Washing under the hood

I'd mostly mop up the stuff with a dry paper towel and leave it at that.

 

agreed. there are a lot of sensitive electrics in there, and some have reported problems after an engine bay wash.

 

Don't use dish liquid when washing your vehicle, it's a harsher chemical mix. Just use car soap.

 

You can use "Dawn" once in a while without problems. Under the hood is just fine (there is no real important "finish" there). Use a garden hose, not a pressure washer. "Car soap" is better, but it may not be aggressive enough. I like a "wash mit". It protects your hand and gets into tiny spaces. You may find it difficult to get all the "Armour All" off. It is very tenacious. Once clean I would apply a protective coating ("wax") of your choice, on the aluminum and painted surfaces. Tedious, but it does help to protect from corrosion.

For those worried about the electronics, it will be fine. I washed under the hood of Pearl often with no problems and I do the same with Pearl S. As long as you stay away from pressure washers. They will force water into places it shouldn't be.
Remember, in heavy rain water gets everywhere under the hood. It's designed to resist that.

I would -never- use "Armour All". The "wet look" it leaves is nice, but as you say, it holds dust, and in the sun tends to concentrate the energy, which can damage plastics. Especially on the dash.

 

I'd just go after the obvious "greasy kid stuff" with a damp rag. Something relatively lint-free.

Who ever did this hopefully didn't carpet- bomb the engine bay with a spray. Or they did?....

For regular cleaning, I'll use one of those duster wands, an old crappy one, relegated to the garage. And a paint brush, following along with wet/dry vacuum. Leaf blower works good too.

I put foam pipe insulation year 'round on the two side lips of the engine bay, where the hood drops down without gasket. Primarily to hold heat in better, but seems to reduce dust incursion too.

You can see them, left and right edges, in this pic:

 

...but pull the belly pan first. I actually use Tide.

 

If you don't want to dry out every crack and crevice, if you have a enclosed garage, just run a dehumidifier on MAX until it all gets evaporated out.

 

A dehumidifier? It's a car...and they are designed to take water. Hood open, pan off, powered up...even in central PA (the OP) it will dry fast this time of year. If in that big a hurry just drive it dry.

 

i've wondered how the dealer's detail squad got the under-hood space of my car so pristine-looking before sale. At over 40K, it looked like a brand new car under there. Ever since, it's been collecting dust and stray fragments of plants and insects in every nook and cranny.

 

For those of you that have washed your engine bay with a garden hose, did you guys spray a engine cleaner before doing it? In my previous Corolla and Supra, I did this often to keep the engine bay looking cleaning and only had to cover up and aftermarket area. However with Prius, and its inverter right up top I haven't been able to get myself to try in this car.

 

hair dryer?

 

I dare ya to u-tube that....for those that already thought the Prius was emasculating to begin with...wow.

 

I only use a sponge damp with clean water to remove the dirt and grease.

 

Engine cleaners are to remove oil leaked into the bay by "junk manufactured" cars. Toyota's don't leak oil.

Here's a clue regarding what "soap" might be safe. If you can immerse your hands in it for 30 min or so it's probably fine. Don't try this with laundry detergent. It can take the skin off your hands over time (from experience). Dish detergents are mostly designed to allow you to actually -hand wash- the dishes (horrors!) so are fine once in a while. In fact, if you want to "Zaino" your car and it has ordinary "wax" on it, they recommend using "Dawn" to clean off the wax.

When I wash my car in the back yard during "not winter" time, I always wash under the hood. Don't do that in winter, as the car wash uses a pressure washer.

It took me years to realize that even after cleaning the engine bay regularly, if I stick my hand in there it WILL come out dirty!

 

My advice will be, get some absorbent paper towels to clean-up the Armor All accumulation over the surfaces and then diluted "Dawn" in warm water and a soft bristles paint brush; rinse with the garden hose. Do not drawn the car in water, only rinse.
For drying under the hood I use an electric leaf blower and I use it after washing my car as well too.

 

Meh.

If it ever needs to be done, I'd probably do as I've always done, but I'd have to remove all the lower panels first so they don't get wet/hold in water. Spray the engine bay down with an emulsifying cleaner/degreaser (that's safe for electronics and will work at room temp since you can't get an engine "hot" in a Prius). Then hose it out with a gentle pressure spray and let air dry.

Reattach lower panels when dry (enough).

 

When I bought my 2008 and my 2011 from dealers, both as the second owner, they had been "detailed", which includes gunking up the engine compartment with some sort of shiny Armor-All product. What a mess. It took me weeks of painstaking work to clean all that off. I mostly used Simple Green and paper towels and carefully disconnected pieces/parts to clean up all I could see. The lower parts of the engine and remaining compartment were subsequently cleaned by driving through a couple of signature Arizona cloud-bursts. It has stayed pretty clean since.

 

My engine bay, pictured above, has had a bit of periodic dusting and vacuum and blow-out. Kept clear of well-meaning detailers.

I believe the two sections of foam tubing (at the fender edges) have really helped, reduced air turbulence through there.

 

People have reported here problems after engine bay cleaning that seem to be related to water getting into the spark plug wells.

Perhaps it is enough to just avoid using a water jet under pressure, but I have no comforting experience to relate.