simple greened the engine

[Sssssss]

As stated above I cleaned the engine bay with simple green and scrubbed with a soft bristle brush and rinsed with a low pressure hose. Now my pride and joy smokes blue. Just wondering if this is normal (don't think it is). She's a 97 gts with 26xxx miles almost due for an oil change any thoughts and advice are welcome.

 

[Jeffsss]

Where is it smoking from? Manifolds? I'd guess there's a chemical in the simple green that smokes when hot. I'd spray it down real good once more. Maybe use a wet rag..
If its just chemicals burning I'm sure they'll eventually burn up and you'll be fine... If you somehow got it in a fluid resiviour it shouldn't go in that'd be pretty bad I think

 

[VYPR BYT 94]

I agree... it'll burn off soon or you can try to clean it off a bit more.

 

[DrumrBoy]

Agreed, if its smoking from outside the engine, no worries. If the blue is coming from the exhaust, that's oil and probably unrelated to the cleaning.

 

[Darth Menace]

The same happened to me when I cleaned it with engine bright. It smoked and scared me. not to mention it just made the engine foggy. I guess next time keep it on a shorter period and rinse better

 

[Jance GTS]

Did the simple green discolor anything under the hood? I know it turned some black parts a little white-ish when I used a small rag to wipe somethings down.

 

[Sssssss]

It's smoking from the exhaust. I would have thought oil as well but it didn't smoke until I cleaned it. I didn't have any discoloring on parts that I seen. Going to take a closer look today.

 

[DrTaco]

Simple Green can mess up chrome and painted things. So, I always dilute it a little bit and scrub more than leave it on. I'm sure the stuff burning off is no big deal

 

[Mopar Steve]

Sounds like you got water into, or washed oil into your airbox.

 

[gutterworks129]

I wash everything with Simple Green. I spray all my work trucks down with that stuff and have zero problems. I don't think it hurts paint, chrome, aluminum, rubber, or plastic.

 

[ViperTony]

Simple Green here too, no issues. I use distilled water for the final rinse.

 

[coupe]

The wash has nothing to do with the burning oil.

If the smoke is prevalent on startup but subsides as it warms up, then it's probably a valve guide (or guides). If it's a constant blue smoking always, then it's probably a valve seal (or seals). Rings would be unlikely unless you're very high miles or have been using a healthy dose of nitrous oxide.

 

[dansauto]

smoking out exhaust or around engine bay? If out of the exhasut you have motor issues, if around the motor then its just **** buring off after cleaning

 

[ViperTony]

What Mopar Steve said....is you airbox full of water? Was the exhaust smoking before you washed the bay?

 

[Sssssss]

Was smoking from the exhaust out of the tail pipes. I assume it was in the air box because it was fine yesterday...guess I wasn't as careful as I thought about not getting cleaner/water in places it didn't need to be. Thanks for the input.

 

[BigBadViper]

You guys and your clean cars.

This is why I don't wash my cars at all. it just only hurts things.

 

[wikkid]

You guys and your clean cars.

This is why I don't wash my cars at all. it just only hurts things.

Exactly, if you want to clean your engine, buy some armor all wipes and do it right. Never put water in the engine bay. Just makes for headaches...

 

[Dan Cragin]

The engine will often have smoke or steam after after a clean, when using simple green its best to do it on a cold engine and just spray it on and wipe it off. For show car results, spray the painted engine parts and wheel surround with Protect-All or with a non-glossy detail spray. Then go back and wipe it done very well to remove any excess.