I want to spruce up and clean the mild surface grease sweat on my engine that is still in my car for some pictures.
What do you guys use that will not blemish or remove the engine paint, but will remove the grease/dust?

Thank you.

Maybe Dawn dish soap mixed with some water in a spray bottle? I would try it on a cool engine just to be safe. Rinse really well. If it removes the oil from animals that were caught in an oil spill and it doesn't hurt them, I can't see why it wouldn't work on a slightly dirty motor.

Thanks guys.

I use something called Formula 88, only $7 a gallon to, the onl y problem you'll have is it does seem to be available anywhere but Florida which really doesn't make sense since it is eco friendly. Works awesome, I have provided it to some friends and they cant believe the stuff. After it I will go over the engine and undercarriage with dish soap water like you wash the outside of the car and yes with the engine cold.

After rinsing chosen detergent off, rinse again with deionized water if you have such an instrument to produce it. Several excellent such products exist.

Else rinse with a gallon of distilled water that can be purchased at any grocery store.

Saves a lot of drying time by towels and eliminates spotting.

Best to start engine asap to help dry out alternator, dizzy, wiring etc.

Citrus based degreaser, like from ZEP, works great. The citrus oil is like a solvent and will penetrate the slime buildup better than some others. Your foamy type cleaners, like GUNK, just sit on the surface and don't dissolve the goo. They will, however, trash painted surfaces by killing the paint. This applies to the purple cleaners too so be careful what you use. I like the ZEP orange cleaner. I have it in a 1 gallon pump up garden sprayer which works awesome for getting it where you can't by other methods because the spray wand gets wherever it can be poked into.

standard issue, (not diluted) Simple green on a cold motor engine compartment works wonders. if a compressor or leaf blower is available, blow out the pockets and towel dry