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Engine cleaning - oil sprayed inside engine bay

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chiefhiawatha

Ready to race!
Location
Chicago
Through some crazy fluke I ended up driving a day without an oil filler cap.

There is now oil sprayed/misted over a variety of stuff in the engine bay.

Should I just let it burn off stuff and leave it be or should I attempt to soak the engine and hose it off?
 
BlueHen

BlueHen

Drag Race Newbie
Location
Delmarva
I’d go buy some purple degreaser from my closest store, shut off car, let it fall asleep, remove belly pan, cover battery and any connectors or sensitive bits, spray the degreaser liberally all over, then rinse with garden hose, agitating with a soft wheel brush where needed.

There are good engine bay cleaning vids on YouTube if you want more details.
 
Jose_Gti

Jose_Gti

Autocross Newbie
Location
Philadelphia
BlueHen said:
I’d go buy some purple degreaser from my closest store, shut off car, let it fall asleep, remove belly pan, cover battery and any connectors or sensitive bits, spray the degreaser liberally all over, then rinse with garden hose, agitating with a soft wheel brush where needed.

There are good engine bay cleaning vids on YouTube if you want more details.
Click to expand...

This ⬆️
 
C

chiefhiawatha

Ready to race!
Location
Chicago
Verichai said:
I'd like hear about the 'crazy fluke'.
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Here is the entire story:

The oil cap was on for around 5000 miles since the last time I changed the oil.

The oil cap then was not on.

I have no idea how it could ever come off. It weighs next to nothing and when you tighten it, there is a secure click once it is tight.

Nobody else has a key to it. It is garaged every night. Hadn’t even opened the hood in several weeks.
 
C

chiefhiawatha

Ready to race!
Location
Chicago
sprinks said:
And you didn't have a whacky RPM flutter or CEL? The one time i've left my oil cap off, i thought i had broken the car or something.
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I did have the fluctuating idle and for the couple drives I was worried. I had just put in some gas from meijier (not shell or bp or whatever) because I was in a jam and attributed it to that and was going to deal with it somehow. No CEL.

When the burning oil smell prompted me to pull over and pop the hood, and a big cloud of smoke came out I was relieved as hell to see the missing oil cap.
 
Elwood

Elwood

3-7-77
Location
Long Beach, CA
BlueHen said:
I’d go buy some purple degreaser from my closest store, shut off car, let it fall asleep, remove belly pan, cover battery and any connectors or sensitive bits, spray the degreaser liberally all over, then rinse with garden hose, agitating with a soft wheel brush where needed.

There are good engine bay cleaning vids on YouTube if you want more details.
Click to expand...

That's overkill. Do clean when it's cold. Spray Simple Green everywhere and rinse off with a low pressure hose. I usually use a garden sprayer with hot water in it. You don't need to do any of the rest. No problems in 50 years. Yes, I'm old.
 
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