Cleaning engine bottom cover (GL320)
01-27-2014, 12:49 PM
#1
Out Of Control!!
Thread Starter
Cleaning engine bottom cover (GL320)
So it seems once the engine bottom cover gets oil soaked it drips from various points nearly forever.
While my dealer thinks the oil is from a leaking oil cooler, I am fairly sure the mess is from when I left the oil cap loose.
So until the next mess has anyone found a good way to clean the sound deadening material attached to the plastic panel?
I am thinking that maybe spraying it down with something like Simple Green, and then hosing it off with soapy water from a pressure washer on low (or maybe at a car wash) would work.
If it was not over $200 just for a piece of plastic, I would replace it.
While my dealer thinks the oil is from a leaking oil cooler, I am fairly sure the mess is from when I left the oil cap loose.
So until the next mess has anyone found a good way to clean the sound deadening material attached to the plastic panel?
I am thinking that maybe spraying it down with something like Simple Green, and then hosing it off with soapy water from a pressure washer on low (or maybe at a car wash) would work.
If it was not over $200 just for a piece of plastic, I would replace it.
01-27-2014, 01:16 PM
#2
Senior Member
N Jay, you may have seen my thread on (what I now know is) a leaking drain plug (my fault - mea culpa) but I just cleaned this yesterday afternoon.
Here's what I did: Pull the panel. Get a bunch of rags (I use old T-shirts and boxer shorts - hey, whatever works.) Buy some carb cleaner or brake parts cleaner (about $2 a can at your local auto parts store.)
Mop us as much of the oil as you can with just the rags. Once you have the worst of it, spray it down with the carb/brake cleaner and mop it some more. I just threw the rags down on it and stepped on them until the oil soaked in but you can't be too rough with it because the foam isn't that tough. Then I sprayed the cleaner on the foam holding it vertically so that the oil could drain down under the foam. That foam is just tack-welded onto the plastic so there is a channel between them. Once it was mostly clean I stopped and let it dry, which took a while because it's about 40 degrees in my garage right now.
Here's what I did: Pull the panel. Get a bunch of rags (I use old T-shirts and boxer shorts - hey, whatever works.) Buy some carb cleaner or brake parts cleaner (about $2 a can at your local auto parts store.)
Mop us as much of the oil as you can with just the rags. Once you have the worst of it, spray it down with the carb/brake cleaner and mop it some more. I just threw the rags down on it and stepped on them until the oil soaked in but you can't be too rough with it because the foam isn't that tough. Then I sprayed the cleaner on the foam holding it vertically so that the oil could drain down under the foam. That foam is just tack-welded onto the plastic so there is a channel between them. Once it was mostly clean I stopped and let it dry, which took a while because it's about 40 degrees in my garage right now.
So it seems once the engine bottom cover gets oil soaked it drips from various points nearly forever.
While my dealer thinks the oil is from a leaking oil cooler, I am fairly sure the mess is from when I left the oil cap loose.
So until the next mess has anyone found a good way to clean the sound deadening material attached to the plastic panel?
I am thinking that maybe spraying it down with something like Simple Green, and then hosing it off with soapy water from a pressure washer on low (or maybe at a car wash) would work.
If it was not over $200 just for a piece of plastic, I would replace it.
While my dealer thinks the oil is from a leaking oil cooler, I am fairly sure the mess is from when I left the oil cap loose.
So until the next mess has anyone found a good way to clean the sound deadening material attached to the plastic panel?
I am thinking that maybe spraying it down with something like Simple Green, and then hosing it off with soapy water from a pressure washer on low (or maybe at a car wash) would work.
If it was not over $200 just for a piece of plastic, I would replace it.
01-27-2014, 01:51 PM
#3
Out Of Control!!
Thread Starter
I had been thinking about it for a while, but your post brought it back to mind, so I checked the price.
My thought was that a solvent like carb cleaner might destroy or weaken the plastic or the foam, and that a degreaser like simple green would not.
Either way, it will have to wait for spring because we are only a few degrees colder here than where you are.
My thought was that a solvent like carb cleaner might destroy or weaken the plastic or the foam, and that a degreaser like simple green would not.
Either way, it will have to wait for spring because we are only a few degrees colder here than where you are.
Last edited by N_Jay; 01-27-2014 at 01:58 PM.
01-27-2014, 11:19 PM
#4
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Join Date: Nov 2010
Location: Seattle, WA
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2001 SLK 230, 2007 GL 450
Simple Green is okay, if you have a Home Depot near you go get the Zep 505 Degreaser (gallon sized). Relatively cheap and works wonders.
Selling off our third car (a 2000 Ford Escort the teenager had been driving) and the engine was gross, nasty and disgusting. Sprayed the whole thing down with the Zep, let dwell for a minute or so and everything rinsed off and looked like new. Used to use a different but similar Zep product to get the oil off the bottom of my Cessna.
Selling off our third car (a 2000 Ford Escort the teenager had been driving) and the engine was gross, nasty and disgusting. Sprayed the whole thing down with the Zep, let dwell for a minute or so and everything rinsed off and looked like new. Used to use a different but similar Zep product to get the oil off the bottom of my Cessna.
