Photo Essay - Engine Sump Clean

[PhilMeUp]

Girlfriend was in a crappy, whiny mood all last week, so now I'm in a grumpy, crappy mood this week. Couldn't be bothered working tonight, so figured I'd better find something else to do to ensure that the night wasn't a total loss.

Pulled the front and rear seats out, removed seat covers, washed, dried and put it all back in. An enthralling few hours. Looks great. What can I do next?

Drove to the Kenwick car wash, cursing the airbag light that was on, indicating that there was a problem with how I'd plugged the seat cables back in. Then I realised that I'd forgotten to plug the passenger seat cables in. Doing this resulted in the airbag light staying off. Goody.

I find that the best car wash in Perth is the Victory Car Wash, in Victoria Park (next to the Expensive Daewoo dealership). It has the highest water pressure that I can find, and it takes multiples of $1 instead of $2 that a lot of car washes require.

But the useful thing about the Kenwick car wash is the ramp. It's obviously intended for 4WD owners to wash mud from underneath their cars but is useful for cleaning under the engine of a normal car.

The sump gasket on my car has a very slight weep. It's not dropping oil from the car, but is weeping enough to attract grime. These days I wash under the car every few months to ensure that it doesn't build up and become hard to clean off later. To replace the gasket requires removing the crossmember, and the whole job is very time consuming and expensive.

Doing this is also a good opportunity to check under the front of the car for any fluid leaks, check engine mounts, brake lines and the general area.

If you ever want the car undercarriage clean before a registration inspection, this is the best way that I've found if you can't access a hoist.

For people in Perth: the Kenwick car wash is 800 metres past the intersection of Albany Highway and Royal Street/Wanaping Road. It's on the corner of Albany Highway and McIntyre Way. There's a swimming pool place across the road.

http://maps.google.com.au/maps/place?cid=11939569317092781089&q=kenwick+car+wash&hl=en&ved=0CE0Q-gswAA&sa=X&ei=HyYvTpixF_GemQWz8ZGzCQ&sig2=P_JB3LlZXRRQehWSXtpe6w

(click on directions to see the satellite view)

It's rather freaky driving the car up onto the ramp. I always get the front wheels to the edge of the ramp and get out to double check that I've lined it up properly.

Not particularly bad, but I'm going to clean it anyway. I've been doing this for about a year now, and tonight was actually the cleanest that I've seen it. I last did this in February this year (five months ago now), just before the annual inspection.

A little bit on the passenger side of the sump.

More mess around the engine/gearbox area than I'm comfortable with. Will look into that later.

Spray degreaser everywhere and rub around with a brush. The fun part is trying to do it without degreaser dripping all over you. Start at the gearbox and work towards the front.

Hose it off and the driver's side of the sump looks good.

Passenger side of the sump looks much better.

The whole undercarriage is now clean.

Engine mount. Still there. Looks ok.

This is what I use for any cleaning of engines and greasy areas. The weed sprayer (from Bunnings) has CT18 degreaser in it and means that I can spray the stuff quickly and easily. I got the headlamp last week and it is extremely useful for doing things at night. The brush is about $5 from Bunnings. The CRC Clean-R-Carb is expensive but is extremely good at dissolving gunk that normal degreaser won't remove. I also use the same weed sprayer and brush for cleaning my wheels every few days. Not in the photo: a towel, to put over the driver's seat, so that your now-grubby work clothes don't mess up the seat.

4:34am. Time to go and do an engine oil change. Should have done it while the car was on the ramp.

[kizzaF6]

That ramp is a great idea, wish a car wash around here had one.

[PhilMeUp]

That ramp is a great idea, wish a car wash around here had one.

Ask around amongst 4WD shops, clubs and forums. I've never seen another ramp like that anywhere in WA, but there would hopefully be others around the country.