Mine's dirty and greasy. What's the best (practical - I won't be dismantling and cleaning the motor with q-tips and toothbrushes) way to do it? Engine de-greaser foam or gel crap from the auto parts store? Professional steam clean?

Many thanks!

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Cam
1982 240d

A thorough dousing with Simple Green and steam cleaning usually works for me. You'll have to do it a few times to get it really clean though.

buy one of those really clean cars from that guy on ebay...

When I bought the 240D the entire engine bay was basically black (the car is white otherwise). The PO told me his wife took the oil cap off to add some, forgot to put it back on and proceeded to drive around. Anyway, I bought some degreaser, drove to the car wash, sprayed the eintire bottle all over the engine bay, waited about 5 minutes and then sprayed it off with the high pressure hose. That worked wonders, just be careful of any sensitive equipment, electrical stuff and probably the IP (just as a matter of principle).

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'95 E300D ("Tank") - 231,000 miles
'79 240D ("Biscuit") - 197,250 miles (Sold)
'83 240D ("Ding-Ding") - 217,000 miles (Death by deer)
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"Back off, man. I’m a scientist” ~ Peter Venkman

Dang... I WAS going to suggest dismantling, the q-tips and the toothbrush...

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[/SIGPIC]~cirrusman

1983 Mercedes Benz 300SD - Wife calls him "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"
[SIGPIC]




1983 Toyota Tercel (Tommy, The little Toyota that could)
1965 Ford F100 (Grandma Ford)
2005 Toyota Sienna (Elsa, Wife's ride)


Gone:
1988 Toyota Pickup
2004 Subaru Outback

1987 Cadillac Fleetwood Brougham
1986 Volvo 740 GL Station Wagon - Piece of junk.
1981 Volvo 242 DL 2 Door - Hated to see it go. R.I.P.
1987 Pontiac Fiero GT

Ive always used this stuff called STP son of a gun tire care. It comes in a huge spray can and i get it real cheap about 2$ a can. Spray it on all your tires and wheels and engine bay when at the car wash, it comes out as a thick foam, and turns to liquid, then you spray off all the grime. Ive never had to scrub brake dust off and it works wonders for engine degreasing. Love the stuff and its super cheap.

http://images-cdn01.associatedcontent.com/video/A1010/10100/150_10100-0.jpg

an oil coating is good against rust!

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Current Diesels:
1981 240D (73K)
1982 300CD (169k)
1985 190D (169k)
1991 350SD (116k)
1991 350SD (206k)
1991 300D (228k)
2008 ML320 CDI (199k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (442k)
1996 Dodge Ram CTD (267k)

Past Diesels:
1983 300D (228K), 1985 300D (233K), 1993 300D 2.5T (338k), 1993 300SD (291k)

Yes it is. I have a 1976 International Scout that is rust free. The old man i bought it from has got underneath of it with a 2 gallon garden sprayer and sprayed diesel fuel everywhere since its new. It really has kept it from getting ate up. Its just a MESS to work on anything and probably one hell of a fire hazard. I plan to get it cleaned up and eventually undercoated. It does work though!

I used to be able to get bissel brand foaming bubbles bathroom cleaner. excellent degreaser/ cleaner. for brake dust it was spray on wipe off. for soot and oil on back of wagon it was sprayon rub about rinse off. in the engine compartment I used it and engine degreaser. the degreaser went first rinsed then the foaming bubbles. bubbles took away oily residue aswell as grease and grime. great roadside hand cleaner. spray on wipe off. can't find it anymore :-(.

I just did mine. I don't think it had been detailed in its 31 year life.
Simple Green, a parts wash brush and a tooth brush. The only thing I covered up was the starter, used a piece of foil.
Took about 4 hours. Then spray all metal with metal protectant and everything else with 303, wipe down:

Attached Thumbnails

       

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Chris Brown
"OC", So-Cal
1979 240D, 122K, 4spd, Colorado Biege w/Tobacco, Pwr Roof, AC, Cruise, Becker Corona - SOLD
Past Benzos: 71 250 • 83 240D • 84 190E • 04 C240 • 11 GLK350 • 13 c250 Coupe
http://www.peachparts.com/shopforum/...ine=1276896801

Goot lawd thats a clean engine bay. Wanna come over and do mine?

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First thing I do is stop at the car wash then when I get home slide one of those plastic 'kiddie' wading pools under the engine and go at it with diesel fuel and a scrub brush then a wash down with Simple green. The air hose is handy also.

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1985 Euro 240D 5 spd 140K
1979 240D 5 spd, 40K on engine rebuild
1994 Dodge/Cummins, 5 spd, 121K
1964 Allice Chalmers D15 tractor
2014 Kubota L3800 tractor
1964 VW bug

"Lifes too short to drive a boring car"

A fellow enthusiast once told me "a clean engine bay is the sign of a sick mind" - I argued with him for about 30 minutes, then gave up.

Beautiful engine bay!!

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327K on 1986 W201, 602.911, 722.414 2.5 190D ("The Red Baron")
139K on 1993 W124, 104.942, 722.433 2.8 300E ("Queen")

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4081/...0bb92d3c_m.jpg http://i370.photobucket.com/albums/o...g?t=1325284354

Do not worry about your difficulties in Mathematics. I can assure you mine are still greater.
- Albert Einstein

take a walk down memory lane...

Thats one very fine job bio !!

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1985 300D 198K sold
1982 300D 202K
1989 300E 125K
1992 940T

"If you dont have time to do it safely, you dont have time to do it"

"The democracy will cease to exist when you take away from those who are willing to work and give to those who would not."

Wow!! That is imnpressive. I need to get to work on mine.

I was finishing up some work on my 84, started it up and then addressed this rattle that was coming from the drain pipe that goes dowm from the air cleaner to the oil reservoir. I found that the tube was not lined up on the bottom and was dripping the oil from the seperator onto the bottom of the engine and down over the oil pan. It was making a mess. Not sure how long it has been like that but got it corrected. There is a mess I will have to address with some Simple Green and my pressure washer.

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85 300D 75K Anthracite Grey 0-60 in 13 seconds **For Sale**
84 300D 333K Black (The Velveteen Rabbit) 0-60 in 14 seconds
00 Toyota Sienna 208K (Sold)
15 Subaru Outback 43K
11 Subaru Outback 67K
98 Ford Taurus 100K (Gertie - Was Grandma's - drove it to church and shopping - really) Daughter's car now.
30 Model A Ford 2 Door Sedan (Sold) 0-60 in . . . Never reached 60