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The engine bay hasn't been cleaned since the car was new in 02, here are a few pics before and after cleaning with Gunk engine degreaser and Pledge furniture spray. LOL, WD-40 was substituted with Pledge instead. I think it turned out great but the one thing you have to do is to cover critical components as in the diagram and make sure not to spray degreaser or WD-40 on or in the area of the cabin filter or the car will wreak like gasoline for at least a week or so. The car is an 02 BMW 325i.
Not my car but similar, these components were covered.
I do hate the "Lexus" treatment that BMW has gone to in later models, with plastic trim panels covering up the engine. But, what can I say, I am old school.
It is important to get things dry under the hood, either spray on and wipe off WD-40, or get some S-100 Motorcycle Corrosion Inhibitor - really good stuff.
I prefer to use my own pressure washer with the pressure turned down to about 400 PSI and do the cleaning on a stone cold engine.
I use Simple Green for light engine cleaning. It works great for the monthly spray, won't hurt the paint, and smells a lot better than petro based chemicals. It also dissipates faster.
Watch the Simple Green, it can be corrosive. It's OK if you get it rinsed off thoroughly, but I have read horror stories of people trying to clean brake dust off aluminum wheels with it.
Watch the Simple Green, it can be corrosive. It's OK if you get it rinsed off thoroughly, but I have read horror stories of people trying to clean brake dust off aluminum wheels with it.
According to their website it's non-corrosive. Isn't wheel cleaner mildly corrosive?
I always thoroughly rinse, so it wouldn't become a problem for me.
Watch the Simple Green, it can be corrosive. It's OK if you get it rinsed off thoroughly, but I have read horror stories of people trying to clean brake dust off aluminum wheels with it.
You are so right. Here's my own experience with Simple Green.
I was working on my lawn mower and filling oil and gas into it and spilled some on my asphalt drive way. So I thought I'd spray a little of Simple Green and then hose it off.
You are not going to believe this, but it literally dissolve a depth of 1/4" or 1/8" of that oil/gas spot (not exactly sure of the depth but noticeable enough to the naked eye) of my asphalt driveway. I'm not kidding. There must have been some chemical reaction with the simple green with the oil in the asphalt. I'm afraid to use it now to clean the car.
You are so right. Here's my own experience with Simple Green.
I was working on my lawn mower and filling oil and gas into it and spilled some on my asphalt drive way. So I thought I'd spray a little of Simple Green and then hose it off.
You are not going to believe this, but it literally dissolve a depth of 1/4" or 1/8" of that oil/gas spot (not exactly sure of the depth but noticeable enough to the naked eye) of my asphalt driveway. I'm not kidding. There must have been some chemical reaction with the simple green with the oil in the asphalt. I'm afraid to use it now to clean the car.
It's a degreaser, which means it removes petroleum products. Asphalt is petroleum based.
If it's "mildly irritating" to eyes, it's not corrosive. My tapwater is mildly irritating to my eyes in the shower sometimes. See for yourself:
I do hate the "Lexus" treatment that BMW has gone to in later models, with plastic trim panels covering up the engine. But, what can I say, I am old school.
It is important to get things dry under the hood, either spray on and wipe off WD-40, or get some S-100 Motorcycle Corrosion Inhibitor - really good stuff.
I prefer to use my own pressure washer with the pressure turned down to about 400 PSI and do the cleaning on a stone cold engine.
Thanks, I made sure to dry it off after using gentle pressure with the hose and did use a little bit of WD-40 for final touches in the end.
Maybe it's not corrosive in itself, but the guys who used it on brake dust on their wheels came to grief. May depend on the temperature it's used at, finish on the wheel, amount of brake dust, pH of the water used, etc. etc.
Bottom line is it did damage the wheels.
They may have left it on the wheels too long, maybe let it dry - not positive.
Like I said in my previous post, Simple Green reacted with the oil in the asphalt, so I agree with you that asphalt is petroleum based.
All, I'm saying is I'm afraid to use this stuff now on my car. Moreover, I think I can safely assume that we agree that it's not safe on asphalt, so why would I want to work with something that would "eat up" my asphalt driveway whether it's noncorrosive on my car. If you're happy with the product, by all means use it on your car. But from my experience, I'm not using it.
How many homeowners have asphalt driveways, I would say quite a few of us do. And what is the likely hood that the average homeowner would the read MSDS, specially after reading biodegradable on the bottle's label. Even after reading the MSDS, what is the likely hood that the average homeowner will put two and two together and say "hey I can't work on my car with this stuff cause of my asphalt driveway because it's a degreaser"
Bottom line, my experience is different from yours and I don't want to risk anything else, who knows what else this stuff can do. Thanks for the sharing the MSDS. Keep using this stuff if you're happy with it though.
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I'm not kidding. There must have been some chemical reaction with the simple green with the oil in the asphalt. I'm afraid to use it now to clean the car.
