R56 Another Carbon Buildup Thread - With a twist
#1
Another Carbon Buildup Thread - With a twist
So I had my car walnut bashed (supposedly) in Feb. The car came off the road about a week later because I still had knock/missfire issues.
I left it with a friends workshop and arranged to get a few things addressed like timing chain, clutch and a few other things as well as obviously diagnose the missfire/knock. The engine was removed to make the whole thing easier.
Just before we decided to put the motor back in tonight, we thought we would double check the intake and discovered that it was quite badly coked up again.
Since getting the walnut blast job done, the car would be lucky to have done 300-500kms ~ 300-400 miles.
Could an intake valve really carbon up this much within that amount of KMS. To top it off I added a catch can just after the walnut job, so in theory that **** should be in the catch can (worst case).
Thoughts?
I left it with a friends workshop and arranged to get a few things addressed like timing chain, clutch and a few other things as well as obviously diagnose the missfire/knock. The engine was removed to make the whole thing easier.
Just before we decided to put the motor back in tonight, we thought we would double check the intake and discovered that it was quite badly coked up again.
Since getting the walnut blast job done, the car would be lucky to have done 300-500kms ~ 300-400 miles.
Could an intake valve really carbon up this much within that amount of KMS. To top it off I added a catch can just after the walnut job, so in theory that **** should be in the catch can (worst case).
Thoughts?
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#8
you probably got hosed, and they assumed you'd never pull the manifold off to check.
does your engine consume a lot of oil? this would indicate bad valve guides, worn rings etc, in which case that carbon can build up faster than you'd think....but after 3-400 mi, I think that they likely did nothing, or a quick and minimal job.
does your engine consume a lot of oil? this would indicate bad valve guides, worn rings etc, in which case that carbon can build up faster than you'd think....but after 3-400 mi, I think that they likely did nothing, or a quick and minimal job.
#11
The company that did it are being somewhat reasonable. The owner said he did it himself and has pictures of before and after, but it started getting more sketchy after he said he would take a while to get them as he changed phones since then.
He tells me he had to do both a chemical and walnut clean. I'm of the opinion that he just did the chemical clean because he ran out of walnuts or something. The catch can has no residue in it, and even while the car burns a little oil, it hadn't used any in that space.
Engine has also been compression and leakdown tested and comes up ok, I know they can be misleading with carbon buildup, but there should at least be some abnormalities in the test.
I've sent all the pics to the people that supposedly did it. Hope to get a positive response from them and not a "we did it, go away" response.
He tells me he had to do both a chemical and walnut clean. I'm of the opinion that he just did the chemical clean because he ran out of walnuts or something. The catch can has no residue in it, and even while the car burns a little oil, it hadn't used any in that space.
Engine has also been compression and leakdown tested and comes up ok, I know they can be misleading with carbon buildup, but there should at least be some abnormalities in the test.
I've sent all the pics to the people that supposedly did it. Hope to get a positive response from them and not a "we did it, go away" response.
#12
#13
They look similar to the shots circulating around on the net for R56 with carbon problems. Then again, the guy that supposedly did the job said he used chemicals as well, maybe the chemicals have broken it down a little and made it more of a sludgy mess.
This is a shot of another one of the intake ports (pretty bad shot, but it still shows bad buildup).
This is a shot of another one of the intake ports (pretty bad shot, but it still shows bad buildup).
#14
They look similar to the shots circulating around on the net for R56 with carbon problems. Then again, the guy that supposedly did the job said he used chemicals as well, maybe the chemicals have broken it down a little and made it more of a sludgy mess.
This is a shot of another one of the intake ports (pretty bad shot, but it still shows bad buildup).
This is a shot of another one of the intake ports (pretty bad shot, but it still shows bad buildup).
Last edited by Systemlord; 05-21-2015 at 01:49 PM.
#15
Yes, they should be pretty clean with short mileage. Hope you can get the pics.
DIY here and pics of the valves afterwards and before. Some get pretty bad and have over 100,000 miles . The walnut blasting does wonders and the chemical thing is not needed , once you shoot them with the wand and walnut, the carbon comes right off.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-cleaning.html
DIY here and pics of the valves afterwards and before. Some get pretty bad and have over 100,000 miles . The walnut blasting does wonders and the chemical thing is not needed , once you shoot them with the wand and walnut, the carbon comes right off.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-cleaning.html
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#16
#17
I spoke with the garage owner again who was quite approachable about it. He wasn't defensive and didn't admit to not doing, but also didn't admit to doing it.
It appears he is going to refund me the money I paid, which I guess is the least he could do.
I'm waiting to hear back from a few workshops to see if they can do it as my existing mechanic doesn't have the setup, he is going to try and clean it by hand, I said that was ok as long as I don't get a big labour bill. If all else fails then I'll order all the walnut kit myself from ECS.
Cheers Everyone!
It appears he is going to refund me the money I paid, which I guess is the least he could do.
I'm waiting to hear back from a few workshops to see if they can do it as my existing mechanic doesn't have the setup, he is going to try and clean it by hand, I said that was ok as long as I don't get a big labour bill. If all else fails then I'll order all the walnut kit myself from ECS.
Cheers Everyone!
Last edited by Wynnston; 05-26-2015 at 03:20 AM.
#18
It is best to have before and after pics verifying what was done...simple for the tech to do. We show the owner in person if they are present as soon as the IM is removed and a boroscope is inserted. Only way to prevent this is stopping all the ingestion causing it, and that takes a special separating system to do so. As far as severity and how quickly they coke up, just get anyone with only a few 1,000 miles on theirs to remove their IM and you will see how rapidly they do build up. By 10k miles most loke like heck.
#20
Hope your mechanic can get it done for you , glad you got the refund. Maybe he confused your MINI for another MINI he did ?
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Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
MINI Guru/ MINI Owner Since 2004 | NEW Lifetime Part Replacement | Local Pickup
Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
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