6 WD-40 Products Useful For Cleaning Your Car's Engine Bay

Nobody wants a vehicle that succumbs to the terrible effects of wear and tear. When you have something that is utilizing a tremendous amount of machine parts and electrical systems — not to mention creating a ton of combustion heat that transforms elemental properties of liquids — that wear and tear is inevitable, but it is maintainable. Most of us know this by regularly changing our oil, but there is a lot more that you can do beyond that to keep your vehicle in tip-top state. Among those things is to clean your car's engine bay. An engine bay contains your engine, battery, transmission, pumps, gears, alternator, and so much more. Not all of these things can be cleaned the exact same way, as different materials react differently to the same cleaner. Luckily, a company like WD-40 has an array of products to help you get your engine bay spick and span.

You may not first think of WD-40 as a great cleaner, as you've probably just used it to lubricate creaky door hinges or accomplish other odd jobs around your garage, but the company's Specialist line features a number of sprays designed to eliminate oil build up, rust, and other issues to keep your car's engine bay in the best condition, along with other products for more specialized solutions. Here, are six different WD-40 products that you should have in your garage, each of which will deliver any kind of cleaning that engine bay requires.

While all of these WD-40 products work in conjunction with one another to give you the cleanest engine bay they possibly can, not everyone has the time to do a full cleaning every time you pop open the hood. Sometimes you only have the time for one broad cleaning, or maybe you just don't feel comfortable working inside your engine bay. Whether you fall into one of those two categories or are a thorough deep cleaner, the one product you will absolutely need in your arsenal is the WD-40 Specialist Machine & Engine Degreaser, one of the best degreasers on the market.

This is a spray that you will want to use exclusively on your vehicle's engine block. To apply it, all you have to do is spray the foam onto the areas where there is a buildup of oil, grease, or any other deposits. The foam gives it a thickness that allows it to cut through those things quickly and effectively. Importantly, you should cover up any electrical connections around where you are spraying as this cleaner could disrupt their functionality, especially if you use this spray very liberally. Once you have sprayed all of the necessary areas on your engine block, you just have to rinse off with a hose or wipe it off.

The WD-40 Specialist Machine & Engine Degreaser comes in an 18 oz. spray bottle and can be purchased on Amazon for $8.25 per bottle.

While the Machine & Engine Degreaser works terrifically for the engine itself, the engine bay of a vehicle is a lot more than just the engine. That means that there are plenty of other places that deposits of oil, grease, and grime are able to go, and that previously mentioned spray just is not designed to work well on a variety of surfaces besides metal. The engine bay contains a lot of metal, yes, but there are plenty of elements made from rubber and plastic as well. For these surfaces, WD-40 makes different sprays to satisfy these needs, such as the WD-40 Specialist Degreaser.

This particular degreaser is one that is able to be used on just about any kind of material inside your engine bay, though it is best to avoid using them on electrical parts. If you want to clear buildup along the inside of the car hood or on any rubber tubes, this will be able to do it no matter how tough and thick that buildup is, as WD-40 has designed this spray to be an industrial-strength product. This is not a foaming spray, and to use it, all you have to do is spray it and then wipe it off with a towel.

Even though it's a heavy-duty product, you do not need to worry about accidentally getting it on your hands and can be easily washed off with soap and water. A 15 oz. bottle of the WD-40 Specialist Degreaser retails for $8.48 on Amazon.

The degreasers mentioned above are great if your aim is to remove things like oil buildup or grime, but there is one thing that they don't do well with. That would be carbon buildup. It can be one of the most damaging things that can happen to your vehicle's engine. It starts hindering the performance and efficiency of your engine, but if enough gets built up, you can start encountering various components failing within your engine. If you want to have a healthy vehicle for a long time, you will need to do something about that buildup.

To combat carbon deposits for your carburetor and throttle body, you will want to pick up a can of WD-40 Specialist Carb/Throttle Body Cleaner. This aerosol spray is a fast-acting solution to these carbon buildups that works in a dual-action setup. At first, solvents will break up those deposits, and that will be followed by a blast of air that will blow that residue away from your engine parts. If you are someone who likes to take apart their engine bay and clean things piece by piece, this is also a great option for that process as well. These bottles are slightly more expensive over on Amazon; you can pick up a 13.5 oz. bottle of the WD-40 Specialist Carb/Throttle Body Cleaner for $10.23.

There are many electrical parts in your engine bay as well. This could be something as large as your vehicle's battery or other things like panels or strands of wiring throughout your engine bay. Just as anything else, these things can fall victim to corrosion, oil, dirt, or even condensation that can affect the functionality of these components. For this, the best solution is the WD-40 Specialist Electrical Contact Cleaner.

Along with the electrical components mentioned, this particular spray is also safe to use on surfaces made out of plastic, rubber, and metal, so you don't need to worry about getting it on something else in your engine bay that isn't electric. The usage of this is very simple. All you have to do is spray it on the desired location and then wipe it clean with a towel when you are done. The wiping down is particularly important for combatting rust and corrosion on your battery. Air drying is also an option, but that is better if you have taken out and isolated a specific component from your engine bay rather than keeping everything intact. An 11 oz. can of the WD-40 Specialist Electrical Contact Cleaner goes for $7.98 on Amazon.

A lot of people don't want to have a bunch of cleaning products taking up space in their garage. If they can have just one cleaner that works on most things — parts in an engine bay, tools in their toolbox, or even kitchen appliances — that works perfectly fine for them. WD-40 has a product for this as well, and while the company sells it in a single-use spray form, you do not even need to do that. If you already have your own refillable spray bottle and some water, then you can get yourself a pack of WD-40 Specialist Degreaser and Cleaner EZ-Pods.

To use one of these pods, all you have to do is fill up a bottle that contains 32 oz. of water and have the pod dissolve. Once that's done, you just have to spray and wipe off with a towel. This particular cleaner is usable on any kind of surface, from metal to concrete to rubber, so you don't need to be too concerned with how wide of a spray you are using in your engine bay, though you probably should still avoid electronics.

Amazon sells a pack of five pods for $12.02, but you can get a pack of 30 for $25.10 for an incredible deal.

Sprays will naturally be used more often to cover rather larger spaces. Many of them include very narrow straws to pinpoint small areas around your engine bay, but there is still some degree of spread if you're using an aerosol can or spray bottle. If you want to be as detailed as possible in your cleaning process, WD-40 has the Precision Pen.

The precision of this pen does allows you to clean and lubricate the exact area you need to easily. It features WD-40's original formula, which makes it a very versatile product as well. In the case of metals, the pen also helps prevent rust and corrosion, and in an engine bay, being able to prevent that in the smallest of places can have big benefits down the line for your machine's longevity. You can also use these pens all around your house for a variety of odd jobs, and because you can just slip it into your pocket, you can take it anywhere you want. You can pick up a pack of three WD-40 Precision Pens from Amazon for $12.99.