I heard that to about damaging the electric. I had my engine clean with a preasure washer at a automotive cleaning center. They wash my car's engine from the top and the bottom plus the chassis fron and rear. After they air dry the engine with a preasure air and ready. Nothing happened to the electrical system. The engine is clean.
Pressure wash is OK as long it's not some gas powered 3000 PSI washer. What I do, since I don't like stains and chemicals on my driveway is I go to the coin-op car wash where you drop in quarters and use a wand. I set it to engine degrease, spray the engine down and let it soak, I also get under the engine, suspension parts and such, then I use the pressure wash to break away the grime and then I use the spot free rinse to wash the hard water off so no spots. I then drive it home and get any spots it missed with rags and generic degrease or all purpose cleaner. Then to get that shiny car show finish, I spritz it down with Meguiars Hyperdressing straight out of the bottle. The engine looks better than new. The dressing covers over dried up wires and hoses and makes the shiny new looking. The beauty of the coin-op method is that it's cheaper than buying a can of Gunk engine cleaner and your not poisoning the neighborhood cat.
I wouldn't use a penetrant like WD40. It may work it's way into electrical connections and cause problems. Use a dressing, there's a few on the market made for engines and generic ones that work well in engines. I like Meguiars Hyperdressing but it's a detailer only product so you'll have to go online to get it. There's a e-tailer I use, http://www.autodetailingsolutions.com/ that takes the Meg's detailer line that come in gallons and makes smaller quart bottles for us enthusiasts. Also check out their all purpose cleaner from their detailer line for getting the engine clean after the pressure wash.
I've been resisting the temptation to use the coin-op sprayer in fear that I might spray something I shouldn't. Isn't there some electronics under the hood that we should avoid? How far away are you keeping the nozzle?
Sorry, I really want to do this, but not if there's a 1% chance of me screwing something up.
Engines these days are pretty much weatherproof. Obviously avoid shooting water into the intake, avoid hitting connectors at full blast 1" away. Just look over the engine before you start, see where the grime is and see how close it is to connectors, use common sense. The key is to keep your engine clean by doing it more often and then you won't need to work so hard to clean it. These days there so many hoses and wires that it's not just for looks anymore, the grease and grime corrodes and eats away at rubber and plastic. The pressure at these coin-op is purposely low so you won't damage your car, they don't want to get sued as much as you don't want to damage your engine.
One thing you may want to do before you go is remove the belly pan. jack up the car from the center rubber puck under the radiator support with a jack. Use two jack stand on the side behind the wheels at the standard jack points. Then release the jack and remove the six torx screws holding the belly pan and remove it and then lower the car. This will let you clean the bottom of the motor and not have chemicals collect on top of the belly pan and then spray all over the bottom when you drive off. Then put it back when you are done.
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