Just got my car back after its 5-year service. Exterior and interior nicely valeted, then looked under the bonnet - just as caked with mud as it was before. How couldthey work on it like this? I wondered, remembering the happy(?) hours under the bonnet when I used to service my own bangers years ago. So I checked the service list and realised that the few things they do at huge cost are almost all done from below. They don't even remove the engine cover! Things they did under the bonnet were:
check operation of bonnet catch
check antifreeze sg (not even specified on this servoice)
check ancillary drive belt
check brake, steering, clutch and screenwash levels
fill with engine oil

and that's it!
Well, I was shocked anyway, but it says something good about modern engineering reliability. Even so, I think I'll go in and grease up my battery terminals, as that's no longer on the list. Maybe even clean off some of the mud...

isnt the 5th service like the 1st service check and engine oil change may be pollen filter as well and the rest is just checking etc rainy-city
xs

Pretty well, yes. Again, says something about the durability of the technology I think.

I wouldn't expect then to clean caked mud off the engine area.

probably if you serviced it yourself you would be tempted to give it a wipe with an oily rag.

Iain

Odd though that they clean every other bit of the car for me! Indy I used to use would steam-clean the Disco engine, but never touched the rest of the car.