Hood and hood latch cleaning

I recently detailed an Accord and everything went smoothly except for the hood. More specifically, the hood sound dampening carpet and hood latch mechanism. Here's what I did...

I sprayed the carpet with Zep's Orange and used a brush to scrub the carpet. Man the thing was nasty!! It was dripping brown and black crap!! So I used my hose and sprayed it till the water was coming out clear. So now this is where my problem starts. There are white stain on the carpet now... kinda look salt stain on carpet. Any solution to this?

Also, is there any way to clean the hood latch mechanism (not the loop) without going through crap lots of MF? I drenched the hood latch mechanism with Zep's Purple and used an old tooth brush to scrub it, than after I used MF to wipe it off.

Every time I clean a hood latch mechanism, I have to throw away at least 3-4 MF towels. They are cheap towels but still!!!

 

Well first off, I would recommend an extractor and a dedicated carpet cleaner. It sounds like you removed the dye from the carpet with too strong of an APC. The APC might have reacted with a stain in the carpet and discolored the carpet. Second, IME the hood latch mechanism typically has functional grease on it. I only clean the excess that clearly does not help the latch in any way. I spray the MF with APC and wipe or use a steamer. Not really a way around ruining MF towels on it, I just keep a couple dirty and use them for jobs like this and the exhaust. Hope this helps!

 

What dark star said

The grease is supposed to remain on the latch

Just clean around it

Try removing the insulation carpet under the hood next time. Clean it and then put it back. You new it there otherwise too much heat from the engine will heat up the hood

 

I heard they are not supposed to be made WET, only lightly misted/damp at most.

Is this not true?

 

I clean underhood insulation all the time with my 2.0 gal/minute pressure washer. No soap, just spray it carefully going from side to side, towards the firewall. This moves all the dirt and crap down the insulation until it gets to the end and comes out. I have never had trouble doing this and I have done hundreds of hoods like this.
You have to watch how close you get to the insulation and how long you let it hit the insulation, so you dont tear a hole in it. I use a fan nozzle and move the wand like I was painting the material, so its kind of a medium speed. Every pressure washer is different, so there is no set speed/distance to help you with this; experiment on your own car to get the hang of it.

It is ok to wet this material, it gets hammered with water everytime it rains and you are driving through it - that's why its dirty in the first place..

For the greasy mess around the latches and the that underside front of the hood which is always dirty from the latch and all the crap that hits in there when it rains, I just spray Meguiars super degreaser up there, let it sit for a few minutes, brush iit with a long bristle soft nylon brush to loosen up the mess, and then pressure wash it all off, never using a towel to clean it.
Meguiars Super Degreaser at 4: 1 or 6:1.
Rinse well, and it looks great.
Dan F

 

I've never had issues with cleaning the sound dampening carpet. This is the first time I ran into issues at cleaning the carpet. But than this is also the first time that I've encountered a carpet this dirty. I also just used a regular garden hose since I do not own a pressure washer. The Zep's Orange was diluted at 1:5. I felt so bad for what happened that I cleaned him his interior at N/C.

As for the latch, I do know that I am supposed to leave some grease for smooth actuation. But was seeking advice on what I can do to minimize the usage of MF towels.

Thanks for the replies!!

 

Just spray a cleaner, brush, and then rinse off. You want to preserve the grease but it's also a trap that makes all kinds of grime stick to it.