There is some grease that is on the engine bay that I would like to clean out. What would the best product to use be? Goo Gone??? That's really the only one I know of.

Is there a better option??

Thanks!

i use RC car motor spray.

you can also you brake cleaner, but it stinks
pretty bad. i use brake cleaner to clean off
my drain plug, drain pan, funnel, etc after an
oil change. works great.

make sure the stuff you're cleaning is not the
rust proofing film.

I agree with Kenchan. Make sure you are removing what you don't need. Grease is necesary in some parts of the engine bay (i.e. bonnet hinges.)

Hmmmmmm, maybe I need to look more closely. Although this grease seems to serve no major purpose. I'd take a picture, but my camera was stolen. It's yellow grease and it's in gobs in some areas. It's mainly on the paint on the underside of the hood. There is no visible yellow grease anywhere else on the engine components, just the hood. It was there the day I got my car!

Those are Cosmoline remnants and not grease. That's the protective coat the factory sprays on the whole car before shipping. It should have been 100% removed at the VDC but they cannot always remove all of them. I also have them on the underside of the hood.

You can use goo-gone to remove it.

I would first try Simple Green or dish soap.

+1, Simple Green worked for me on the cosmoline.

The dealer gave me some "solvent" that they use specifically for cosmolene. He said I could get it at the hardware store, but I'd be afraid to do that unless I knew exactly what the stuff was. It does work great, I must say.

Another Simple Green recommendation - just mix up a solution based on the label recommendations and use a garden sprayer to get it on/rinse it off - lots better control that way than slopping it on and/or using a garden hose to clean it away. Smells a bit chemical-y for a while, but it really helped get the grease off. A toothbrush or small nylon brush will help with the small, tough cracks and crevices.

QUESTION: Is the stuff on the strut towers cosmolene? I have something sticky/tacky on the sides of my towers that sort of turned pale when I hit it with Simple Green... I stopped scrubbing when it turned pale just in case. It wasn't really black/grimy to begin with though, so I'm not 100% sure it was trace cosmolene. Has anyone else seen this?

Just be careful about rubbing the paint in the engine bay. It's not clearcoated, so you can rub off the paint down to metal very easily.

Very true - I used a soft-bristled brush and cotton cloths in my bay. I avoided the strut towers after whatever soft material is on there began to shift and I'll keep avoiding that area until I know for sure what it is.

WD40 is an oil and grease cutter, doesn't require much rubbing, and will not harm paint. And it leaves an oh so pleasant scent.

Zip

is this how it looks?



i used goo-gone and paper towel to remove the cosmoline. It came off easily.



the result...

Ewww... looks like up-chuckage. Is your car in need of an exorcist?



Evil cosmolene get OUT I say! The power of Goo-Gone compels you!!!

LOL. it wasn't that bad when I bought the car in Dec 06. I guess the summer heat melted some of the stuff that was sprayed in between the bonnet skin and underside brace

you guys (and this site) rock. I freaked out when i saw that yellow crap running down my bumper last week (it was 90 degrees here and I was driving like a devilchild. :-) I opened the hood only to see it was all over the underhood, coming mostly out of the holes. I knew that was better than seeing it coming up from the engine! obviously mini sprays that stuff between the hood skins and when it warms up (weather and turbo baby), it's gonna spew. clean up isle 3, all i gotta say is thank god it's not coolant or engine oil!

OK, ok, cleaning under the hood is great for ocd folks. But, if you use simple green or the like where do you do it? Do you wash the waste off in your drive way, out in the street, back yard, $.25 car wash? Where tell me.....I would like to keep this one clean like I used to do in the old day at the car wash.