my belts are squeaking now when its cold outside while warming up, after cleaning my engine bay with water and heavily diluted simple green. I have bought new belts but will this fix the problem? What otherwise could be causing the squeaking?/ what would be the fix?

 

Mine do the same thing right after washing the engine bay. Run the car for a few minutes and they'll dry out and stop squeaking.

 

YEAH...the belts and tensioner get damp but dry off after it runs for awhile....if you drive it for an hour and it is still doing it, it is belt/maybe tensioner replacement time though.

 

This is about my LT1,

So im scared about my opti getting wet.

When im cleaning just make sure to not to point the hose down the front of the engine? or do I have to cover it up somehow?

and should I wait until everything is 100% dry before starting?

 

Well I was getting squeaking for several days after washing it, but only during the time that the car warmed up. I did notice though, that as soon as the temperature here in Texas rose back into the 80s, the squeaking stopped during warm up. It has been warm here recently, but a cold front came in today, I guess I will see how it does this weekend. I am planning to replace my belts, but if the squeaking stops, I am going to wait a while longer before replacing them.

mine was killed by water

of course it was on the decline for quite some time, before I replaced it. But everytime it rained or I got the undercarriage washed during a car wash, I would have to wait literally hours before I could get the car to start. This was on my 1995 T/A.

 

I posted this on collectorfbody.com so I thought I would put it here too.

When cleaning your engine you want it to be cool. Best time to do it is first thing in the morning on a day you don't have anything to do but spend time with the car.
Supplies you'll need:
-Simple Green
-Toilet brush or dish brush (something with soft to medium bristles)
-Old tooth brush
-water hose (low pressure)
-assorted dry towels
-cleaner wax
-regular polish/wax (whatever you usually use for the body panels)
-aluminum/metal polish
-Armor All
-aluminum foil
-CD2 Engine Detailer(optional)
First I start out using the aluminum foil to cover electronic components of the engine that I don't want to get wet. That being the PCM at the Top passenger side and the Coil packs on the engine itself. The coil packs are the black pieces on top of the Valve covers. Once those are covered with the tin foil in a way that you encase it so no water can get on them.
Next, spray the engine compartment down with low pressure water. Don't go crazy with it like a madman just gently rinse down the painted areas of the bay and the engine itself, all the plastic and aluminum.
Then spray the entire compartment down with a diluted mixture of Simple Green and water. Let soak for a minute and then agitate the dirty areas with the toilet/dish brush and tooth brush for small areas. Get down in the cracks and crevices and be sure to scrub all the black wire looms that are wrapped around the wires.
Once you believe you have all the stubborn dirt loosened then rinse the compartment with the low pressure water(I use a multi spray head on the "shower" setting) Be sure to get all the Simple Green cleaned off.
Once you have it all rinsed down, grab some towels and start hand drying/cleaning.
Take a look at it and if its still not clean in some areas then repeat the cleaning process with the Simple Green and use the brushes to get all the areas small and large. Rinse again and towel dry.

Now your engine bay should be fairly clean. You want to leave the hood open and let it air dry for a few hours before starting the car.

While you are doing this you can polish up some of the metal fittings on the hoses and such. The AC accumulator and its fittings is a fine piece that can be polished to a mirror shine.

To get all the Black plastic looking really nice just spray on some Armor All and let soak in. No need to wipe it off immediately.

For all the body color areas of the engine bay you want to towel off any excess water or Armor All and get out the cleaner wax. Follow the instructions and just wax the heck out of the wheel wells and all the Painted areas. buff off the wax as it hazes and then if you want use your regular wax/polish on top of the cleaner wax to seal it.

Now you can wipe down the areas that you sprayed with Armor All as you don't want it to accumulate too much dust.

Another option is CD2 Engine Detailer. It can be difficult to find but once the engine is clean and dry, just spray the entire bay with it and it looks amazing! The year that I used CD2 at the Southern Trans Am Regionals is the year that I won 1st place in my class.


Well, thats about it I believe. Good luck with your cleaning!

 

use purple pwer, rinse engine bay down first, then spray on purple power everywhere, let it sit for a few seconds then rinse off, havent had any trouble with it being hot either, works better when its hot cause the grease is loosened up

 

That would be going against physics. have you ever dipped a hot pan in cold water - It cracks and pratically shatters. Some method would apply to a motor since it runs at close to 200 degrees and your spraying water thats around 90 degrees at most hot. The smartest thing to do is wait untill it cools perhaps over night, and then go to town with cleaning.

 

I have never had any issues with spraying my LT1 out at all. I sprayed it out with degreaser the other day and it fired right up after I was finished. No misses, no hiccups, nothing. Which the spraying out was a waste of time cause it still looks as nasty as before.

 

Has anyone used CD2 Engine Detailer in a car with polished aluminum parts? I have a polished TB, polished valve covers, polished coil pack brackets, etc and it is a biotch keeping them looking good.

 

i keep mine clean

 

What about using a dioluted versiojn of that purple passion?

Damn I use a volant cai.. mm should I try and cover it with a plastic bag or something?

 

Im just about to use gunk engine brite spray gel. Has anyone used this? And also i read on here that you need to cover the coil packs.? Can i use this stuff on the underside of the hood? Im going and try and not use to much water to rince.

 

I'm curious as well...?

 

So are the high presure wands at most car wash booths a big no-no then?

 

I just got done useing this on the underside of the roof and it works good.

Just make sure the engine is cool and let sit and then spray lightly with water.

 

Steer clear of the 3M engine degreaser. I used it on my engine once, figuring that since it was a 3M product, it'd be pretty good. It literally made the "carbon fiber" run off of my Whisper lid in a big slimey mess. I also had my lower airbox painted and it ate the paint.

Also, I had a problem with one of my knock sensors rusting. When I put my engine back in, I sealed up the caps to the knock sensors with silicone and torqued the intake down before the silicone had a chance to set up. I'm positive they are water tight now.

 

Instead of Simple Green or any engine degreaser, I use Orange Clean. Actually, I don't even use that - I use the dollar store variety - Awesome Orange. It's absolutely fantastic. I sprayed some on my power steering and brake fluid cases and everything came right off with a light rinse. It's cheap and it's NATURAL stuff, no chemicals. It won't harm a thing.

 

now someone shuld do one for the lt1's just cuz its that more difficult with the opti and such, a sticky that is??

 

Grease Lightning (Dollar General $3)works well too...just rinse of quickly, and don't get on wax job, it removes wax!