What is the best way to clean the undercarriage and under the hood?

[CieraSL]

The title pretty much says my question. I have never washed my undercarriage, as I'm not sure how to without crawling under the car and making a mess. That, and I don't really know if I need to. As far as under the hood goes, I only clean under it once a year. It's only my daily driver and not a muscle car or anything like that that I would show off, and it only gets a little dusty under there; I guess I only do it once a year because I'm kinda afraid I'll mess something up under there. Can I do it more often (like twice a year), and am I being unnecessarily fearful? Thanks!

Shane

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Anyone driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac. ~Author Unknown

[Mike Phillips]

Re: What is the best way to clean the undercarriage and under the hood?

Look for a car wash that offers the washing of the underside of your car as one of their services, besides that option it's pretty tough job to take on.

I use to have a A-frame Engine puller and could lift the front of a car off the ground to about 14 feet into the air at which point a pressure washer cold be used to pressure wash the underneath of the easily by just standing in front of the exposed belly of the car and going at it, alas it's in Oregon...

If you look in the below picture you'll see to steel poles in a reverse V in front of the the 1959 Cadillac, I picked up the entire front of that Cadillac and also a 1960 Cadillac and then pressure washed 40 years of built up sludge and dirt off of both of them using a 2-Ton Chain hoist.



There not to expensive to build but you need to be a good welder or hire a good welder to build it for you.

[Megafast13]

Re: What is the best way to clean the undercarriage and under the hood?

I go to a car wash that has the Car wash Package that includes under body washing.

Under the hood you use Foil and cover any electronics and then spray the engine and then spray Super Degreaser. Then scrub and rinse. Careful doing this though.

[wyseilmykkar]

Re: What is the best way to clean the undercarriage and under the hood?

As suggested by Austin Powers, I like to give my undercarriage routine maintenance to keep it in top shape

Befriend your dealer or small auto garage (preferrably where they undercoat) and have them put your vehicle up on the lift so you can pressure wash it. If they do undercoating they'll have curtains around the bay so you don't have to worry about overspray. Otherwise, you're pretty tough for access save for a couple sets of jackstands...

[02zx9r]

Re: What is the best way to clean the undercarriage and under the hood?

i have heard of some people putting a water sprinkler under there car, the one that sprays up in an arc and rotates (if you know what I mean). Works great for trucks and cars that are a little higher off the ground. I have not tried it yet but I will in the spring.

It wont do much for grease and stuff like that unless you crawl under and spray the undercarriage with purple power or some other type degreaser or apc, but for salt and just dirt it should work pretty well