Re: engine cleaning

["Dave C." <conner@cfm.ohio-state.edu>]

Bentley states, on page 10.23 of the 84 - 88 5K manual,

"Corrosion Protection, Engine Compartment
When washing the engine compartment use only commercially available grease
cutting solvents made for this purpose.

If it becomes necessary to steam clean...the wax-based protective coating
is lost.

Reapply wax based protective coating using Engine Compartment Aerosol Spray
-Undercoat Part no. AKR 320 KD6 04 or equivalent aerosol spray, to all
engine compartment panels, seams, flanges, cavities and engine assembly
surfaces."

I hear some people saying they stem clean regularly with no ill effect.  I
would guess the effect of losing this coating would probably depend on
local climate.  I know from experience that here in the midwest it can
result in pretty serious corrosion, especially of the aluminum parts.
Maybe in very dry areas, like parts of California, there wouldn't be a
problem.
bye,
Dave Conner
Columbus, OH

At 11:02 AM 3/25/98 -0800, you wrote:
>I also have heard that engine compartment components are protected by some
>sort of wax coating. If this is so, does anyone know what this stuff is?
>Inquiring minds & etc...
>
>
>
>At 09:26 PM 3/23/98, Dave C. wrote:
>--snip--
>>Aside from the potential electrical and other problems the water might
>>cause, this will result in loss of the protective "wax" coating on the
>>engine.  It will look nice and clean at first, but soon it will look like
>>hell, unless you restore the protective coating.  The aluminum in
>>particular will corrode/oxidize without the coating.
>--snip--
>
>Cheers,
>Larry Mittell
>87 5kcstq
>89 200tqw 1.8 bar
>lmittel@ibm.net
>