Pressure Wash SL450 Engine?

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heav - 13 Jun 2009 13:54 GMT

I am working on a friend's 1975 SL 450. It's in pretty good shape,
but the engine is really dirty. The guy who owns our local German
auto shop told me that pressure washing the engine would be a bad idea
because the engine has electronic fuel injection, and that I would
likely get water in the injectors and that they wouldn't work right
until I took them apart and dried them off inside.

Does anyone have expeience with the 4.5 liter gasoline V-8 from that
era?

What would you recommend for cleaning 34 years of accumulated grease
and dirt from the engine?

I am thinking I could lay towels across the valve covers and over the
distributor and clean those areas manually with solvent and rags but
pressure wash the rest.

What do you think?

Paul

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Tiger - 13 Jun 2009 14:33 GMT

I wouldn't do it as the pressure from pressure washer is high. You have
distributor points on that engine do that would be the first thing to get
wet.

I suggest you use biodegradeble oil eater detergent/cleaner... Sometime it
is sold at Costco but if I recalled long ago Castrol made a product... it
was very good but I haven't use it for over adecade

http://www.superclean.com/index.php

Rinse the engine so it is wet... then spray liberally and let it soak...
respray if it gets dry and then after a while... maybe 10 minutes or so.
Rinse it out. Repeat if needed.

I have used the CRC Engine cleaner but that stuff is pretty toxic. It cleans
nice but I would rinse it on the street if possible. This product does make
aluminum shine by removing some of the oxidation... but it is not like super
clean engine out of the cleaning steam oven. Maybe I might use this last to
get that shine.

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Jim GM4DHJ - 13 Jun 2009 20:43 GMT

> What do you think?
>
> Paul

use Gunk ........

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