I'm 43 years old, been washing my engines since I was 17. I have NEVER had any problem whatsoever with washing an engine. I juice it up nice with simple green, straight. (before there was simple green, I would use liquid laundry detergent, thinned with water enough to be sprayed through a squirt bottle) Let it sit, then take a soft, floppy brush and kind of wipe it down, maybe get into the nooks and crannies. Rinse with the garden hose, start it up.
Okay, I lied. My wife (before she was my wife) had a 1985 CRX SI, after a washing the check engine light would come on, maybe. After a drive cycle it was fine. My 2004 Chrys. minivan, I had the horns replaced TWICE under warrantee - according to the dealer, I was the only one EVER who had bad horns. So I looked, and when I rinsed I was flooding them with water, so after the warrantee was up, I remounted the horns in a manner that I thought would be better. Problem solved. By the way, you can eat off my engines, and, most work can be accomplished without getting dirty. Mike

Chugged a little this morning getting onto the highway, but all feels good now. Probably need to do this more often. Maybe also a good excuse to get the new coils I wanted....
Thanks!

You should be able to just spray your engine just dont hold any water pressure on any electric stuff.