yea, salt is for margaritas after a day of mudding and washing the engine bay with a hose or a pressure washer.

 

303 Products offers free 2oz samples of each of their products for a $5.00 s/h fee. I'm going to give it a whirl... maybe some of your should also.

 

I bought a bottle today and just got around to spraying some on my dash. I did just the top of the dash to see how it would be. I'm pleased with the stuff so far. Its not as greasy as "Armor All" is. Its also not as shiny which I like. There is such a thing as too shiny IMO.

I will detail the entire inside this weekend.

 

wow those engines are so nice looking./ What is this foam stuff you guys are talking about?

 

Once again, it's Gunk Foaming Brite Engine Cleaner/Degreaser, comes in tall, white cans and can be found at your local auto parts stores..., you need three (3) cans.

 

Gunk Engine Brite
http://www.gunk.com/oe2.asp?pic=EB1

Gunk Foamy Engine Brite
http://www.gunk.com/oe2.asp?pic=FEB1

*NEW* Gunk Engine Brite Gel
http://www.gunk.com/oe2.asp?pic=EBGEL

 

Once you have the engine and hoses cleaned I like to use something like Armoral, MaGuires or Mothers rubber, vinal leather cleaner on the hoses and anything plastic or rubber under the hood. They are all good products.
You can spray it on and let it sit and then wipe it off or use a sponge brush like I do . Just pour a little of your choice of protectent in a cup or small can and brush it on real good. That way you can get under the hoses and wires. Let it sit for a few minutes and give it another coat. It also really helps to use a spray wax on the firewall and finders. If you use the sponge brush you can reach the hard or hidden spots.This may seem like alott of work or over kill but the next time you spary off the mud and dirt it will just run right off.[IMG][/IMG]

 

Well, after a few weekends of offroading/camping, I finally decided to show my engine some lovin'. I picked up a bottle of Simple Green and I went at it with a couple of different size scrub brushes (the old toothbrush was the most useful... it got into every crevice.)

I was very pleased with Simple Green. It did most of the work for me. Here are the before and after pictures of the engine.

 

Be careful if your using Amor All and the like products under the hood since some ogf that can dry out rubber and plastic parts especially with the underhood heat and some of that stuff is bad news. Some company (can't remember right now) does sell underhood dress up sprays specifically designed for engine and associated parts use and I'd look into that before you use dashboard protectants under the hood.

 

you can just use the engine cleaner setting at the car wash, then pressure rinse it. To make it shiny...get some armor all or other gloss protectant, and spray it all over everything, shut the hood and it will soak in witht he heat. then everything will look "bling". the problem is dust gets caught in it very quickly, I do it from time to time to keep the plastic and rubber parts conditioned but most of the time I just was it clean and let it be.

 

armor all doesnt hurt anything, ive done it many many times and its fine, not sure about others tho.

 

303 protectant is essentially Armour All. 303 was designed as an environmentally friendly, waterbased sunscreen for stuff. Namely for synthetics and composites used in the watersports industry (that's canoes and kayaks, not jet skis and bass boats). The stuff will prevent sun-fading and provide a nice greaseless shine similar to waxing. It even makes minor scuffs dissapear. Go ahead use it on your dash, leather, engine.

303 became hard to find when corporations bought corporations so I switched to UV Tech from McNett. Same concept and a bit cheaper. I seem to believe that the shine lasts a bit longer with UV Tech than with 303. Buy a gallon container of the stuff and with shipping it comes to about $.50 an ounce.

 

ArmorAll can break down certain rubbers and vinyls, that is why you aren't supposed to use it on tonneau covers.

 

Armor All also doesn't "wear off" and coats the dash with many layers of that crap instead of conditioning plastic and rubber.

 

Here's a little tip when washing your engine. Keep the water out of the spark plugs!

The day after I washed my engine (covered battery and alternator with plastic bags, used garden hose to spray down engine and used simple green), my truck started acting really funny (misfire, wierd idle, CEL, VSC, and Trac lights on). I pulled the codes (P0300 and P0306). Turns out there was a little puddle of water approx 1/8" deep around the spark plug on cylinder #6. Wasted a couple of hours finding that one, but in the troubleshooting process, I cleaned the MAF and throttle body, and now it runs better than ever.

 

id start out with regular degreaser and finish with simple green. ive found simple green isnt as powerful but it doesnt leave any residue whatsoever. simple green is awesome stuff

 

My 89 4runner's engine has seen mud almost everyday of it's life....and it looks like it. I look foward to trying all the tips and try to make it shine.

 

I use Gunk degreaser, wash it down and then hit it all the nooks and cranny's with the compressor. If I go to the spray wash I always remember to bring some compressed air, WD-40 and the tool box.

 

Use CD-2.





More info here:

http://www.toyotaoffroad.net/jnburtman/hoodlight.html

 

simple green is a good one.