Washing under the hood - Cleaning your engine compartment

Lately, I've been really interested in cleaning my car's engine bay d-i-y.

Tried it a few weeks ago, after doing some research in the usual precautions. Was a success as nothing went wrong after. heh heh....

Interested to know if any one here got any experience to share regarding this topic? Share some tips like what u use and what u do?

Just use a damp microfibre cloth and give the dusty areas a wipedown lor. Try not to touch the battery or any live electrical circuits, but most of our car electrical connections are pretty well sealed.

Thats like dry cleaning right? Use microfibre some more ah.... "sim tiah" leh....

I basically did the following:
1) wrapped up major electrical components (fuse box, electrical coils, etc)
2) sprayed WD40 at all electrical connectors to ensure no moisture go in
3) then spray water
4) squirt lotsa grease remover ($5plus per bottle)
5) let the cleaning agent do its stuff
6) agitate with brush at all corners, surfaces to get stubborn dirt out
7) spray with water again
8) wipe down with some rag
9) remove protection wrappings
10) spray WD 40 at electrical points to drive out any moisture
11) then close hood and wash the whole car

so far ok... these were the basic steps people shared in the Internet.

but has anybody tried doing anything different? Just curious. Of course if I'm doing anything wrong, please let me know before I cause any further damage.

You sprayed WD40 at electrical connectors? Huh?? WD40 is a water based lubricant. Anything sprayed with WD40 is actually more prone to rusting after that if it is not properly protected. If you wish to drive out moisture from electrical points, you should spray electrcial contact cleaner. Btw what's the rational behind spraying electrical contacts with WD40? I've never heard of anyone using it as a form of electrical contact cleaner in my 15yrs of electronics work.

If you are willing to invest in WD40 and degreaser, what's the price of microfibre cloth to you? Besides, microfibre cloth can be cleaned and reused.

Tiny bro, I am not saying it is not feasible. Which is why I say it is like dry wash lah.... may take more time and energy right? But really wash the car is possible but realise that not many people do it. But with a bit of awareness, it might be real fun.

Just to share with you that (and this was extracted from the Internet of course),

"WD-40 stands for Water Displacer and is the trademark name of a water-displacing spray. It was originally designed to repel water and prevent corrosion.
Its properties make the product useful in both home and commercial fields; lubricating and loosening joints and hinges, removing dirt and residue, extricating stuck screws and bolts, and preventing rust are common usages. The product may also be useful in removing moisture."

hmm... it is not a water-based lubricant [no water in it actually]. And it is in fact used for displacing water in such places like electrical connectors etc leh... confirm

also check out website for details: http://www.wd40.com/faqs/

We're all here to share what we know,so thanks for sharing bro.... peace.

Hmm.. From my experience of using it on untreated metal parts, WD40 actually increases the rate of rust because it removes the dirt and grease that's covering the metal surface. There's no faster way of making a bicycle chain rust to bits than spraying WD40 on it, you can try it yourself. Sometimes dirt is a form of protection against the elements.

It might be a water displacing spray, but for electrical contacts I wouldn't trust my life on it.

Get a electrical contact cleaner spray, Sim Lim towers sell those. It's not expensive, and it dries quickly and very clean.

Anyway it's just my 2 cents.