I need to get after the under hood area. The power steering has been leaking for a while and there is just a huge mess under the hood.

I asked the detail guy we take trucks to about pressure washing under the hood. He no longer does this after experiencing a major electrical problem on a car after pressure washing.

There are lots of wires under the hood of our trucks but after seeing some of them on the on the dealer lots that have been cleaned under the hood, I just wonder if a solven spray followed by a lower pressure wash would be ok.

Any opinions or experience?

 

I've pressure sprayed many engines, including all my vehicles usually every time I'm at the car wash, never had a problem. As long as the engine's no hotter than lukewarm, I freely hit the metal surfaces with high pressure. Electrical components and connectors I try to hit with an indirect spray, unless I have compressed air close by that I can use to blow out connectors, etc. After everything's spotless and the leaks are fixed, its a simple matter to rinse the dust off underhood whenever you wash the rest of the vehicle.

Oh, I always remove the underhood bulb before washing. Broke a few of those when the water hit the hot bulb, before I smartened up.

 

Use the low pressure when it's less than 160 degrees on the engine temp.

I did mine a few days ago to find a leak and no problems.



-Kris