What would you do? (possible damage from detail)

[snowracer21]

I detailed my friend/co-worker’s car last week. 1 step polish/wax + full interior detail. I cut him a pretty good deal as I usually do for friends/co-workers. We didn’t discuss it prior, but I went ahead and detailed the engine bay as well. I’ve always detailed plenty of engine bays on both stock and modded cars, and never had a problem. I always use the proper precautions when rinsing the engine bay, and use compressed air to remove any remaining water in the drying process.

Anyways, a few days after my friend picked up his car, he asked about the engine bay wash procedure. He stated his car was running rough. Fast forward a few more days and he diagnosed it as a bad coilpack. He sent me a picture showing some brown sludge in the spark plug hole, which is most likely rusty water. He said his car wasn’t running 100% prior to the detail, but noticeably worse after.

My best guess is the coilpack was starting to go prior to the detail, and probably also had a bad seal, which let the water in the plug hole, which finished off the already faulty coilpack.

Had the coilpack seal been 100%, this would have been an issue. However, if I didn’t detail the engine bay, his car would still be running at almost 100%, with the coilpack likely going bad a bit down the road.

What would you do in this situation?

[Calendyr]

Happened to me once on a Jeep Grand Cherokee. I paid for the repair.

There is a risk with engine details. Even if you are careful, water can get in places where it can cause issues.

I too have done a lot of engine details... probably about 30 so far. Out of those, twice I had water go into the spark plug well and cause issue. The first time it was on my own Hyundai accent GSi. The car was 14 years old so I was not overly surprised there were bad seals. I was able to correct the issue over a few days by blowing the water out of the spark plug wells and then using di-electric grease on the spark plugs.

For the Grand Cherokee. The water caused the ignition coil to fail. The vehicle was pretty recent, I think it was 4 years old at most. So no water should have gone in there, but it did. So, I had the client bring the truck to the garage I do business at, they diagnosed the problem and I paid for the repair. Client was happy and left me a 5 star review on Google.

That is one of the cost of doing business.

I am super careful with engine details, only do them if the car is no older than 10 years old. And no longer try to sell that service. If you want to avoid the risk, you could do an engine wipedown with rinseless wash on a microfiber and not use free flowing water in the engine bay. Won't be as clean, but there is basically zero risk of doing that. Or, you could cover the engine with a plastic bag to wash the underside of the hood and the walls of the engine bay, then remove the bag and use a microfiber to clean the rest... again, super safe. But as soon as you shoot water and/or cleaner solutions on the engine, you are at risk if a seal or gasket has failed. And unfortunatelly, that is your responsability.

As for a coil, not sure how much they cost where you are but the garage charged me a bit under 200$ to replace it (parts, labour and taxes). Should be cheaper if you are in the US. You can write it off as a business expense, so in reality it's not costing you as much. Just a loss of revenue.

[briarpatch]

This is exactly why I only do 'cosmetic' detailing on engine bays, even my own. Way too much crap can go wrong on vehicles nowadays.

[Coach Steve]

If your friend has acknowledged that the car was running rough prior to you doing the engine bay, I don't think it's out of the question to ask him to split the cost of the repair. Coil packs are usually easy to replace and require little effort to do so. Split the cost of the part and do the work together.

I just had the same situation a couple of weeks ago, but in this case, the truck was running perfectly prior to me detailing it.
After doing any engine bay and blowing every last drop of water out, I then start the vehicle and let it come up to operating temp and let it run for about 15 mins just to make sure there aren't any issues and no CEL.
The customer called me a couple of days later to tell me the engine was running rough and the CEL on. He scanned the codes and had P0303, Misfire on cyl #3. I explained to him exactly what I wrote above about my procedure but, I gave him the benefit of the doubt and had him bring the truck to my shop. I told him I would pull the coil pack with him there and if there was water in the well, I would pay for the part. If not, it was just a coincidence, and the coil pack would have died anyway.

Well, on this particular vehicle, 2007 Nissan Frontier, you have to pull the entire intake manifold, throttle body, and various parts off to get to the coil packs. I didn't know this when I suggested he bring it by the shop. But, I'm a man of my word so I looked at the FSM for that truck and printed out the procedure to get to the coil packs and proceeded to pull the top half of the engine.

When I finally got to the coil pack, I pulled it out and the well was as dry as could be. He went to the parts store and bought a new one and brought it back. I installed it and put the engine back together. It ended up taking about 90 mins from hood up to hood down. He gave me $100 for my troubles and was on his way.

I later learned the dealer charges $375.00 to do that job on that vehicle due to the complexity and amount of time it takes. Add to that, the part costs $105.00 at the parts store. God knows how much it is through the dealer!

The customer left happy with the knowledge that I was willing to step up if it had indeed been my fault. He will be a customer for life due to the integrity and honesty I showed and that's what it's all about!

[Vanquish Auto]

We only use steam or a Tornador on engine bays. We’ve never had a problem with using those two for over 7 years. We do engine details on most the vehicles we get.
Since it was already going bad. See if he will split the cost of the repair with you. He should be happy with that. He’s getting a repair he already needed for half price and you won’t be eating the full cost of it.

[sudsmobile]

I would likely offer to split the cost of a coil pack with him. If he balks at that, just pay for a new one, chalk it up as a lesson learned.

[TTQ B4U]

As noted I would offer to split the cost with the customer since their issue was going to need addressed very promptly anyway.

I never use water or steam in engine Bays due to risks as it it just is not worth it.

I used rags with cleaners and degreasers but no sprays

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