Engine Cleaning

[Austin O’Neal]

I’ve been working on a 1999 Honda Civic EX (and yes I have watched Eric’s Honda series). It’s been sitting in a driveway for about 2 years. Right now the engine is still in the car. When I took the engine cover off there was A LOT of old, caked on oil on everything. Can anyone tell me a good way to get all of that old oil out of the engine without damaging it, and if possible without making a giant mess.

Topic

[Sean]

[quote=”Au5t1n0neal” post=160037]I’ve been working on a 1999 Honda Civic EX (and yes I have watched Eric’s Honda series). It’s been sitting in a driveway for about 2 years. Right now the engine is still in the car. When I took the engine cover off there was A LOT of old, caked on oil on everything. Can anyone tell me a good way to get all of that old oil out of the engine without damaging it, and if possible without making a giant mess.[/quote]

You mean the valve cover? Scrape it and use engine oil detergents. Only way I have ever seen it cleaned.

[Jose Mari Gamboa]

I do agree with this. If you want to avoid all the dirty work, hire somebody to do it

[Jake F]

Was wondering when they introduced those plastic covers under the hood on a Civic.. Brake cleaner would be a good start, but a full down rinse would be a foam engine degreaser. The last one I used said it was fine on electrical connections (wasn’t for my engine bay), but I’d cover up your alternator, etc.. Gunk has always done me well. I doubt dishwashing soap would be a problem if you wanted to squirt the bottle over the tough spots. Make sure your engine is mostly cool.

[Jake F]

For the record, my post was for exterior cleaning. The OP didn’t specify exactly what the “engine cover” was.

[Mike]

I think you’re talking about the kind of sludge situation shown in the following video:

Thanks for reminding me of it, it’s a great video I had forgot about.

[Author]

Replies