Anyone Use GUNK Engine De-greaser??

ZeeK

Registered User
I was wondering about cleaning my engine but I heard scary thinks about doing this.

I bought 2 cans of GUNK engine degreaser and the directions tell you to cover the electrical parts and spray on the engine. Let it sit for like 10min and then spray with the hose.

A friend of mine told me not to do it, it will mess up my sensors. Anyone do this before with any problems??

thanks,
 
As a general rule electronics+water=bad news but this can be done if you do *not* use high pressure spray. The engine compartment can handle a little water (think big puddle at 30 mph) but it's not designed to keep water out if it's being pushed into all the crevices in the connectors and harnesses. You may want to disconnect the battery and wrap things like the DIS in Saran wrap or a bread bag. Take a leaf blower to it to dry it out before you crank it.
 
Stay away from the GUNK degreaser-if you follow the directions you end up with these white spots all over anything plastic or rubber and it looks like crap.

Use the Castrol HD Cleaner-works a LOT better!
 
If I were to disconect the battery first, then hose down the engine and let it sit over night before restarting it.

Would that help so that way I don't mess up any electronics/sensors?

A friend told me that he cleaned an engine and then the Check Engine light comes on after that. I can't remember what car it was but he told me that degreasing engines might mess things up.
 
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Just like doodaa said-cover the DIS and other sensitive pieces with saran wrap, then spray it down with the castrol, wait about 3-4 minutes and gently rinse off-by gently I mean a very light flow of water-don't blast it in there with a spray attachment.
 
I agree about the Gunk and the other spray-on engine degreasers. I think it was the Gunk that took the paint right off my rad/intercooler bracket & even softened the plastic rad. top. I don't know about Castrol, but there are a lot of other safer cleaners. I just cover the battery, the alternator and air filter with saranwrap and spray the cleaner on a warmed-up engine.; leave 5 mins and rinse off with gently hose pressure.
 
I have used Gunk for over 20 years and have never had any problems whatsoever with it. I do not tape up or cover anything in plastic. I do not spray it directly on ignition coils or modules nor do I shoot a direct stream of water on those components.
I've even douched off the SVT's engine twice a year with it since new and have never had 1 single problem with it.
I use a normal garden hose with a std spray nozzle never a high pressure wand, thats just asking for trouble.
There is nothing in Gunk that will harm your sensors or rubber or plastic. I have never had anything damaged from it....never.
 
i've had no problem with gunk either. get the foamy gunk though. i think it works better and is less of a mess than the regular gunk.
 
I found that Simple Green STRAIGHT from the concentrated bottle, spray right on there, let sit for few minutes, and GENTLY rinse off AVOIDING the spray going into the alternator, belts, battery posts, etc. The Simple Green will leave a sweet shine as well. I have used Gunk Foamy on REAL gunked up engines, but prefer Simple Green "The Official Cleaner of CART" (Shamless Plug, I know). If you have hard water, you will get white spots/stains unless you dry off the engine.

Hahaha! Just remembered with that battery thing, I was washing my motorcycle real good one day years ago, popped the seat off and my battery looked pretty cruddy and thought it could use a lil' scrubby, so with my hand inside the wash mit and drenched in wet suds.... Ahhhh!!!!!:eek: :eek:
:D Ahh the days you learn something new...:D
 
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FWIW

Be careful of any highly alkaline cleaner ( Castrol SuperClean, Simple Green etc.) at 100% strength on hot or very warm aluminum parts, as it can stain them. Best bet is to dilute it a bit and use on a cold or barely warm engine and rinse it before it dries out.

The Gunk stuff degreases well, but the petroleum distillates in it are bad for rubber and dries them out( just like Armor All used to be years ago when it contained dimethyl silicone oils and petroleum distillate cleaners in it) and , and you may also find a solvent smell coming through the dash vents for a few days.

Cheers
 

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You're right about that Castrol junk. I let a friend of mine talk me into trying it on my DSM car and what a mistake that was! The engines appearance which had been kept pristene since the day I left the dealership with was turned into a dull gray oxidised pile of what used to be shiney brand new Aluminum. The painted parts lost all there gloss and were now flat in shine. Made me sick but I dont miss that so called friend at all.
 
well i've used the Castrol Super Clean with no problems, but i wet the engine compartment FIRST with a garden hose, and also the front fenders too , in case some of the superclean gets on the paint.....this dilutes it so it won't stain. if you don't wet it first you can get stains/ sreaks. I usually am washing the outside of the car too so i just do the engine compartment first. Anyway wet it down , then use the Super Clean or Simple Green, let it soak a few minutes and then spray off with a garden hose. As for electronics, i've hever had a problem with just the garden hose...not that high of pressure... Now that i have an air compressor i usually blast everything dry with air afterwards, but i've done it many times before i had a compressor and had no problems.
 
There's also a engine cleaning kit available that has a can of degreaser and a can of engine detailer by CD2. The degreaser is probably no better or worse than any other brand, but the detail spray is great for getting rid of any spots, dull areas, etc. left by the degreaser. It makes black areas look super black and everything else has a nice shine. Kinda like armor all for your engine...
 
smells like diesel fuel! i use westleys bleachwhite (yeah the tire stuff) and it works great. it cuts grease and doesnt leave that white residue, works great on rims to get off brake dust.
 
gunk is great

I was reading this post last night looking to see about engine cleaning, since everyone's advice was different, I just went along and bought the foamy gunk cleaner, since its cheap and its called engine cleaner so it should work. Put plastic wrap over my battery and relay center, covered up the distributor, and covered the wires on top of the ac compressor, left the rest open. I did use somebody's suggestion of drying the engine with a leaf blower.

Anyway, I sprayed a good coat of foam over the whole engine compartment, and rinsed it off did this 2 or 3 times, it shines like new :) and the engine worked fine so I don't know what everyone is talking about with the spots on the rubber, but mine looks great, I didn't spray any on the intake tube but a little over spray probably hit it, I didn't see any marks.

So for a good answer to your question, foamy gunk engine cleaner works fine, not only for super coupe engines, but since I had left over, I cleaned up the motor on my leaf blower, its all shiny and new too :)

Best of luck to you
 

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OK, that confused me for a minute. Why would anyone want to "Gunk" their Electric Leaf Blower Motor. Duh!
Obviously it is gas powered...(Bob bows out with head hung low/embarrassment) :eek:
 
I link gunk..Hell I gunk everything.....Just if ya do that expect yer SC to run like crap for while till all the water evaporates haha
 
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