Washing wheel wells at car wash

This is probably a dumb question, but I will ask it as this truck is the most I have ever spent on a vehicle.

Is there any concern hitting a warm/hot engine some with cold water when washing the front wheel wells at a car wash? I have seen some say cold water on a hot engine can cause a crack, but I haven’t heard of that happening for a long time. I don’t douse my engine bay with water.

Not a lot of opening to the engine there, but some space for water to get through.

Thanks for the thoughts and for humoring the question.

 

I don't see any concerns. When your driving in the rain, water is entering through this area as well.

 

I don't think so. In my younger days I worked at a Chevrolet dealership in the detail shop in an area where coal mining was the main industry and we had to detail trucks that were driven back into some of the mines and were caked with mud and grease and grime from years of abuse. We sprayed the engines down with degreasers and even a lime green acid even when they were warmed up to get all the gunk off before we could detail them which included repainting the engine blocks sometimes. What I saw was severe, so I doubt you have anything to worry about.

 

Thanks for the replies. I figured it was probably a non-issue. New purchase paranoia is still wearing off I guess.

Every wash video I have seen they are washing deep in the wheel wells. And then I came across guys doing deep water crossings. If the engine can hold up to that me lightly spraying it through the wheel well hole should be nothing.

 

Should be good to go as it is similar to rain hitting you're engine block when the roads are wet!

 

The old distributor cap engines would occasionally crack and when you went to spray it off it wouldnt start till the water dried off. New stuff is ok for spraying the wheelwells

 

All is fine with spraying the wheel wells. As stated above, when driving in the rain, water is slung all around the wheel wells. It also gets in the engine bay too. You can lightly spray the engine bay too, just don't go nuts with high pressure.