Steam vs Gunk

Today I talked to a guy who said he could steam clean my engine for me. 60$. He has a shop and does car engines and stuff. I have never had any experience with this at all. I pulled my engine yesterday and was going to use gunk engine degreaser and water. Maybe even light pressure wash. I have one of them. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet.

So has anyone had there engine steam cleaned before? What were the results?

I'm kinda thinking I might want to paint the engine also. If they did a good clean job with the steam would I be ready for paint?

I've already done pretty much everything I needed to do as far as maintenance. Motors strong. I was just trying to clean up the bike since I had to pull the motor.

Any info would be great!!

Thanks
Jim

 

Don't. Just use a degreaser, a brush, and a garden hose to rinse off.
Both a steam gun and a pressure washer have enough pressure to force water into places where it should not go.

 

Ok then, note to self never steam clean engine. How long should someone wait or is there something else that should be done if you wish to paint the engine?

 

You'll also want to strip the clear coat from the engine before painting it, unless you're going to use a color.

I wouldn't say never steam clean an engine, just shy away from steam cleaning one that you aren't planning on tearing down.

 

Thanks for the replies. Guess I've got some scrubbing to do. Is the clear coat just on the covers or the hole engine.

 

Info noted and needed, thanks.

 

I'm not sure on the 550, but the 650 and 750 have clear (or paint) on the whole engine.

 

That may explain the difference in block color between my 550 and my 750, they are only a year apart and the 750 looks almost new.