pressure washing the 80? (1 Viewer)

[landcruiser3DP]

any spots to stay away from if i want to get this thing to the car wash with a high pressure gun?

just the two knuckles and the distributor? and maybe the firewall since mine seemed to leak into the passenger floor boards?

anywhere else if i am really going to crawl around and get after it?

THANKS

 

[WhitePhoenix]

I would not use a pressure washer in the engine bay. You'll force water into places you generally don't want to and everybody loves random electrical gremlins. Best bet is to use the shower function on one of those garden hose nozzles and a good de-greaser (I use optimum power clean). Some use simple green or purple power, personally I'd dilute them as those are quite strong all purpose cleaners.

 

[Atomic City]

I would not use a pressure washer in the engine bay. You'll force water into places you generally don't want to and everybody loves random electrical gremlins. Best bet is to use the shower function on one of those garden hose nozzles and a good de-greaser (I use optimum power clean). Some use simple green or purple power, personally I'd dilute them as those are quite strong all purpose cleaners.

Same here - I don't even use a hose in the engine bay. I just generally make up a bucket of diluted simple green, then get another bucket with plain water and do everything by hand.

 

[Kernal]

Your undercarrriage and engine bay look relatively clean.

I avoid Purple Power or Simple Green; those products can damage paint and rubber, prefer to use regular car wash soap, works about as well and doesn't damage anything. But agree on not using high pressure water unless it's limited to a couple of areas like the lower timing chain cover, front axle except the knuckles, around the oil filter, diff/pinion seal leak, and the oil pans and then only if there's been a major oil leak; ie: cleaning it up before you work on it.

As mentioned above, there are too many areas that water can get into and cause trouble; you might need to let it sit for days until it dries out.

But if you absolutely have to wash the whole engine bay, I cover the brake reservoir, both dipsticks, the MAF harness sleeve, and the distributor with plastic bags, then still avoid spraying those areas including the top of the valve cover, harness bundles, and the hood and firewall insulator pads. The high pressure can tear the insulation to shreds.

 

[landcruiser3DP]

thanks gents.
i just used simple green and a garden hose when i cleaned the engine bay initially.
so if i want to towe it to the car wash i can use the pressure washer anywhere but at the knuckles? or best not even to pressure wash anywhere near an electrical connector even underneath?

 

[retrofive]

Valve cover for sure, spark tubes, etc, if your seals are old/brittle this makes some havoc on top of what other have said.

 

[hoser]

The regular Simple Green slightly etches aluminum, if you care. But they sell an an aircraft version that won't.

 

[thatcabledude]

Damn that’s a clean truck!

 

[flintknapper]

If you're not careful you are going to end up with a really nice Land Cruiser.

 

[WhitePhoenix]

If you really want the engine bay looking good, dress up the plastic/rubber just like you would the interior plastic parts on your car. Also helps keep that stuff from getting brittle and resist some dust as well. 303 aerospace is my personal favorite, been using it to detail cars for a hot minute now. Something else that can help is when you use whatever cleaner you go with, scrub down the surfaces with a nylon wheel brush (mothers long handle brush is what I use) and then use that shower function on the nozzle to rinse all that crap off. Then dry the areas with a microfiber/let the engine run to heat up and get the water to go away. Apply the above dressing and wallah, cleaner to eat off then your kitchen table engine bay. BTW I have no affiliation with any of these products, just simple things to get at most any walmart/auto parts store.

 

[landcruiser3DP]

If you're not careful you are going to end up with a really nice Land Cruiser.

thanks for that. i’m trying to be a good student. also i am kind of enjoying figuring out what attaches to what. last weekend i cleaned the knuckles and finally figured out what a solid axle is all about.

it’s burning quite a bit of oil but i finally just got frustrated trying to decide what to do and i chucked my heart over the fence and decided to see if i could get it.

so it is getting done sort of backwards but hopefully it will get done right without too many setbacks...

 

[Rifleman]

it’s burning quite a bit of oil but i finally just got frustrated trying to decide what to do

That would be an easy decision for me, I'd do a l S conversion, and if spending big money wasn't an obstacle, I'd do a Cummings turbo conversion along with a 5 speed manual transmission.

 

[landcruiser3DP]

That would be an easy decision for me, I'd do a l S conversion, and if spending big money wasn't an obstacle, I'd do a Cummings turbo conversion along with a 5 speed manual transmission.

yeah. not sure i have the dough to sink into it. was going to try to find a used engine and make it a project. even that is a tall order for me. so LS - well i forget what an LS is actually but not sure it is in the cards.