Hi everyone.

Just need some input/suggestions here from peeps with past experience doing this. I'm going to be replacing my valve cover gasket soon since it's been leaking so badly. After I do that I plan on using a degreasing agent (leaning towards Purple Power) to completely clean off all of the oil on my engine and whatever grime is left in my bay.

My question is, is there anything else I should be covering up before I start spraying and hosing the thing down besides my air intake, battery, and alternator?

I have a 2000, so there's no distributor cap.

Any tips also?

Thanks for the help!
George

 

"Any tips also?"

Don't.

 

X2 what ^ turbo said

I'd love to clean the 200K+ crap off mine but I know as soon as I do all sorts of stuff will stop working, stuff that never leaked will. And I will kinda miss that freshly oily-toasted smell when I get out of the Jeep.

 

I'm not saying the way I did it was right but here's what I did.
1. Drove to Ace and rented a 2700psi pressure washer.
2. Drove home, parked in driveway with engine running.
3. Used one can of engine degreaser on oil buildup.
4. Set up pressure washer and have some fun spraying.
5. Repeat steps 3&4 as necessary.

I didn't cover any parts. Did this to my 1990 XJ, 1997 XJ, and 1985 Toyota Tercel. Again not saying this is the right way but its how I did it.

 

That sounds wild. How did you not mess anything up, all the little electrical connectors, hoses and what not?

 

I have seen one too many "No start after washing engine" threads.
I would hand wire what you can, but avoid the hose.
Or, be very deliberate with the hose.

 

Honestly I don't know how it went so well for me, it just did. Maybe because of the attachment I used. The guy at Ace said it was "safe to use on paint". It took off years of old oil on my vehicles.

 

When I did mine which didn't help due to the valve cover leaking as well. I just used a rag and covered all the electrical stuff and tried to not attack those spots, started right up after. I plan on doing this after I get a new gasket for Christmas at a local diy spray wash so I don't have all that chemical run-off

 

washed my 2000 xj with no issues starting. spray everything down with engine degreaser, gunk foamy works good as does simple green. you should be able to wash everything under there with no issues but dont concentrate on electrics, just a quick pass over them. I usually do a wash as needed or once a year.... be aware that you CAN have no start issue if things get wet, never been an issue for me.

remember, we go offroad thru tons of water, water does get up there when you go thru them puddles and whatnot.... just be careful... I had a slight miss this last time for a bit, think I got water in the plug wire, it cleared out though, careful around your coil pack

 

Bag up the alternator and TPS at bare minimum. They really don't like getting wet.
Soak it with degreaser then rinse with a gentle stream of water, avoiding the electronics. Pressure washer can blast water into the electrical connectors and other places you won't want it.

 

I got a 06/1999 with the Distributor and want to do the same also. If I just use a hose (instead of a water blaster) to wash down the degreaser avoiding electrics it should be ok? I went river crossing in my WJ and that has more electrics (obviously not hitting the air intake) and it came out ok?

 

At the very minimum, your rig is ten years old. Things that were once sealed are no longer sealed. There are a lot of sensitive electronic components in the engine bay that don't like water. You may get lucky, you may not. The bottom line is, washing your engine with a hose isn't a good idea. Also, spraying cold water on a hot or even warm 2000 XJ head is just asking for cracks.

I like to take things off to clean them, for electronic things I use a paint brush and compressed air followed by a damp rag. That said, I recently replaced my valve cover gasket and used Simple Green, from a spray bottle on the spark plug side of the block and head. After scrubbing with a nylon brush, I used another spray bottle with water to rinse then compressed air to dry.

 

I power washed the H out of mine 5 times in a week. On the fifth got water in the TPS plug. Dried it with electronics dryer and put dielectric grease in it. Runs fine and clean. Used straight purple power with a squirt bottle.

 

I just had two buckets, One with water and one with water and car soap, used a shop towel and wiped everything off and even used a sponge to clean the tougher spots. Then took a rag with the water and wiped the soap off. The one true way to have a spotless engine is to take it out and rebuild it and clean as you go.

Last time I tried a power washer I tried turning it on and the belt slipped off

 

I pressure wash engines all the time. The only problem I would expect is water going in distributor. If this happens, remove cap and let it dry. I have compressor, so I blow water off spark plugs wires etc.
Forget about degreasers, unless you are going to use brush.