and trying to clean it . Have heard ( dont laugh now) of filling it with "RICE" and water and giving it a good shake cleans them up.

BTW i found that out on detailingworld.co.uk as some of the guys on there keep there cars absolutley spotless a bit like mikeyquattro

Put it in the dishwasher when your missus goes out

New expansion tank is only around £30. I've got one lying in the boot, which I have to fit when I get time

rs4boy doesn't use his car, plus it has delivery mileage hence the "new looking" expansion tank!

dhali
No its not new but as virdee said it is low mileage car, but i do use it as my daily car.

I've always pressure washed my engine, but at a distance. The trick is to get some decent degreaser as that does most of the work. To clean the plastic, I've been using Megs Tyre gell stuff. Works well for me, but I've run out of degreaser.

Sounds like I'll do a good old elbow grease job then...

However, saw an ad on a van on the M62 which got me thinking... what about steam cleaning it? Not sure if that would work...