Grendel got a good engine detailing last night. The bay was already fairly clean as it hasn't been started in 12 years or driven in decades, but there was a lot of dust and crap collected when it was getting body & paint done. I first blew out everything as good as I could with the air compressor. I then tested the steam cleaner with the following impressions:
-Although it puts out a pretty decent stream of steam, it's certainly no pressure washer or air compressor. It did a pretty good job cleaning up most dirt and surface grime, but there were areas gunked up in the nooks & crannies of the manifold that even degreaser or WD-40 wouldn't touch. Those areas needed a wire brush, so I guess no steam cleaner would've cleaned that up. The steam cleaner isn't going to blow off chunks of gunk.
-I think the best results were when I sprayed some degreaser on the dirty surfaces, then used the steam cleaner on them, I could then wipe them up fairly clean. I think if one already had a clean engine bay, a steam cleaner like this would make routine maintenance quite a bit easier.
Overall, I'm happy with it, I'd give it 4 out of 5 stars. I might've liked more pressure but with all the attachments it comes with, and how many applications it has and how easy it is to use, it's a good product. I will be testing it on the cloth interior of my GN to see how it does interior cleaning.
My engine bay, though clean, doesn't look too great. I couldn't afford the extra $5 grand my body man said it would cost to pull the motor and components and do it properly, so it'll get done at some later time. You can see the original medium green metallic paint that was later overpainted black, and is flaking off in areas. But the engine is clean and all the components were removed and cleaned and/or restored or replaced by myself about 15 years ago. Some before/after pics.
