Engine Cleaning

Antiguakidd

Antiguakidd

Member
My A2 has been in the family for nearly 16 years. I inherited it last August as a first car, now it's my lockdown project.

Most recently, I have tried cleaning the engine bay.

Having seen the ChrisFix video on YouTube, I followed a similar approach.
  1. Dry clean - Brushing off all loose dirt
  2. Wet clean - Not confident with using a hose so I kept to heavy duty cleaning wipes to remove oil and grease
  3. Protecting - Applied some Meguiar's Ultimate Black Plastic Restorer to all of the plastic in the engine bay
  4. Detailing - Touch up on the worn wording, specifically the coolant filler cap (New use for a sharpie)
Having done all of this, there is one thing still bugging me that I'd like to sort out. The main engine block and other aluminium parts are corroded and look rusted. Does anyone have a suggestion on making this look better?

Thanks
Elliot


Coolant Original.jpg

Coolant Original.jpg


Coolant Repainted.jpg

Coolant Repainted.jpg


Dirty Engine.jpg

Dirty Engine.jpg


Engine Full Clean.jpg

Engine Full Clean.jpg

 
Good job on what you’ve done ?

Rusty parts - I’ve typically cleaned with a wire brush, to avoid using too much elbow grease I did use an wire brush attachment for a drill and cleaned it that way and it worked quite well.
 
Jeetesh said:
Good job on what you’ve done ?

Rusty parts - I’ve typically cleaned with a wire brush, to avoid using too much elbow grease I did use an wire brush attachment for a drill and cleaned it that way and it worked quite well.
Click to expand...

Thanks for that. I saw that way in the video but he was using a rotary tool. Did you use brass or steel brushes?
 
Antiguakidd said:
Thanks for that. I saw that way in the video but he was using a rotary tool. Did you use brass or steel brushes?
Click to expand...
I used brass ones as they are a softer metal and therefore less abrasive. One thing to note however is that the surface will rust again over time so you might want to treat it however probably do a bit of research before doing that to make sure whatever you use doesn’t compromise it.

By the way I was using the rotary brush to clean a bit of rust from the edge of the brake discs, you therefore don’t treat these areas post rust removal so treatment was not something I was concerned with.
 
Jeetesh said:
I used brass ones as they are a softer metal and therefore less abrasive. One thing to note however is that the surface will rust again over time so you might want to treat it however probably do a bit of research before doing that to make sure whatever you use doesn’t compromise it.

By the way I was using the rotary brush to clean a bit of rust from the edge of the brake discs, you therefore don’t treat these areas post rust removal so treatment was not something I was concerned with.
Click to expand...

So you never used a drill?

Any suggestions on what to treat it with?
 
It was a wire brush attachment for a drill. It was cheaper than buying anything substantial and did the job perfectly.

As far as the rusty bit you are referring to, are you talking about the cam cover which is silver which has the coil packs in black at the top (sorry I don’t know your level of technical expertise)? That may influence the type of product you use, if any

By the way, got to say a great first car and good on you for getting you hands dirty. I see it’s an FSI, so not sure if your using Tesco Momentum 99 as your profile just refers to Tesco.
 
Highlighted.jpg

The main bits I want to clean up are the bits highlighted red.

Jeetesh said:
As far as the rusty bit you are referring to, are you talking about the cam cover which is silver which has the coil packs in black at the top (sorry I don’t know your level of technical expertise)? That may influence the type of product you use, if any

By the way, got to say a great first car and good on you for getting you hands dirty. I see it’s an FSI, so not sure if your using Tesco Momentum 99 as your profile just refers to Tesco.
Click to expand...

I have virtually no technical expertise so am just picking up terms as I go along.

It is an FSI but only use 95 petrol for it.

Thanks for all your help so far
Elliot
 
Hi Elliott, the bit marked in red is indeed the cam cover, I would however avoid doing anything near moving parts so wouldn’t touch the bit at the side (others or the forum I’m may be able to advise).

If you look up on the internet around treating/painting cam covers there are all sorts of things people do with guidance on how. Some manufacturers have these parts painted out of the factory. Personally I’m all for the OEM look so at best I’d maybe just clean it. Since the bonnet is sealed (so to speak), I can’t imagine it would rust again any time soon.

FSI’s need a higher grade of fuel than 95 RON so I’d seriously use a higher grade (I use momentum 99). It will help reduce the chances of issues in the future. I’d search on here about advice from FSI owners or indeed search on my posts as I’ve comment and asked lots of questions on FSI’s.
 
Jeetesh said:
Hi Elliott, the bit marked in red is indeed the cam cover, I would however avoid doing anything near moving parts so wouldn’t touch the bit at the side (others or the forum I’m may be able to advise).

If you look up on the internet around treating/painting cam covers there are all sorts of things people do with guidance on how. Some manufacturers have these parts painted out of the factory. Personally I’m all for the OEM look so at best I’d maybe just clean it. Since the bonnet is sealed (so to speak), I can’t imagine it would rust again any time soon.

FSI’s need a higher grade of fuel than 95 RON so I’d seriously use a higher grade (I use momentum 99). It will help reduce the chances of issues in the future. I’d search on here about advice from FSI owners or indeed search on my posts as I’ve comment and asked lots of questions on FSI’s.
Click to expand...
Thanks for all your help. If I think of anything else I will let you know
 
Yeah sure, if you have any questions and don’t want to ask on the public parts of the forum I’m happy for you to send me a PM. I’ve read absolutely loads on the A2’s And FSI’s over 20+ and I bought my first one in March 2001. OMG that’s older than you are!

Remember, there’s no such thing as a stupid question. There are plenty of helpful people here so loads of advice. That said searching is easier on google if you include A2OC as part of your search.
 
Jeetesh said:
Yeah sure, if you have any questions and don’t want to ask on the public parts of the forum I’m happy for you to send me a PM. I’ve read absolutely loads on the A2’s And FSI’s over 20+ and I bought my first one in March 2001. OMG that’s older than you are!

Remember, there’s no such thing as a stupid question. There are plenty of helpful people here so loads of advice. That said searching is easier on google if you include A2OC as part of your search.
Click to expand...

Thanks. It is a bit weird that my car is nearly as old as me.
 
Antiguakidd said:
Thanks. It is a bit weird that my car is nearly as old as me.
Click to expand...

Nah it’s not weird - my first few cars bought in the late 90s were a 1974 VW Beetle, a 1965 Triumph Herald, a 1964 Riley Elf and a 1974 Hillman Hunter when I was a teenager - and I was born in 1980! It wasn’t until I bought a 1989 Vauxhall Nova GTE when I was 19 or 20 that I had a car that wasn’t as old as me.

All of these are proper classics now (a few of them were then too, but all of them were dirt cheap compared to what they’d be worth now).

Memories!
 
Today’s generation is typically a ‘throw away society’ so I understand where @Antiguakidd is coming from. It is however good to see some kids that buck that trend as well as the rest of us who are cherishing our 15-20 year old A2’s.
 
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