After reading this thread I took mt '09 TCH down to the car wash. popped the hood. and completely soaked the engine bay with hot soapy water from a high pressure spray.. I took special care to give the electric motor and the electronics modules a really good dousing. Guess what happened? Nothing. The car ran flawlessly afterwards.

 

Doesn't it look nice and pretty now? Welcome to the "clean engine bay" club. I never understood why someone could wash and wax the exterior, clean the interior and leave a nasty engine bay. It's like getting a shower every day and never brushing your teeth

 

I've been meaning to clean my engine bay. It has gotten quite dirty in the past 3 years. I don't have a camera but I did find this image on another forum.



Actually, it looks very similar to mine in the amount of dirt buildup.

The only difference is that metal housing? next to the intake does not look like that. What parts should I cover? Home Depot has Simple Green for cheap and I was thinking of using that or should I use the Simple Green Max that someone else suggested?

 

Something really worthwhile: have a good look inside the wheel wells. Maybe take them on 2 at a time. Jacking up and safety standing one end and pulling the wheels off will be a big help. look for plastic liners panels and see if you can get them off to check behind. Some are easier than others to get off, just do what you can. And then thoroughly clean out everywhere you can. Particularly with plastic panels removed you can find some real rust prone sandy messes in there.

 

After I warm the engine up for just a few minutes - I wash the engine compartment in my 2007 TCH at least once a month during warm weather.. I used a real soapy wash rag and garden hose with spray nozzle... Looks and runs like new.