What are effective monthly maintenance practices to prevent the buildup of oil, grease, and oxidation on a diesel marine engine and the engine bay?

Are products like WD-40 or alternatives recommended for such purposes?

This video looks good

I used a similar process. Mainly dishwashing liquid solution in a spray bottle and a paint brush recently and it worked well IMO. Rinses with clean water. Didn't spray too near electrics.

One cheap and effective way to clean black muck out of the engine bay is to wipe it with rag with a little diesel fuel in it. Try that before getting into detergents and water-based solutions.

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Achernar said..
One cheap and effective way to clean black muck out of the engine bay is to wipe it with rag with a little diesel fuel in it. Try that before getting into detergents and water-based solutions.

There is nothing worse than the smell of diesel in the boat.

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jdol said..
What are effective monthly maintenance practices to prevent the buildup of oil, grease, and oxidation on a diesel marine engine and the engine bay?

Are products like WD-40 or alternatives recommended for such purposes?

Spray lanolin. Start with a clean engine. Wash it with truck wash. Then after the engine has been running for awhile spray it with lanolin. Just spray it every now and again after you shut down.

Wow, Madmouse,
Can't wait to see how it comes out after you wash it.

gary

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Jode5 said..

Achernar said..
One cheap and effective way to clean black muck out of the engine bay is to wipe it with rag with a little diesel fuel in it. Try that before getting into detergents and water-based solutions.

There is nothing worse than the smell of diesel in the boat.

I don't disagree.

Maybe it was because I had a particularly badly blacked engine bay with soot and grime everywhere, needing a really heavy duty clean, and a fuel leak (so the smell of the rag-clean was not going to worsen it). In these circumstances, I suggest the diesel-and-rag approach as a pre-clean, before getting on to the nicer-smelling stuff.

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Jode5 said..

Achernar said..
One cheap and effective way to clean black muck out of the engine bay is to wipe it with rag with a little diesel fuel in it. Try that before getting into detergents and water-based solutions.

There is nothing worse than the smell of diesel in the boat.

Personally I'd say that an invasion of earth by psychotic aliens who eat every human alive would be something worse than smelling diesel, but maybe I'm weird like that. :-)

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Ramona said..


Spray lanolin. Then after the engine has been running for awhile spray it with lanolin.

I was once hand-starting the old Drofin in the normal fashion, with a line around the flywheel, when the engine caught but the line didn't come off. The line tore the electrics off the front of the donk (including all the off-switch mechanisms) and then caught a greasy wool jumper that was on the quarter berth and spun it around at the end of the line at a few hundred revs. It got lanolin all through the engine bay and all through the boat, but it's not an approach I'd recommend.