Is it okay to wash the engine compartment?

I was washing my Leaf the other day and noticed the engine compartment and bottom side of the hood is very dirty/dusty. Most likely from all of the road construction I've been driving though the last year or so. I was wondering if there would be any harm is using a high pressure wash to rinse it all off?

I would use low-pressure instead of high-pressure to "rinse" it off.

you can be even safer and wipe it out with a damp cloth, in case you get an inspection call.

After mine was in (not driven) our last big haboob, I just sprayed all the dust off under the hood with a low-medium pressure hose, wiped it dry, and there were no problems.

i would guess sensitive components are protected against water but any area we might want to avoid a "deluge?"

i checked mine and mine is basically as clean as the day it came home 14+ months ago. i even took a damp cloth and wiped down several areas just to see how much dirt i picked up. not perfectly clean, but did not pick up a whole lot there

DaveinOlyWA said:

i checked mine and mine is basically as clean as the day it came home 14+ months ago.

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Someone made that comment when they looked under my hood a few weeks ago (7+ months). There should be no reason for extreme dirt under the hood because there's no oil/grease/etc. I would NOT run any water in the "engine" compartment; if necessary, I would simply wipe things down with a damp cloth.

There is absolutely no problem at all in washing off the road grime that accumulates in the motor bay. I do it regularly. I usually spray a little Simple Green on the parts to loosen the grime and then hit is with either a hose or a pressure washer. If a pressure washer is used, make sure that the nozzle is not to close to the parts as some of the softer parts can get torn by the water stream.

As part of the testing of these vehicles, they are driven in water that is 3 ft deep, so washing off the motor compartment is not going to cause any issues.

Despite the fact that there are no oils or grease in the motor compartment, airborne road grime will accumulate in there, and it is prudent to clean it off occasionally.

OrientExpress said:

There is absolutely no problem at all in washing off the road grime that accumulates in the motor bay. I do it regularly. I usually spray a little Simple Green on the parts to loosen the grime and then hit is with either a hose or a pressure washer. If a pressure washer is used, make sure that the nozzle is not to close to the parts as some of the softer parts can get torn by the water stream.

As part of the testing of these vehicles, they are driven in water that is 2 ft deep, so washing off the motor compartment is not going to cause any issues.

Despite the fact that there are no oils or grease in the motor compartment, airborne road grime will accumulate in there, and it is prudent to clean it off occasionally.

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actually the water is 33" deep if i am not mistaken. there is a you tube video posted here somewheres

Stanton said:

Someone made that comment when they looked under my hood a few weeks ago (7+ months). There should be no reason for extreme dirt under the hood because there's no oil/grease/etc. I would NOT run any water in the "engine" compartment; if necessary, I would simply wipe things down with a damp cloth.

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I have to disagree with you one two points. First thing is I've been driving on a dirt road every day for the last year because of the road construction going on in my neighborhood. Hopefully we'll be driving on concrete again within a few weeks when the let us onto the new road. That has created a lot of dust under the hood.

Second thing is the wiping down suggestion. Have you ever tried that? I tried once on a previous gasoline car and it turned a 5 minute spraying job into a 3 hour wiping job. There are so many different surfaces to wipe, it would take quite some time. Here's what it looks like:



EDIT - I just washed it out. I was actually quite amazed. I just used the garden hose on the wide-spray. It basically rinsed all of that stuff off without any effort at all. I guess since there was no grease or oil residue in there to make things sticky, it is pretty easy to work with.

EDIT #2 - Here's a photo after it has dried a bit. (there are still a few wet places, especially the 12V battery)

DaveinOlyWA said:

actually the water is 33" deep if i am not mistaken. there is a you tube video posted here somewheres

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I have video of the 300mm test, starting around 11 seconds:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxL4LVgdP7E[/youtube]

There is a video of the Leaf being tested in 700mm deep water, but I'm not sure where it is located right now...