[zero2sixtyZ]

Originally Posted by NSFW 335i

500-800 seems very high, I have friends that had theirs done for 300-350 in the tri-state area.

I just moved to NH, and need it done soon. Does anyone do this job on the side?

Not sure I want to go to Worcester and/or wait for this.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=895561

[Artmasterx]

Originally Posted by zero2sixtyZ

Not sure I want to go to Worcester and/or wait for this.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=895561

Being in the Cambridge/Somerville area, I decided that it was worth $150 to not have to drive to Worcester and spend 1/2+ of a Saturday to do it. I can have it done while at work and am a ~10 minute drive from the place in Winchester.

In the end, if I have to spend $500 on walnut blasting every 40-50k miles (4 yrs for me), then so be it... It sucks that it needs it at all, but it's the price we pay.

For people with more flexible schedules or that live in the western burbs, $350 seems like a potentially great deal.

[zero2sixtyZ]

Originally Posted by Artmasterx

Being in the Cambridge/Somerville area, I decided that it was worth $150 to not have to drive to Worcester and spend 1/2+ of a Saturday to do it. I can have it done while at work and am a ~10 minute drive from the place in Winchester.

In the end, if I have to spend $500 on walnut blasting every 40-50k miles (4 yrs for me), then so be it... It sucks that it needs it at all, but it's the price we pay.

For people with more flexible schedules or that live in the western burbs, $350 seems like a potentially great deal.

Completely agree. If you could let us know your experience at Bavarian, that would be great. I'll most likely make an appointment soon.

[Artmasterx]

Originally Posted by zero2sixtyZ

Completely agree. If you could let us know your experience at Bavarian, that would be great. I'll most likely make an appointment soon.

I had the intake cleaning done yesterday. I was happy with the service and they seem like a nice local outfit.

They took before/after pictures to show me, but I did not ask for the files. At 60k miles, my valves had a decent amount of deposits, but were not terrible (which is in line with the minimal effect on driving performance I had noticed). So it seems like every 60k or so will be right for my car.

These are probably representative of what mine looked like:


I did have an unfortunate "coincidence" that I got a misfire in cylinder 3 after the service. They did a test drive after the service, but it didn't rear its head until about 1 mile down the road when I left. I turned around and headed right back and had them look at it. It turned out that the coil and plug in cylinder 3 had malfunctioned. First they swapped the coil and the misfire followed the coil. They replaced the coil and the plug in cylinder 3 was still acting up. They replaced that one plug and everything was good. They did this without charging labor, but I did pay for the coil + plug.

I am not sure that it was a complete coincidence that it failed so soon after, but it is hard to see how the cleaning would cause a coil/plug to fail. There was no obvious visible issue with the plug, so it is not like it was fouled by some media that leaked into the cylinder. Maybe it was just that the coil was about to go and them working nearby/bumping it/something pushed it over the edge.

Despite the "coincidence", I was happy with them. It is a bit of a pain to get there if public transit is necessary, but otherwise good.