Anyone who’s worked on their car knows just how dirty the experience can be.

No matter how well you maintain your vehicle, there are some parts that simply resist cleanliness. Whether it’s due to grease, dust, or dirt, it’s hard to leave a session in the garage without a few extra stains on your clothes.

One area that gets surprisingly dirty (and many find difficult to clean) is the engine bay. Now, a user on TikTok says he has the solution to a dirty engine — but does it work? More importantly, is it safe for your car?

How Do You Clean An Engine Bay?

In a video with over 16,000 views, the TikTok account for Dura-Coating (@duracoatingtechnology1) advertises its “Engine Bay Cleaner concentrate – No Touch No Scrub” spray, available on the company’s website. This is not the only product on the market that claims to be able to do this. In fact, a search on Amazon pulls up multiple products apparently designed to clean an engine bay.

To demonstrate this product, a man shows a dirty engine bay. 

“This is nasty,” he summarizes.

From there, he soaks the engine bay thoroughly with the cleaner, making sure to “saturate” it. After letting it sit for a few minutes, he washes off the spray with a hose. The engine bay appears noticeably cleaner. 

He then adds a misting of the “DDE” spray, which the company advertises as “a premium, water-based dressing that delivers a lasting, high-luster shine to plastics, rubber, and engine bay components.”

After this, he closes the hood and starts the car. About 15 minutes later, the engine bay looks considerably tidier.

“Looks like we rubbed it, scrubbed it, and everything else under the sun,” he says. “That easy. Two products sprayed on, rinse with a hose, no touch.”

Can You Really Spray Your Engine Bay Down With A Hose?

The top comment under the video questioned whether one could really just spray their engine with a hose, no matter what cleaner was used prior.

“Oh yeah flood all the economic stuff then yeah you’ll have a clean engine but don’t run,” wrote a user.

But is this really the case?

As previously noted by MotorBiscuit, washing your engine bay can not only make it easier to work on your engine, but it also impresses anyone taking a look at it. 

Gently washing your engine bay with water should not damage it. After all, your car is designed to handle the elements — including a pretty significant amount of water. While it’s not recommended to dump buckets of water all over your engine bay, occasional mists and rinses should be just fine.

Still, if you’re concerned about the possibility of things going awry due to water, there are a few steps you can take to ensure your engine will be fine.

First, you should wait until the car has cooled down before pouring any water on it. From there, you can disconnect the negative battery cable to reduce the risk of harming any electrical components. It’s also a good idea to place plastic bags over the battery, alternator, and distributor to keep them dry.

How To Clean Your Engine Bay

Generally speaking, you don’t need to buy any specialty cleaner to clean your engine bay. In fact, a spray bottle with a mix of warm water and dish soap tends to get the job done quite nicely.

To clean, simply mist the engine bay with your spray, let it sit for a few minutes, then rinse. If your engine bay is especially dirty, you can agitate the grime with a rag, or you can even use a standard degreaser spray available at most auto shops.

As stated above, you really shouldn’t do this until your engine has completely cooled. Additionally, you should not do this on a freezing cold day, as you should be able to leave the hood open to let the engine dry completely without the risk of freezing. 

But, if you follow this advice, your engine bay should be sparkling clean — at least, until you hit another dirty puddle.

@duracoatingtechnology1 No Touch X-Treme Engine Bay Cleaner & DDE for the ultimate cleaning and detail on your Engine Bay ✨ Our No Touch Engine Bay Cleaner is a heavy duty cleaner able to rinse away the grime and grease away with out needing any scrubbing! Simply spray and rinse ? Our DDE adds a high luster shine to engine bay components, plastics and rubber surfaces using a water based dressing for the ultimate shine ? ✅ No Touching ✅ No Scrubbing ✅ No Harsh Brushes ✅ No Wiping ✅ Easy and Quick to Use Dura-coating. C o m #car #cars #truck #trucks #ford ♬ original sound – Dura Coating Technology

We’ve reached out to Dura-Coating via website contact form.