i was reminded of this as i was readin the thread entitled "let's see your engine bays" when sese said "what about cleaning your engine? :D ". has anyone had their engine washed or detailed? i was at my local car wash because i didnt feel like washing my car myself one week (and im very picky as in having it hand washed and all) and wanted to have my engine cleaned due to dirt and sands from the beach and what not.

i was thinking about it. one of the local car washes i went to in the past stopped doing their engine washes because there have been complaints about the water and what not getting into the ecu. so i called up joe and just asked for his opinion. i didnt have it done but instead i had them just spray and wipe down the visible sands on the engine since i was there already and wasnt charged extra with the hand wash.

any thoughts on this / opinions?

Here you go: http://www.bmwworld.com/repairs/detailing/engine.htm. I need to clean my engine bay as well. Maybe I'll do it this weekend.

it seems pretty risky. the "Start the engine immediately and road test the vehicle to confirm satisfactory operation.
BMW says it will not honor warranty claims for components damaged by improper engine cleaning" part got to me. thanks for the link joe it cleared up a lot.

My BMW dealer steam cleaned my engine for free when I had my last oil change. Ask your local dealer maybe they'll do the same :thumbsup:

I called BMW of San Diego and they said they're not equipped to do that, boo... :(

I'm sorry to hear that. My BMW dealer, while small, has a whole detail department which do good work, and for free if your car is in for service. I only wish they had an autobody department so that I can take to fix a couple of scratches here and there. I don't trust other local body shops, the good ones charge waaaaaaaay too much and the affordable ones I wouldn't trust with my 1998 Honda let alone my 2004 e60.