My second car is a classic that looks great but has a serious oil leak. Fixing it would require pulling the engine and transmission, so leak it will. Unfortunately, oil covers a good bit of the rear of the 4-cylinder engine, which is hard to clean, which explains why my car reeks like a blown out well in 1990 Kuwait. Trust me, no one’s carjacking that baby.
My proposed fix is to spray a petroleum-based car cleaner on the engine and then – here’s the tricky part – drive my car the 4 miles to a car wash, where I’d spray off the nasty oil.
The scenario I’m less enamored with is the engine cleaner igniting and then spreading to the fuel line, which then turns my car into a 50-mph fireball – this while I’m driving like a fiend to the car wash – and then searching my pockets for pocket change to make the water go.
Option B: drive to the car wash, let the engine cool 10 minutes, then spray the engine, wait a few minutes, and rinse. The reason I like Option A is I figure a good, long soak at higher temperature might get my engine fractionally cleaner. Yes, I actually typed those words.
Obviously petroleum-based cleaner is flammable, but what is the approximate flashpoint?
Speaking from experience, you want option B. But not due to fire hazard. The engine degreaser is a fairly volatile solvent. The time you’d spend driving to the car wash and the extra heat of the running engine and the extra wind while moving will mostly evaporate out the solvent leaving you with the same mess you had before, but now gummier. That’s anti-progress.
The other issue with Plan A is that wherever around your home you’re parked when you spray down the engine there, you will leave a big puddle of solvent and oil right there and right then. Spraying degreaser is a messy process; washing it off is a messy, messy process. Even if you just live on a dirt lot, that’s still a mess you’d rather not have under foot.
My advice: Follow the degreaser’s instructions on how warm or hot to get the engine, and do all the spraying and rinsing at the car wash. If the results the first time aren’t ideal, do it again the next day. Yu probably can’t expend a whole spray can on an inline 4. Especially since this leak is ongoing, you’re never going to get it sanitary or keep it sanitary. The extra fiddle-farting around doing the job in two places won’t help, and even if it did, the leak will undo that extra benefit real soon.
Get the foamy water-soluble degreaser. Works pretty well, and can be sprayed on a warm engine.
Some carwashes have degreaser wands as an option - do some research.
if you’re concerned, spray it with a good degreaser when the engine is cold, and then let it sit for a few hours. Drive it to the car wash. I don’t think there’s a risk of fire if you do that.
The idea of spraying/washing in your driveway is not a good idea. The oily chemical mess will get washed down to the storm sewer and out to the waterways and pollute them.
The other idea isn’t much better as you are still sending oil and solvents down the drain but at least to a treatment plant.
Can you spray the degreaser/engine cleaner on a slightly warm engine and let it sit for a 1/2 hour or so and wipe down with paper towels or shop rags and dispose of them properly?
What is leaking? I had a car that leaked transmission oil and just snugged up the transmission oil pan bolts and the leak stopped.
Even if you do clean it, the oil will continue to leak so you aren’t gaining much unless you bite the bullet and fix it right. Or if it is a slight leak, maybe some “stop leak” will temporarily cure the problem?
In my OP, I exaggerated the severity of the leak for your reading pleasure, but it’s still bad and the leaked oil covers the entire rear of the engine and everything below it – this from years of slow leaking. The leak probably comes from the rear main seal, which is a BIG job. The quotes I got were north of $2500, given access issues, which is a lot for a car rarely driven. Reaching the rear of the engine (next to the firewall, from top to bottom) where the leaked oil collects is not possible. Automotive experts typically advise against using “stop leak” products, as they can cause more problems that they solve.
I strongly agree with your environmental concerns. Washing oil into streams and rivers is not an option for me.
I kinda hate to bring this up, but there’s no particular reason for you to expect any coin-op car wash will do anything with their effluent but dump it into the sanitary sewer system in the USA or similar country. Or more likely to dump it into a nearby river untreated if you’re in a less-regulated country.
There are countries and washing facilities that correctly handle oily waste water. They may not be anywhere near you though.
As someone who has sprayed engine cleaner on a hot engine I can tell you that yes, in fact, it WILL catch fire. I posted about it here several years ago ,( OMG 10 years ago!!!)
For your reading enjoyment, my dumb assery.
No, but it doesn’t have any leaks either. And this is not a garage queen, I have driven the car every day for 20 years. Except when it snows, a couple days per year, car does not like snow.
Some questions are indeed better left unasked. Some folks for ethical reasons insist on knowing those answers no matter how far that drives them into greater difficulties. I did not know which you were.
I subscribe to trying to do the right thing up until it becomes stupid-difficult rather than merely inconvenient. In your scenario I would go (and have gone) to the local coin-op car wash. No intent here to criticize your decision, whatever it may be.
Thank you. One source suggested placing a “super-absorbent PIG Grippy Leak & Drip Mat” underneath the car before spraying it down with degreaser. I’m not sure how well that would work in the real world. I imagine most of the years old, baked-on oil would NOT magically drip off the engine onto the mat. Instead, I think most of that oil would need to be rinsed off – rinse and repeat, rinse and repeat. I’ve been stung enough by super-great magical solutions to know that I’d be left with having to find a responsible way of disposing of a big, heavy mat dripping watery petroleum distillates all over the place. I’m sure a car wash owner wouldn’t want that left in his trash can.
