what is the safest way to clean the engine bay on a 93 lt1 without damaging the optispark.

thanks

 

Very carefully. I clean my engine bay a little at a time as I am working in there. I use damp towels and paint brushes and don't hit anything with a water stream.

Seriously, how dirty is the engine bay? Is it just the normal smutz that accumulates over 18 years? Do you have an oil leak?

As you know, the engine bays on these cars is very tight. There is not a lot of room in there and as such, most things that get grungy are near something that doesn't like to take a bath.

You don't want to spray the opti with water, or have a ton of water get all over it either. Also, the PCM is mounted up by the windshield on the passenger fender, and drenching that wouldn't be a good idea either. Take into account all of the different sensors, while you may not get them wet you don't want to hit the connectors with a power washer either.

 

you can cover the alternator, opti and ecm with plastic. then you can hit it with degreaser and hose down. i have had a kid at the dealer do a wash job on the car, when he returned he informed me he had cleaned the motor and was very impressed with it. the whole drive home i was waitin for the opti to go wack. never did. soooo if your feeling lucky????

 

it's pretty nasty it looks like some one poured oil all over the entire area
that's why i want to clean it so i can tell if it still has a leak p.o says he fixed the leak but i'm not sure
plus it's just plain ugly

 

Not a bad idea to have an air compressor nearby to blow out any moisture that might accumulate in hard to reach areas. In fact, try dry cleaning first with the air and a soft brush, you'd be surprised how much stuff can be removed without using water.

 

I use engine degreaser and a power washer, covering anything vulnerable with plastic and wash away. Then I follow up by blowing off everything under the hood with air, and start the engine to let it cook dry anything else that may be slightly wet. Nothing beats a perty engine...