about washing under the hood

As with any car of course you *can*, however the more you do that the more you risk water seeping into various electrical components and causing havoc, and also of promoting rust.

If it's just an occasional thing (maybe every few years) I wouldn't think it's too much of a problem.

But it shouldn't be necessary.

 

Not certain but if you clean every two weeks ( can't get that dirty/bad in that time) I would think you could "hand wipe/clean" the under hood area and achieve the results you want and not compromise the exposed complex electronics.

 

Leaf blower to blow that road soot off the engine, engine covers, fan shrouds and underhood.

 

OK, someone has to take the contrary view. I wouldn't want to buy your pristine car.

 

Just take the time to find your spark plugs, knowing what could happen if water were to sit on the hoods of the plugs will inspire you to carefully spray with water, I do.

 

People can disagree with me but I vote bad idea.
I live near one of those coin operated drive in Power Wash centers and I don't know how many times I've watched people come in power wash and foam under their hood, and then end up spending the next few hours trying to get their vehicle started because they did some damage to some component. Occasionally a tow truck ends up in the mix.

I think the best approach is just to keep your engine bay clean, and then simply carefully hand wipe places down about once a month.

If it's already dirty or so dirty this isn't feasible? Conservative approach is still best. Be very, very careful. I would hand do everything.

I think with a Prius? I certainly wouldn't want to be pressure washing under the hood.

But that's just me. Other ways to do it...and IMO pressure wash is just too risky.

 

I don't see any problem cleaning under the hood.
I thought I was the only one that does that.....including the tire foam....

Just use your common sense!
Keep some distance between the power washer nozzle and the object you want to clean.
What is the difference between using a power washer in a sensible way and driving in a rainstorm at 60 mph?

My Prius and the Mercedi I had before, never gave any problems.
But I also had a Alfa Romeo that was a little bit sensitive to power washers and rainstorms.....
But that's an Italian car, so you can expect all kind of problems.
My Ducati on the other hand, has no problem with rain, but I spent some time on the electric connectors and spark plug caps. The Ducati has no hood and gets frequent power washings.

IMHO there's nothing wrong with some TLC under the hood of a Prius.
If the car can't handle some water it's a POS.

 

Go ahead, I'd like to know what happens.

 

I've had my car a year and, honestly, it's awfully clean in there still.
I can't see needing anything more involved than Windex and paper towel.
Really.

 

Well......I guess nothing will happen (I already cleaned under the hood a couple of times, to get rid of the salt and dirt).....nothing happened the past 30 years keeping the engine compartment clean.
Except for the Alfa.....but that POS had problems with rain also......electrical and rust problems.

In the Prius it will take longer for the orange rubber to dry out because of the tire foam.
But I think there will be no negative effects.

 

I agree with this.

If you simply "maintain" a degree of clean by occasionally wiping down areas that are getting dusty or dirty, you shouldn't really HAVE to use a "pressure washer".

And IMO using a pressure washer by definition DOES come with risk. Like I said, I've seen failures. And IMO "Pressure Washers" are designed primarily for "Pressure" washing the major contaminates off the outside or undercarriage of your vehicle. You know, like if you run over a cow in a SUV...even though I'm sure some people have used a pressure washer successfully in an engine bay, to me an environment where you have wires, connections and today, sensitive electronic components is NOT the best place to even carefully be spraying using a pressure washer.

I have a 3 year old vehicle, that I bought brand new. By simply about once month or so, checking and wiping down, usually only using water...I keep my engine bay looking clean.

So if it's unnecessary, why take the risk? I'm not against cleaning your engine bay, or even introducing the dreaded "water" component.

Worst case scenario I might even escalate to a bucket, sponge and garden hose...but even with my 15+ year old Accord, I never really felt I needed to pressure wash the engine bay.

The problem with "Just use common sense" is people often do not. And/or it's easy to get carried away, you start out being careful but think it's going so well that you end up upping the ante and hitting the extra pressure trigger for just a second...and once a wire is knocked loose, and/or once moisture is introduced into an area or component it would be better if it had NOT been introduced into? Then you can't really unring that bell, well at least sometimes not easily.

With a sponge, rag, towel, and just a little water in a bucket.....it saves us from any momentary lack of common sense that might overtake us, or simply a passing moment of bad judgment.

Especially with a Prius, I just wouldn't do it. Shouldn't be necessary under most circumstance.

 

No it's not necessary at all.....but I like a clean car.....clean everywhere.
I always have the feeling it's a better ride after some TLC.
I know that's nonsense, but I still clean all the places where the sun doesn't shine.

A pressure washer only shoots out water.....small amounts of water....at "high" pressure at the nozzle.
When you're at a distance of....let's say....12" it's already not that high anymore....in fact there's no pressure left....only some velocity.
In the hose it's low velocity and high pressure, when it comes out at the nozzle the speed goes up and the pressure is gone....but it still holds kinetic energy, but that also diminishes when the distance is increasing.

I can understand people who think I'm nuts cleaning under the hood.
I can understand that people don't wanna take the risk...
But, in my opinion, the risk with modern cars is so small, that it won't hurt.

 

I occasionally clean under the hood with brush and damp cloth. My old car 4Runner, if under the hood looked dirty I hosed it off and turn on the engine to dry it right away. I didn't want to try that with my V, but a few months ago when there was heavy rainstorm I ran into the running water coming down from the hill pouring over to the top of my hood. I thought the engine would quit but I waded through. The next day, I popped up the hood and found leaves everywhere so I used the leave blower from the top to shoot out the debris and such. But up front around the air condenser and the radiator, I had to hosed them off.
Next time should I face this problem, I won't be so scared.

 

I am brand new to the Prius, and the overabundance of electronics and electrical components under the hood. With previous vehicles, I have used a "bug sprayer" loaded with diluted degreaser followed by plain water. With the Prius, I think I will stick to the damp rag and tire dressing, with the idea that keeping it clean will be ALLOT easier than getting it clean.

 

I've asked Prius dealer and they said absolutely not. It is not a good idea to washing Prius engine compartment; and I absolutely agree with it. With so heavily computerized car you are asking for a big problem.

 

I've said it before in other posts. My dad used to take a garden hose to the engine bay every once in awhile to clean it. He's been doing it for decades with zero problems. One day he washed my newly purchased 1998 Corolla engine. Water got into the spark plug wires. Engine began to stutter. Dealer charged me $200 to diagnose and replace the $10 wire. My dad no longer washes engine bays.