Take it from an old hand that has owned 104 cars, many of which have been show cars, this is the way to clean your engine bay area.

For older cars (1915-1980's) you should cover the distributor with a plastic bag first. For cars after that era it's usually not necessary if you don't get too crazy with the water around the distributor. All other areas are built to withstand mild amounts of water, such as the starter and alternator.

If your engine is fairly clean but just has a few greasy, oily spots or heavily soiled areas like around the master brake cylinder area, just spray a little Simple-Green on it first and let it sit while you're getting the garden hose out to use for rinsing it off.

Do not use a high pressure washer, it can disconnect some important things if you hit them wrong. Just use a normal garden hose and typical hand sprayer that people often leave on their garden hoses.

Rinse the engine bay area carefully and thoroughly, then use an AIR COMPRESSOR and hand air-nozzle to blow the water off everything. Do it as quickly as possible, then it won't spot or streak. Careful you don't drag the hose over your fenders and scratch them.

NOTE: if you want the bottom of the engine clean, use some Simple-Green on the pan area as well.

If you really want to put a shine on certain areas use your typical paint polish or wax for the chrome and shiny/smooth painted surfaces.

Any area's that are still wet will dry quickly when the engine gets hot.

NOTE: If you should accidentally get the ignition wet and the engine won't start, as normal, immediately. You can either open up the distributor and blow the water out of the inside of it or you can simply wait an hour or so and it will dry by itself.

Your done! Now go for a ride and enjoy your car.

Your old friend,
"Doc"

 

Doc, can you mark in your pic where the distributor is? Thanks.

 

i head to the quarter "diy" car wash. i wash the engine with the soap selection then rinse and towel dry... a perfectly clean engine every time w/o any side effects. no need for chemicals... it's a newer car... just normal road dirt and dust. cheers!

 

There's no distributor. There are 6 coil packs. 3 on each valve cover. One per cylinder. Two plugs per cylinder.

 

Doc, if I wanted to take the engine cover off to clean under it as well, would I just need to cover the intake or is that not recommended?