Underbody Cleaning - especially in the winter?

any tips for washing off salt build up inside the engine compartment, especially on the motor mounts?

 

I haven't done this on the tacoma yet.... but I've purchased one of those fertilizer sprayers that you attach to your hose. I put simple green & water in it and spray the engine, let it soak just a few minutes and rinse with water really good.

You gotta be careful not to use high pressure because you don't want to 'disturb' and/or rupture any wiring or hoses. Gentle rinsing is what I do.
You also gotta be careful of what cleaning components you use - because some of it could be harmful to the rubber/materials in the engine. I'm not really sure if Simple Green is the best to use either....I've always had it around the house.

So I'll be interested to see what others do...I'm not opposed to changing how I have done it.

 

so i can spray water on the engine and area? been told you can as long as you disconnect the battery though from my coworker, is this necessary?

 

Water alone will not remove the road salt from your truck. Get yourself a cheap pressure washer and run some non-foaming soap through it. Hose off the whole underside, let it sit for a minute and rinse off. It will remove most of the salt, but you still need to neutralize what is left. Eastwood makes a salt neutralizer that you can spray on with a garden sprayer. It will stop the salt from being corrosive and help protect the metal from oxidation.

http://www.eastwoodco.com/jump.jsp?itemID=23876&itemType=PRODUCT

 

I've never disconnected my battery to hose out the engine compartment. I wouldn't recommend hosing down a hot engine. Make sure it's cooled down first.

 

Ah, the upside to living in Northern California.

 

Road salt isn't the only thing that can get under the hood.

 

Nice.

 

i've always wanted a mini concrete pond beside my driveway. make it just deep enough that water won't come in your doors. fill it up with water, drive in and park for a while. or you could drive through it at speed. there is a limestone bottomed creek here that i use this method in during summer...but it will be too deep for a couple more months.

i hate salt...i loathe that blue sh*t they spray out in liquid form.

all so Margie and Irene can get to bingo

 

Apparently Cloister has an underbody spray thing. I'll have to drop by someday and check it out before I dive in..... If it's attached to an upper body cleaning with all them brushes & shit, FORGET IT. Makes me wonder how much it costs too... maybe I'll just wait for spring and do it myself.

 

The one in my town costs $4.50 for the basic wash and undercarriage. No brushes, just high pressure automatic sprayers.

 

I go to a laser, brushless, car wash that has an under-belly spray. I don't think it works that well, but still better than nothing.

Salt sucks!!! But wrecking sucks worse!

 

Stopped off at Cloister today ...the underbody wash comes with their regular wash. You can't get the underbody wash alone.

The only people who touch/wash my truck is me & my husband.

Damn, looks like I'll have to wait until spring.

 

The 'Cloister' sounds like our 'Delta Sonic'. Looks like there is one in Erie PA.

My problem with those is that as careful as the people are drying it after the fact, any touchless wash leaves grime on the vehicle which the towels sandpaper over the finish when drying.

Always leaves some scratched and dirty spots.

 

snow whats that? shoot its been in the 80's here in socal