Tried something new last night that I thought I'd share with you all. After I rinsed the engine off after cleaning (got a car show this Sunday) I got out my shop-vac to vacuum the inside. Then it hit me. You know, this thing can be reversed to be a blower! So, I connected to the "blow hole" and went to it. It dried off the engine in a matter of minutes and enabled me to get down into all the little cracks and crevices nicely. It also provides a nice, gentle airflow, much different than my gas-powered leaf blower.

Just thought I'd pass it along. Give it a shot!

 

I got an answer from the dealer. They accepted to pay me the 50% for the paint job. I'm taking my MINI on monday. The only bad/sad new.... no MINI motoring for 1 1/2 weeks .

 

I want to clean up my engine bay cause the first owner NEVER cleaned under the hood, my concern is WATER/Liquids on electrical and injection parts....
any thoughts?
db

 

Never had any problems cleaning engines. Simply don't spend too much time around them with the water and don't use a lot of pressure. I use a gardener's nozzle with a "shower" setting -- really gentle. Again, I cover the alternator and stop-up the air intake hole.

Happy cleaning!

 

Hey guys:
I am gonna try mine tomorrow. It rained pretty heavily a couple days ago and the engine bay is full of dirt. I previously had a crx turbo and never had issues cleaning the engine. This will be my first clean up on the MCS05.
Lets see how my car comes out. Ill take pics before and after.

 

After you do your major cleaning, consider doing weekly maintenance. I wipe my engine compartment down every time I wash the car with a damp cloth. This keeps the crud from building up and I've found it is a lot easier to keep it clean than it is to let it get nasty and try to get it clean again.

I haven't had to do a major cleaning since last spring and I think it looks pretty clean.