Cleaning a Muddy Engine Assistance

Good day fellow Tacoma enthusiasts,

I've been searching online for a little while now trying to get the most information I can before I attempt to clean all the mud off my engine. The other week, I took a trip and crossed a rather muddy hole (I don't like doing water crossings but sometimes it is necessary). Now my engine is just covered in mud. I used a garden hose to clean out the mud from the radiator which seems to have done the trick. I've always heard that getting the alternator wet is a big no-no but during my research it seems that as long as I don't hit it with high pressure, I should be fine.

So my question is, is it safe to simply spray some Simple Green on everything like suggested here (https://www.tacomaworld.com/threads/pressure-washing-motor.443796/) and use a garden hose without an attachment to rinse everything off or should I be more diligent in covering up the alternator? Either way, I'm disconnecting the battery just to be safe.

I'm posting in the Third Gen forum because I'm no mechanic and am not sure if there is a significant difference in the alternator used in our truck versus previous generations.

 

You'll be fine. Just drizzle water over it after using simple green.

 

You can pressure wash it out. Do it all the time on old cars and new cars just don't run it at 2800 psi and hold it point blank against the obvious areas to avoid....

 

So I shouldn't power wash out my air filter?

 

Simple Green works great but I'd HIGHLY suggest you use the HD (purple) stuff... it's much safer on metal and plastic and won't corrode aluminum. You can get it at Home Depot or Lowes. Rinse (with a COLD engine) all the heavy deposits off, spray down with simple green, let it soak for 5 minutes and rinse. I usually use a pressure washer making sure I don't blast the crap out of the alternator, fuse panel or other electrical connections and keep it a safe distance away from any surfaces I don't want to ruin.

After, I'll blow all the standing water off with compressed and start the engine up and let it idle for 15 minutes or so to help evaporate any residual moisture. I follow up with Chemical Guys Satin protectant. I typically do my engine bay anytime I do an oil change (every 7000-10000 miles) or if I ran through any serious mud.

 

Definitely not

 

All that filtering stuff just reduces airflow anyway.

 

Pics of muddy engine?

 

People way overthink this shit...

 

I pay the body shop at the dealership $15.00 to wash my engine.

 

I hose my engine off all the time when I wash it. No issues. But I always avoid high pressure directly at electrical connectors and any place you have pierced a seal going into the firewall for any accessories that route inside. I grab my electric leaf blower and just blow as much stuff off the mini puddles inside the crevices and holes. Hardwater spots are hard to get off once dried in there. Grab a wheel cleaning brush and a separate bucket of car wash mix for those stubborn areas. Cover your cone filter if you have one of those with a plastic bag to keep from saturating the gauze material. You won't have anything to worry about if you don't get hose happy blasting the mud off.

 

[OP]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_g5aOsTOV7c

 

She probably has messy kids.

 

She probably just killed some poor bastard and trying to destroy evidence.

 

Thanks everyone for the feedback. I used SG in a multi-purpose sprayer and coated the engine bay then hosed everything off with low pressure. Could not have been easier.

Before:


After:

 

You used SG? What's SG?

 

Simple Green..

 

Did u wet it down first. Then let it sit. Then spray it off?

 

Yes

 

Great thanks.