I've never been sucessful with a steam cleaning. A trusted mechanic
preferred to use Brake cleaner, which will remove the oily gunk, and
dry fast. I tend to use that now-a-days.

However, be careful with Brake Cleaner. Don't use it on a hot engine.
And different brands are different formulas. I've found some that
burned me (chemical burn), while others didn't. Using eye protection
when using it. I also like to put a shallow drip pan under the engine
to catch all the stuff so that it doesn't junk up the driveway.

On Jun 1, 2005, at 1:48 PM, Trenholme, Phil wrote:

> Hello,
>
>
>
> I just purchased a very nice fully loaded 1990 Westy.  Currently
> showing
> 140K with over 10K in receipts spent on maintenance since 1995! Anyway,
> I am a bit of a clean freak and am considering having the transaxle and
> engine steam cleaned. Are there concerns about doing this? Are there
> better ways to clean an engine? There is quite a bit of gunk on the
> engine and having the engine clean will makes working on this car so
> much easier.
>
>
>
> Thanks
>
> Phil T
>
> Santa Cruz, CA