Diesel in the engine bay,is it safe/can i clean it?

pARTner81 · 18-03-2011 09:29PM #1

Hi there, my third post this week concerning the same car, bmw 320d. Long story short; high pressure fuel line broke at the injector. fixed now. There was a bit of a mess left no doubt. diesel went mostly down behind the engine and probably onto the manifold and exhaust. I drove the car for 5-10mins and it started to get smokey, so I got it home and let it sit and cool. Before I drove it I covered the electrics etc, and ran water down the back. I dont really want to run the engine again, would it be silly to think that it could ignite? What's the best way to clean it out(its a nightmare to get at the area too), or would it be ok to let it dry off? Thanks.

partyatmygaff · 18-03-2011 09:37PM

You could try sprinkling cat litter on it. If you leave it to soak up the diesel for a while you should be able to wash it off with water.

peasant · 18-03-2011 10:23PM

Diesel is pretty hard to ignite, however, it shouldn't really pool around the exhaust manifold.

Flush it off there with some more water and then it should be good for driving to the nearest place that does a proper engine wash

pARTner81 · 18-03-2011 10:35PM

peasant wrote: »

Diesel is pretty hard to ignite, however, it shouldn't really pool around the exhaust manifold.

Flush it off there with some more water and then it should be good for driving to the nearest place that does a proper engine wash

Nice one. can you tell me a bit about washing the engine bay, would it be ok to give it a blast with the power hose, obviously avoiding the electrical and fuel components?

Diesel in the engine bay,is it safe/can i clean it?

Comments