Motor oil all over the engine bay - Best method to clean?

ItsMeNickG

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Long story short, I had installed my oil cooler on my '23 Type-R and one of the lines got close to the AC pulley/belt and ripped the line open and motor oil got everywhere. It's disgusting lol. Since then I replaced the line and everything is good now, I just have an engine bay with components drenched in oil.

What's the best (and safest) way to clean all of it? I did some Google searching but wasn't able to narrow down a solution. I wiped what I could with shop rags but we all know that doesn't completely clean it.

Thanks in advance!
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PointByPatrol

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brake clean should clean it up. We have fashioned a brake clean "blaster" here at work, but you would need to have access to a barrel in bulk for that. You can get a few cans of it and go to town.
 

cryptolime

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brake clean should clean it up. We have fashioned a brake clean "blaster" here at work, but you would need to have access to a barrel in bulk for that. You can get a few cans of it and go to town.
don't use brake clean. that will damage ALL of the rubber and plastic components...awful advice.. use a proper engine degreaser.
 


PointByPatrol

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I can vouche for this lmfao
It worked... didn't it...

Back to the Op. The "awful advice" guy isn't wrong. Brake clean if it sits in liquid form for a while can do what he mentioned. Grab a bunch of simple green instead and spray it on the oily mess then carefully rinse it off.
 
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ItsMeNickG

ItsMeNickG

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It worked... didn't it...

Back to the Op. The "awful advice" guy isn't wrong. Brake clean if it sits in liquid form for a while can do what he mentioned. Grab a bunch of simple green instead and spray it on the oily mess then carefully rinse it off.
I’ll go ahead and do this! It’ll be my weekend project if I get my car back before the weekend 🤓. Thanks!
 

TypeRD

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Brake clean…I put that shit on everything.😎

Wait, bad advice. That’s Frank’s Red Hot. Use that to clean your, uh, tailpipe.😆
 
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AZCWTypeR

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S100 motorcycle cleaner is by far the best I've used for such things. About $13/liter at motorcycle shops. I dilute 50/50 with tap water and put in spray bottle.
S100 is similar to Simple Green, but doesn't harm plastics. Simple Green grayed some of my black plastics.
I use S100 to clean our car engine compartments about once a year (in addition to motorcycles). Engine compartments basically look new, even if 10 years old (wife's car).
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