Tips on steam cleaning engine compartment.

I bought a steam cleaner with the intention to use it to clean the engine compartment, top and bottom. Prior to doing this I am going to apply a GUNK foam engine cleaner. I recently had the rear axles replaced that slew a bit of grease around the surrounding area. My desire and intention is bring up to snuff with others who have posted what appears to be a pristine compartment on near identical high mileage cars in this forum. So I'm looking for any tips and hints from anyone who has performed a steam clean on the engine compartment. The objective is the clean, not damage any component. TIA

Quotes source post: 20635629

you shouldn�t need anything like gunk all purpose degreaser like 104, brushes for agitation and a pressure washer is what I typically use just make sure to protect the 23+ yr old electronic connectors and plastic Cover or stay away from the alternator Afterwards use a blower to get as much stale water out of the area and make sure the intake is covered and sealed

Steam cleaning will be very helpful to you. What you're seeing in your engine/underside is likely a combination of cosmoline and dirt, rather than just road grime which would be far easier to remove. You can spot it easily on areas like sway bars and plastic liners, where it might be cracking, flaking off and brownish in color. Diluted APC with a soft/medium stiffness brush is usually sufficient to remove most pretty stubborn road grime, but the professionally applied, durable wax sealant is designed to withstand a lot of abuse. Even with a steamer, you'll be chipping it away at times. This is why dry ice blasting is so popular for efficient removal without marring the metal on your underside. Otherwise, I might suggest cleaning what is obviously just dirty (ex. body painted wheel wells, liners, underside plastics) and leaving the rest alone. You can even try cleaning the road grime from the cosmoline protected parts of your engine if you're careful, leaving the original brownish cosmoline undisturbed. This nearly new 996 turbo has all of its original underside coating in tact to give you an idea of what your car looked like when it left Germany. This is mine during fitment of exhaust this past spring after careful cleaning of 45k miles of road grime and wax. Cleaning like this is very time consuming - if I was looking to have it looking 'much improved + presentable' in the important areas you might even start with the wheel well areas, calipers, rotor hats, even the insides of your wheels if they've never received a proper cleaning. Then make your way to the engine. Hope this is helpful. Happy to share a list of products I used to achieve these results and keep it looking this way, you can also just use AI + my username to search my give you posts on the subject. Good luck 🧼

And you don't even have a garage of your own. I have a garage and DAMN, my car is no where near that clean. Well done sir!

You can clear out a bunch of gunk that is just dust and dirt accumulated in crevices with just compressed air. I always start with this �dry clean� before moving on to chemicals and water or steam, probably reduces it 80% and does a better job of blasting it away. With steam alone you are just dripping the same gunk, now water saturated, somewhere down below. These motors are designed to get wet with every rainstorm or wash, so don�t be too worried about lightly hosing down. For extra protection you can wrap electrical connectors with foil or plastic wrap to minimize water intrusion.

Is there a a pic of a motor ready for a deep clean to give us beginners a little security

I just used my endoscope camera to look around on top of the engine yesterday. Definitely evidence of rodent and some other debris. Looking forward to following along on this thread and then cleaning mine. Outwardly it would appear that there was no debris, but once I looked below the intakes on top of the engine you could see it there.

Caveat I�m not a pro, but I�ve done it several times without any issue (well, except for the Subaru, but Porsches are better engineered). I generally start with a compressor to blow out as much of the dry dust and dirt, especially crevices. Then wrap the accessible, electrical connectors, fuse boxes, intakes in foil or plastic wrap. Then spray it down with the cleaner, let it to dwell for a while, agitate areas that especially dirty with a brush, and rinse gently with the hose. I have a commercial steamer, but don�t really use it much. It is good for getting oil out of crevices, but if you�ve got big areas covered with oil, it just kind of moves the oil around on the surface. You�re still left with having to wipe it off with shop rags and now it�s wet to boot. Then maybe give it a bit of a shot with the blower, especially if you also use that to dry the car like I do, start up the car, don�t panic if you get some belt squeal. Then close the hood and let it get good and warm to dry off or go for a drive. And then whatever is left, It�s time to get out the toothbrushes. Though I do it more frequently on the jeep that gets really dirty from offroading, on the nice cars, I don�t know that I�ve ever done this more than one time. There is some risk involved, and it is pretty much for aesthetic purposes to be honest. Once you have it clean, I found just maintenance with a gray microfiber, I generally use the one that I start with the wheels and door sills, etc., and then progress to the engine compartment to just kind of wipe things down after a wash and get rid of the standing water. With this kind of maintenance cleanup with every wash or a couple washes, I haven�t seen the need to do the thorough clean repeatedly. Just another note, if you have hard water, the accumulation of the calcium deposits can also be an aesthetic problem. These are quite a bit harder to get rid of, you don�t want to be spraying acid on the aluminum parts of the motor. So might consider a final spray down with distilled water. I also cover the engine with a towel every time I wash to catch most of the water that drains down through the trunk vents onto the top of the motor and that flat area underneath the intake behind the rear bumper. You just have to be religious about your process and hide the keys so you don�t inadvertently start the motor and suck the towel into the fan belt.