Got back from Paragon and I'm still finding dirt/mud in every nook and cranny. I washed the outside of my H3 and than just opened rear doors and found alot of dirt around the sills and door jams. Forgot about the engine completly until 2 days after my trip. Opened the hood and it is completly covered in dirt! Everything is covered! HELP! My H3 only has 2,200 miles on it and I want to get it back to looking new again! All advice will be welcomed....Help Please! Also tires, too. I scrubbed the black walls and than still appear to be dirty. Can I use a tire cleaner or do I have to keep scrubbing away with soap and water?
P.S. Can you tell this was my first off-road event in my new H3.

 

I use Eagle One All Wheel Cleaner of Purple Power on everything but the paint. It will get the tires clean and does wonders on the engine. Some places under the hood may require a soft brush, but it will do the trick.

 

Tire cleaner works well. The first thing I do when I want to remove the evidance of fun is to hit the local coin op car wash. They have that nice pressure washer with all of the flavors. The tire cleaner and engine degreaser work well, but they take a while before they actually come out of the wand. Normally I hit the outside with the soap solution first, then switch to the engine cleaner and spray the engine until it starts to come out. then I switch to the tire cleaner and hit all four tires once it starts coming out. After that, I swtich to the foaming brush and scrub the body, starting at the top and working down into the dirtier areas, ending with the tires. Finally I rinse everything with water, and make sure I get under the vehicle and all of the wheel wells to prevent the mud from collecting water and promoting rust. Then, to ensure I can return to the car wash the next time, I wash the mud out of the bay and down the drain. If you are good, you can do all of theis for about $5-$7.
Once home, I bust out the bucket and rewash because I can never seem to get a sparkling clean vehicle fro the coin-ops, but now I don't have to worry about having a mud pit for a driveway.

The engine is hard to wash and get clean, unless you actually want to get in there with the wash mitt. Some of the mud stains I can live with, but a good dose of Simple Green on the engine when it is cold, and hosed off after it has had time to soak in seems to do wonders for a lot of the grime in the engine compartment. Another trick for road grime and other gunk that collects in the engine compartment is a spray bottle of kerosene. Spray liberally on a COLD engine and let that soak in. Then hose off with the garden hose. This idea isn't very environmentally friendly, but then neither is washing the oil and road grime from the engine in the first place. But if you have the means to collect the crud from going into a drain, you will be ok.

 

You don't have to worry about getting any electrical stuff wet? I guess not if you drive thru the stuff in the first place, just concern about spraying water on the fuse box, battery. I'll give it a try....thanks again this forum is the best.

 

The fuse box is covered, and so is the battery. Be careful around the PCM on the passenger side firewall, you REALLY dont want to force water into there. As long as you dont ententionally point the water directly at any electrical connections, you should be fine. Everything is pretty water resistant, but not water proof to the point of handling 100 psi being shot directly into the connection.

 

Trey,

When you're done washing everything off..you can quickly remove the standing water from things by using a leaf blower..And blow off all the elcetrical connections and the rest of the engine...Works really well.

 

Thanks guys.. Yesterday while it was raining I sprayed the engine off and wiped down the under side of the hood. Afterwards I took it for a drive and everything was fine. Surprised with the amount of dirt that was everywhere that there was nothing in the air filter box. Doesn't look 100% clean but it looks good enough..I'm not going for showroom quality looks. Again this is the best forum and thanks again.

 

I use simple green to get the dirt and what ever small amount of grime it has then after it dried i sprayed it with the groits under carriage cleaner, engine looks brand new. I do this 1 every 2 weeks.

 

This is why I will never take my H3 offroad! I'll never forget seeing all that mud caked on my bud's engine after we took his Wrangler mud riding. We spent more time getting that mud out than we did putting it on! The urban landscape where I live provides PLENTY of opportunity to utilize the full range of the Hummer's capablitiies without all the mud!

 

Ah yes, but the mud let's everyone else who see's you know how much fun you had, and are generally in awe that you actually took that nice expenive vehicle off road. Otherwise, all you have are fish stories of your adventure, i.e. nothing to show for it.