Gotta love a good engine detail

[Jngrbrdman]

Engine detailing has always been a specialty for me. I love a good dirty engine to shine up. It is one of the areas that shows the most difference when it is properly done. This one is a 2000 Ford Windstar van. The owner is showing it to some potential buyers next week and he wanted the whole thing cleaned up. The rest of the van wasn't anything to write home about, but the engine I knew would be a good before/after opportunity.














Process:

- Degreased perimeter with Gunk foaming engine degreaser. Avoided sensitive areas like the alternator and fuse/relay boxes.

- Rinsed foamed areas with low pressure from the hose. Avoided alternator and fuse/relay boxes.

- Used Four Star Greased Lightning APC and a tooth brush to clean areas that foaming degreaser simply doesn't clean. Areas like the valve cover, engine block, hoses, and areas that were avoided earlier.

- Rinsed areas as they were cleaned. I used some neat tools with this engine that worked really well on the last one I did. I got some Slick Sticks from Danase.com to use for motorcycle detailing, but I also could see potential for engine detailing. These things helped out a lot to clean grease out of tight areas that a tooth brush couldn't get to. They really took my engine detailing to another level by allowing me to reach even further in and get harder to reach areas that I may have had to leave untouched otherwise.

- And then of course is the secret weapon to awesome engine detailing. CD2 Engine Detailer. It is still listed on Turtle Wax's website, but finding a distributor is next to impossible. I order mine off Amazon. I charge $60 for an engine detail, so just one job will pay for the case. I can usually get two or three engines out of one can, so it is a very worthwhile investment. I would love to find an alternative that works as well, but I just haven't found anything that does what CD2 does.

- 20 or 30 minutes after I spray the CD2 I go back in and wipe down the painted surfaces and use Four Star 4-90 Spray Wax to shine things up. I wipe down the underside of the hood and clean the prop rod and anything that might have been missed. On this one I also got the wiper cowl cleaned up too since it was easier to get at with the hood up and there was a bit of overspray from the CD2 on it anyway.

That's it. It takes about 45 minutes of work for me to go from start to finish on an engine like that.

[audiboy]

You did a great job! To say that it doesn't look like the same engine would be an understatement.

[blucpe]

engine looks outstanding great job. i've looked for cd2 locally in all the stores walmart, kmart, autobarn, pep boys, discount auto, napa, aid, auto zone. midway online sells it but don't want to spend 9 bucks plus shipping.

[MYC5VERT]

3L Taurus? Good turn around from it's dingy beginnings.

[RTexasF]

Man that was a real scuzbucket! Forty Five minutes? Amazingly short time to install that new engine.

[97FLAIRSIDE]

what do you use on the aluminum parts? ac hoses and such?

[Jngrbrdman]

Originally Posted by MYC5VERT

3L Taurus? Good turn around from it's dingy beginnings.

Maybe the same engine in a Taurus, but this was a Windstar minivan.

I pretty much listed everything I used. I used a tooth brush and shop towels for most of it with a bottle of all purpose cleaner. I also used a bottle of water to help rinse areas as I was cleaning them. I'm not sure if the question is what did I use to clean the hoses and aluminum or what I did to protect them.