in2pro

thanks {tpc} !

The real key is to never let it get out of hand to began with, I may not fully detail the engine bay every time but I do rinse the engine and bay at every wash..
I use hose end pressure to get everything wet except the alternator vent openings but a little water is not going to hurt anything as long as you give it some time to drain and dry out...
Once everything is wet, i hit it with 50% Simple Green then use combination of sponge and wash cloth to wipe down the firewall and as many big surfaces as I can, I generally remove the engine cover to rinse off the top of the engine as well...
I use hose end water pressure to rinse it all down and the leaf blower to blow away as much residual water as possible.
I use WD-40 on the plugs and manifold as well as the suspension area, not so much to drive out water but it give a nice wet look to those components and I use Armor-all for the reset of the top engine but do not wipe it down just let it sit and soak.
I do not wash the engine hot , always cold and have never had any issues with starting...
Its raining out but I went and took a couple of shots of the engine bay as it is right now and it looks pretty good for an 8 year old vehicle with 106,000 miles

{tpc}

Damn, that does look nice, I'm jealous! Well I have simple green...I have a hose...I don't have a leaf blower but I have a sir blower attachment for the compressor. Question...how do you keep the water out of the alternator? Do you cover it with something? I mean there are openings all the way around it on both sides....

Anyways, going to try to attach the pics I took of the battery. Hope you can see well enough past the dirt and crappy phone pics. lol.

Edit: phone really makes it look dirtier than it is.

SabrToothSqrl

@in2pro, that engine bay is DISGUSTINGLY clean.

Why are your spark plug wires red? that doesn't look factory, I think mine are black.

Great, thanks to you guys I think I know what I'm doing tonight. Handwash & dry the space boat, then the Tahoe engine bay, then the whole tahoe. Then maybe vacuum the tahoe... This is going to take some time :-/

{tpc}

LOL @SabrToothSqrl.....I know, right?

My spark plug wires are red too. But I think both mine and in2pro's trucks are 2007, yours is a 2009. Maybe that's why. I recently changed my plugs but didn't do the wires. I swear the original plugs were still in it @ 196k miles lol.

Hey in2pro...snap off a pic of underneath where the oil filter and transmission is so we can all be thoroughly disgusted by the cleanliness. LOL Actually mine isn't that bad as I've been doing quite a bit of work to the truck so cleaning things off as I go. Nice not to have any leaks on the driveway.

Still wondering if I want to get the putty knife out and take to the crossmember under the oil filter... what a sweet design for catching the oil lol. At this point I'm not sure if cleaning the oil off would open that area up to corrosion..it has a nice protective layer on it lol.

Going on a trip this weekend, so probably won't be cleaning the engine bay prior.

SabrToothSqrl

I always enjoy changing the oil... from the hot clingy cancerous fluid shooting out of the drain plug, that never lands in the pan, to the light breeze which causes said fluid to spray all over the driveway, to the dumbass jerk who designed the oil filter which, as soon as you loosen it drips all over itself, because... reasons. To the frame/bodywork which catches oil and then drips it in the garage because... reasons.

To their credit, the oil filter in my wrangler.. was AWESOME. it was on TOP of the engine (WHAT A FREAKING IDEA)!! and it was a paper/no canister style, and self draining.. so when you removed it, you got ZERO oil on crap.

Of course I won't mention my other current favorite car

Yes, I'm aware of the punch a hole in the bottom of the oil filter trick, we use it on the boats, but still... I guess the people who design these things never change their own oil... so why should they care, right?

I keep my underside fairly clean... the truck too

I use a spray can of ace rust-whatever gloss on the driveshafts/axles/body mounts / anything that's not painted. in PA the road salt just EATS everything.

{tpc}

If you want to have some real fun, check out a new ford escape with the 1.6l engine. Oh it seems a real blast. Well worth whatever they charge to do it at the dealer.

The engineering team there decided the best place for the oil filter would be in the front of the engine. No, not hanging low, or in a vertical position. They though best to put it up in the middle somewhere horizontally.

So after you remove something like 8 torx bolts and 2 hex bolts to drop the belly pan, you get to snake your arms up though coolant and a/c lines to get to the filter. Once you unscrew it, you have to snake it down through all that crap, and then run the new one back up. I suppose you could pre-oil the new one, but your probably just going to pour it out on yourself anyways.

Thankfully I've never done this and knowing what goes into it, I never will. But just go look at one..look down from the top, and explain to me how your going to get in there.

Side note...front end collision must smash the hell out of it too..but once all those airbags pop they usually total them anyways, right?

in2pro

SabrToothSqrl Thanks! those are the factory wires, my originals were also red...

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{tpc} most of the time I am able to avoid direct hosing down of the alternator, but I have covered it with a plastic bag before... everything under the hood can get wet, you just don't want to over soak it or use too high of a water pressure to force water into places it shouldn't be...
Allowing it to sit for a while before starting it is also a good idea...

I even made up a stubby pressure washer wand and added a 45° angle spray tip so I can hit the underside of the truck when I have it up on jack stands. A standard wand was too long and wouldn't give the needed room under the truck...

As for the yellow top, that doesn't look so bad from your images so I may go for it

73shark

I use full strength Simple Green and a hose sprayer set on spray not, on jet. I try to avoid spraying it directly into anything such as the alternator although I don't cover it. The only time I ever had a problem doing this was on my 68 GTO and that was because I closed the hood and the engine was still slightly warm because Gunk degeaser worked better on a warm engine. Water condensed inside the distributor cap.

73shark

I would recommend that you don't scrape the protective coating off with a putty knife. It's a new type of coating they started I guess in 07. It stays soft so it doesn't chip off.