Steam clean the engine?

[sarran1955]

Hello,

Shiny

Makes it so easy to see where the leaks are

Cordialement,

[slowcoach]

Oh that's good. I spent some time with de greaser and a brush yesterday and i hose with good results, but not that good.

So who did you trust with this job?

[Cruz]

So who did you trust with this job?

Steam cleaner that's local to the MOT test centre I've used for the last 8 years (behind an ex-petrol station that is now a car wash). I may or may not have had a cavalier engine cleaned there 15-18 years ago. I cannot remember but I do know he's been there for as long as I can remember (I grew up round the corner) so he must do something right.

Been meaning to tap him up about cleaning the engine all that time. Don't know him from adam and never used him before (apart from possibly 15-18 years ago). Leap of faith?

CENTRAL STEAM CLEAN
Rear Kirkhams Garage
Blackburn Road
West End
Oswaldtwistle
Nr Accrington
Lancashire
BB5 4NZ
01254 872 201

[ghost123uk]

Do you know how they protected your interior ?

[weldore]

^^^^ he's at it again ^^^^

[Cruz]

Do you know how they protected your interior ?

Yes because they didn't.

I took it on myself to do it unprompted before I took it in. I removed the foam mattress and the box I made over the engine cover then taped bubble wrap up (borrowed from work) to protect the sides and overhead locker around the engine bay and the opening into the back. Not one spot could go where I didn't want it. It was like a mini awning in the back.....never thought to take a picture

[ghost123uk]

Thanks Cruz


Oi, Dave,

^^^^ he's at it again ^^^^

There's nowt funny about wanting to protect ones interior, is there ? I for one don't want a horrible dirty gunky / jizzery mess inside, though you might not be that fussy. It's bad enough when you get that mess all over the bottom, but certainly you don't want it where you are going to sleep do you.

.

[weldore]

well when i do it, i tend to gunk all over the place with no thought of who is going to have to sleep there.

its not that often though

i should really be more carefull

[Cruz]

I read ghosts reply and wondered when someone would interpret it in a mucky way

[AdrianC]

I read ghosts reply and wondered when someone would interpret it in a mucky way

It's getting difficult not to.

[ghost123uk]

Dunno what your all on about We are taking about steam cleaning engines aren't we ?

I cannot find anyone near me with a steam cleaner to use I might have a go with de-greaser, paintbrush and rinse. Problem there is where to do it because doing on the road is likely to leave a right mess = not going to happen. Could do it on some waste ground and take lots of hot water with me perhaps. Then got to mask the interior all up "on site"
On the other hand I could just spray it all over with WD40 and rub it really hard and see what happens ?

[slowcoach]

I did mine on the road, and it really didn't leave any visible oil. A good amount of water though. I didn't mask the engine bay off from the van either. Just careful use of a spray gun attachment on low pressure and it went fine. Since you can shoot it close up, it doesn't go all over. Just removed plug leads and bagged up the dizzy. De greaser is good stuff!

Plugged it all back together, crossed fingers and ran it to dry it out. Huge clouds of steam then!

[tricksta77]

Here's an interesting idea, just reading this thread and it got me a thinking.

Could you modify the head on one of those electric wallpaper strippers to direct the steam in a finer jet or just get a kitchen steam cleaner and use that??? Maybe I'm being naive but there cant be that much to it, technically?!?



Rich

[aahyoo]

A friend that once worked on my E30 cleaned my engine for me with a spray attachment from a jiff bottle in a 5L bottle of some kind of degreaser... he then used a toothbrush and rinsed with water from a watering can - took him about 15 minutes including the coffee and cigarette break whilst the liquid did its job... very impressive results considering the minimal effort, minimal cost and minimal mess.
I have pics somewhere and will try to find out exactly what it was..

[ghost123uk]

A friend that once worked on my E30 cleaned my engine for me with a spray attachment from a jiff bottle in a 5L bottle of some kind of degreaser... he then used a toothbrush and rinsed with water from a watering can - took him about 15 minutes including the coffee and cigarette break whilst the liquid did its job... very impressive results considering the minimal effort, minimal cost and minimal mess.
I have pics somewhere and will try to find out exactly what it was..

Yes, please let us know more