A clean engine is a happy engine!

mountainkowboy wrote:
Being that Red is 28 years old and I'm a gearhead...she's kept pretty clean everywhere....;)

Bingo! Amazing how those facts go together.... The vehicle is 28 years old, kept clean and still providing good service. The two daily drivers in my household are at 300k+ miles. The newest turns legal drinking age on January 1st. And they have engines clean enough to eat your lunch on.

Truth of the matter is, the cheapest car to drive is the one I already own. Unless I like a steady date with a car payment, it simply makes sense to keep my vehicles maintained - which includes a clean engine compartment. I know when I put my right foot on the floor, that I have taken good care of the vehicle and it will deliver for me. I am not afraid to get in any car I own and drive it cross country because I know how well it has been maintained. The senior citizen of the bunch ran 4400 miles from OR to MN and back this summer (5 pages of pictures).

That works for me, and I know it doesn't work for everyone else. I don't understand why not, but I respect the decisions and opinions of others. Some people like new vehicles & the car payments that come with them. They like 'free' service for the first 5 years / 100k miles. They pay for AAA so they don't have to worry about goes on under the hood. That is a choice, and to some extent a skills assessment of mechanical ability. If someone has the finances to live that way, then good for them. It is simply not my choice.

On a side note.... The trick to making an engine look really good under the hood is tire shine. Wash the engine with whatever you want - Simple Green, degreaser, etc. I have good results simply using hot water (my hose bib pulls from my shop hot water tank if I want). Then spray it down with the same tire shine you use on your tires. Makes the engine compartment shine like new! Only downside is during dusty summer months - the tire shine will attract the dirt. So this is pretty much a spring & fall detail job.

-Eric