"washing" the engine

Hey people, went mudding on sunday through water, mud all sorts, the 90 was brilliant outshining all other 4x4s.... as expected! Altho now ime faced witht he problem of cleaning the engine and engine bay as its plastered with dryed muddy water, is it ok to use a pressure washer?! or is that not a good idea? ive got a snorkel, ime guessing that wud help! Anything i should avoid?

Thanks in advance

Oli.

Always used a pressure washer on my 200Tdi no problem. Just avoid blasting water straight into the alternator or starter motor.

Run it up afterwards to help dry this out and you'll be fine.

I quick spray with TFR will also help remove the oily muddy bits.

Quick tip before you start. Have a look round the engine.....dried mud is pretty good and showing up fresh oil leaks

Yeah, spray the whole thing down with a hose (try not to directly hit electric connetors you could spray them before and after the washing with some WD40 or silicone spray) to soften the muck, then spray some detergent all over it to help release it from oil, and then jet it down. If it's just mud then that should be you, if it's oily too you can spray it down with Gunk or Jizer or something to loosen off all the oil then hose it down.

I would also tend not to hit the alternator with any of these things inc. water to be honest.

The snorkel obviously means that you will not be able to spray water directly into the intake so that is a plus. The whole engine is designed to get wet, if you are wading there is the potential to cover the whole thing so the water is not an issue anywhere really.

Common sence, don't directly blast jets of water at gaskets and things, I have done it plenty of times and have never had an issue.

I always then take it for a drive on some fast roads to get the engine temp up to help blast it all dry as well.

Once you have done cleaning and drying give the injection pump linkages, electrical connections etc a spray of silicone spray or something similar to help protect them. You will know the bits when you see them, they get that bright orangy rusty colour on them soon after they loose their film of oil.

Good tip is to wash it down when it is HOT.

Run the engine up to full temp then pressure wash it carefully.
Watch out for small wires being knocked off.

Try not to spray full blast into the alternator but is probbaly already full of baked mud. Alternators have a clear passage right through. When they are running they draw quite a bit of air in the back and out past the fan thing under the pulley.

Because you are smart enough to wash it HOT, the dodgy leccy bits have a better chance of drying out.

CharlesY