Cleaning under hood - engine bay

How do you clean yours?
Mine is covered in dust and thinking about just rinsing with a hose and maybe a brush.

 

Air blow dry it off afterwards to get the unwanted left over pools of water (in places u can’t see) off the engine. This is a must if your going to water down & clean your engine. Some ppl say it’s okay to do this but some ppl never put that much water on the engine. FYI - do it in the shade one day (it’s hot AF outside) & with the engine completely cooled off - blow dry it asap afterwards

 

The knock sensors in the "valley" do not like water at all. Neither does the alternator.
The dealer I bought my 99 4Runner from was nice enough to steam clean the engine, but didn't blow dry it. By the time it got here on the transporter, the water had sat in the valley for a couple days. The knock sensors were throwing codes.
My mechanic replaced them with aftermarket sensors, but the ECU didn't approve of them, so he had re-replace them with actual, real, OEM sensors. For free!
They finally stopped throwing codes.

Something that might help prevent water-caused failures as well, is to pull every plug you can find, and put a dab of silicon dielectric grease into them. Including battery cables, spark plug cables, grounds, etc. If it has electricity flowing through it, give it the grease. You might be surprized at the results. It will certainly help keeping the water out.

Good fortune!
Pat☺

 

I’ve always used a little simple green and a low pressure container to rinse it off (something like a bug poison container with a hose). Like has been mentioned, you want to use as little water as possible. I run the vehicle and let it cool off for 30 minutes or so. Never have don’t it on the 4Runner