DIY: Cowl Panel Cleaning Of Hyundai Creta (1st Gen)

[anuraagshenoy]

Cowl Panel Cleaning
By far it is one of the most ignored areas of the car that is not looked upon during any regular cleaning activities but most perform it while deep cleaning the car. During the initial ownership period, the car was parked inside the garage i.e., covered parking so no such issues of leaves and debris getting into the engine bay or the cowl panel area but from June 2019 onwards, the car has been parked outside with trees surrounding so can't escape the leaves and bird dropping issues.

The Creta is now 6 years old and has clocked 1,28,xxx kms and no issues at all for a long time now and it is routine servicing that I do to keep it running healthy, mechanically. Detailing is one part of the ownership that this car has NEVER seen at all. During the initial ownership time, the Cowl panel was opened to inspect and clean when the odometer was around 51,000 kms. It was pretty clean since the car was parked inside mainly.

Tools Required:

1. Microfibre cloth - 2 or 3 no's - To cover the engine bay area as much to avoid debris falling inside and creating issues later.
2. Brushes
3. 1/2" Socket Set - Especially 1/2" handle + 14mm socket (Bought this week ago during the Amazon Sale)
4. Flat screwdriver - Since I didn't have one in the car, I used the attachment from the Taparia 1/4" socket set
5. Leaf blower - To make it easier and faster
6. Pressure washer - To make it easier to clean

Taparia - 1/4" Socket Set


Tata Agrico - 1/2" Socket Set

 

[anuraagshenoy]

It has been 4 years and 9 months since the last time this area was clean and I suspect it has a lot of debris/leaves etc since there has been a rat attack (2 times) on the car from when it has been parked outside. So when I got some free time yesterday, I decided to open the panel and clean that area.

Leaves accumulate in both the parking spots i.e., workplace and home.


Come and stay near the wiper spindle slowly going inside the cowl panel


Front windshield washer pipe coming from the washer tank located in the engine bay (This car needs a deep cleaning and detailing!)


Push down on the center of these four clips to remove them and to remove the cowl panel from the frame


Using a flat head screwdriver, remove the caps covering the wiper arm nuts


Two caps were removed using the flat head attachment from the Taparia 1/4" socket set


Nuts holding the wiper arm in place


Removed the two nuts using the 14mm socket from Tata Agrico 1/2" socket set


Press down on the wiper arm and remove them from the bolt holding them. Seeing this after removing the wiper arm, I knew there was a lot to clean


The Cowl panel was removed - The shock of my life. This is how much was accumulated in 4 years and 9 months. Damn!

Drivers side


Center portion


Passengers side


Removed all the debris/leaves from the panel area


Refit everything after cleaning the area


Another angle of the cowl panel


Will be keeping my focus on this area so the debris/leaves don't get collected in so much quantity in future.

I can use a car cover but thanks to daily usage, I am lazy to cover it and uncover every day.

 

[350Z]

Note: Thread now live. A well-composed and helpful DIY. Thanks for the efforts.

Drive Safe,
350Z