On Wed, 12 Feb 2003, Ben T wrote:

> Why bother w/ engine cleaners? I just go to the local self serve car wash and
> use the hot water w/ detergent setting. Then a quick rinse once the guck is
> blasted off.

This is what I do, but for really bad grease, oil, or dirt accumulations
Gunk makes a *huge* difference.  Go to the car wash, spray the Gunk on,
wait a minute or two, then put in your quarters and spray it off with the
high pressure hose.  You'll be amazed how well everything comes off.  I
must have gotten half a gallon of oil out of the engine bay of my diesel
this way.  Made it a lot more pleasant to work on.

As for Do's and Don'ts, try not to spray directly at electrical
connectors, the alternator, or the distributor.  Bring a can of WD-40 so
that you can get the water out of the distributor cap if the engine won't
start when you're done.  Wear old clothes.  Consider rigging some kind of
tarp inside the van, because when you start spraying into the engine
compartment a lot of crud is going to blow back into the interior.  I
didn't think of this and had a heck of a time getting the oil spots off my
interior.

             _ _
  __ _ _   _| | |  | David M. Brodbeck (N8SRE)              Ypsilanti, MI
 / _` | | | | | |  +-----------------------------------------------------
| (_| | |_| | | | @ cyberspace.org
 \__, |\__,_|_|_| "Everything is linear if plotted log-log with a fat
 |___/             magic marker." -- Mar's Law