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I just finished cleaning out my engine bay. Here are the before, during and after pics. It doesn't look like much of a change, but it is. It is so humid in NJ I was sweating like a pig, but my Civic looks great!

Before

 

Covered the spark plugs and distributer

 

Don't forget to wash the underside of the hood!

 

Sprayed down with Gunk Foam Engine Cleaner from all angles

 

All done!

I ran the engine right after I finished rinsing. The car started right up and a lot of water just evaporated. Then I went all over and hand dried it. Used Black Magic on all the plastic and Mother's show shine for the paint. It looks better in person, but for all of you who are afraid of doing it like me, just do it. Take your time and rinse with a light pressure. It took me about 2 hours from start to finish.

Let me know what you guys/ girls think.

 

Looks good. but i never cover things up LOL I leave the engine running while cleaning it so water steams off of it. I then drive it afterwards to dry up any more remaining water, OR if its a really really sunny day, i just leave it out in the sun witht he hood up. Drise pretty quickly.

Maybe its bad not to cover things up, but oh well. I'm lazy! Most of the engine is sealled, the only places i am careful around are the fuse box. Other than that, all engine bay is game for my hose!

Good job though! But word of wisdom to other dirty engine bay owners. Wash out your engine bay good at least once every 6 months to keep it that way. Road grime will really dirty up your engine bay!

Dave

 

I covered up the wires especially cause if you look really close, the 2nd plug from the right is different. The Honda guy told me that the last person who did a tune up used sh***y wires. He went to look at it and it broke, so I guess he used an old OEM wire, but it doesn't have a seal. I need to change all those wires. Do you think I should go OEM or aftermarket?

 

Well...OEM is always better with wires in my opinion. The last time i bought wires was for my 96 Accord when i had it. I bought these cheepos at advance auto parts. They were i think 15 bucks and they were crappy. They looked good at first, but i found out that when tried to remove them down the line to change my spark plugs. The friggin boot came off of the actuall plastic fitting that went over the sparkplug. So i had to pull it out with a pliers. It reconnected fine, but its the pont. I dont want stuff coming apart that doesnt need to. I then reinstalled my OEM ones and they worked fine(i only tried to replace them because the rubber was old looking). Also the oem ones hugged the valve cover plug holes alot better than the aftermarket ones. So water was blocked out by the oem ones more.

If you do go aftermarket, get GOOD aftermarket. My civic when i bought it came with NGK plug wires. They are very very high quality it seems. So i recommend those. I believe a set of oem plug wires is about $70 or $80. So you can get aftermarket plugs for alot cheaper and have them be high quality as well.

Dave

 

Thanks for the advice!

 

happy to help!

Dave