I'll try and make this short,

I purchased my 2007 Mini Cooper S 2 years ago (62,000 miles now) and paid my local Mini dealer $800 to have the intake valves walnut blasted or so I thought (more on that later), the reason I had them cleaned was because of my misfiring and pre-ignition during low to moderate boost. Right after the intake valves were supposedly walnut blasted I still had problems with pre-ignition during low to moderate boost.

So I did tons of research on Mini's with misfiring and pre-ignition here on NAM, I found a product BG 44K Fuel System Cleaner, bought multiple cans and ran in each gas tank of either Shell V-Power 91 or Chevron 91 here in Southern California. I ran 15 cans in total every tank fill-up, I'm not joking because I noticed when I removed the plugs my pistons were going from black to aluminum gray, I could actually see the color of the aluminum alloy.

Most of my pre-igntion during low to moderate boost began to go away as I used more cans of BG 44K, but when in Summers where the humidity was low (50% or lower) I started getting pre-ignition in moderate boost but no pre-ignition in very humid Summers (I know cooling effect high humidity). When I got my intake valves walnut blasted 2 years ago (15,000 miles ago) I asked the mechanic to take before and after pictures and I was very firm about it was asking, heads turned. He took before pictures (1st pic) and later when he was finished he stated he forgot to do the after picture.

Hay before we start with looking at the pictures there's something you should know, my MCS consumes half a quart (1/2) of oil every 1000-1500 miles which isn't that bad as the first picture shows. Less consumption highway driving which is 75% percent of my driving.

The first picture is the before picture the mechanic took of the worst cylinder #1 (left to right). His cameras screen was to small so he loaded it to the computer and I took a picture of the computer screen. I took these other four pictures today myself, the second picture is the cylinder #1. They look like the same cylinder, I'm seeing the same picture just 15,000 miles later. The third picture is cylinder #2, forth picture is cylinder #3 and the fifth picture is cylinder #4. Looks like someone was using dentist tools.

I don't know about you but it's my belief that cylinder #1 was never cleaned as well as cylinder #2, the last two were done in my opinion. I'm interested in what you believe cause I think it was a half a** job at best!

 

You know bg44k does NOTHING with a DI motor?! Well, not quite...but it cannot clean the intake valves...the fuel (with the bg44k)is getting injected into the cylinders directly from the injectors screwed into the top of the head just like a sparkplug...
Bet you driving style just needs a carbon cleaning every 20,000 miles or so...Would not be unheard of...

 

is there something wrong on your engine? coz my engine was doing the same thing roughly about the same time last year in so cal (super hot and dry, high density altitiude if you know what I mean). Being an oil burner( topping off oil every tank of gas) and knocking like hell at 40k miles but no walant blast was done to the car ever. Got it check up and turns out the cyclinders were all scored and losing compression pretty badly.

 

Each set of valves will accumulate carbon at different rates due to the intake tract not being ideal.

 

Whenever I recommend BG 44K Fuel System Cleaner member's always say it does nothing for the intake valves, I know that, I'm recommending it for the cylinders and piston tops.

I knew/know BG 44K Fuel System Cleaning does nothing for the intake valves, since I had my valves cleaned why stop there? If the intake valves look horrible, imagine how your combustion chambers look. They look exactly like the valves, black carbon coating piston tops and hard carbon forming deposits in and around the ring landings especially on the top rings.

Take a page out of a2oc's book, never had any walnut blasting on intake valves. The deposits left on top of his pistons and rings left his cylinders all scored, he burns tons more oil to have that happen at 40,000 miles.

I believe all engines aren't built equal, I believe your valve seals were leaking. So you were burning oil like the rest of us and leaking oil from oil seals, I believe more was wrong with your Mini. Super hot and dry is very bad considering that carbon on your valves and pistons creates a heat barrier causing excessive heat leading to knocking/pre-ignition.

cerenkov do you believe the Mini dealer cleaned my valves in the first place? The first picture is before the walnut blasting at 47,000 miles, the before doesn't look bad at all. After the walnut blast at 47,000 miles they look 10 time worse after only 15,000 miles. Something doesn't add up here burning half a quart of oil 1000-1500 miles is good compared to other MCS owners! More than one Service Writer stated my valves didn't look that bad especially compared to other owner's Mini's.

 

Can anybody recommend at place in Southern California that does an excellent job walnut blasting of intake valves for $350-$550? No more dealers, recommendations needed for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday of this week!

 

u sure u need walnut blast instead of compression/ leakdown test?
my engine was indeed so bad that it was replaced soon after that. (actually half of the bits of my car was replaced in that couple months lol)

 

Nope already performed a compression test, hot vs cold yielded the same numbers, dry test only. Tigger2011 rebuild his engine from top to bottom with forged rods, pistons and after driving 500 miles on conventional oil to break-in the engine his dry compression test results were 170, 170, 170 and 168. It just shows you how well my cylinders, rings and valves seal. That's why this is so hard for me to understand, with readings like mine it's hard to believe the carbon deposits on my valves!

 

Looks like when the mechanic hit it with the media, they might have not worked the cylinder 1 as much as the others. Like its was the first one done. I have seen where the walnut hits it and boom its clean, and I have seen where the media needs to work it a couple times as the build up is very bad and caked.

You could always DIY and then make sure its done right. Or get an indy shop to do it again. Or complain to the MINI dealership. Also driving habits seem to affect the carbon build up also. Lots of short trips and low miles seem to have the build up more.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-cleaning.html

 

None of those pics look completely out of whack--even for 15k miles. Here's what you do: get a professional WS cleaning from a reputable shop with the correct equipment (we use factory tools and charge $349 for the job). Get your oil changed and see how your engine runs and consumes oil.

 

LTMW in El Monte or Battle Tuning in Covina. I had mine done at LTMW and the car felt like night and day after. He even provided a free rental car for the day (enterprise).

 

What he said above^^. I believe their pricing is on par with what i paid LTMW at the time.

http://ltmotorwerks.com/

 

Gotta love it when it a vendor chimes in with useful info....
Vendors who turn wrenches and sell parts....priceless!!

 

I also have this problem and I've been struggling with pre ignition and misfire cyl. 1 & 2.
I did a manual intake valve cleaning about 8 months ago.
What is the best solution for this pre ignition and misfire problem on the combustion chambers?

 

Hope this helps...

A's Garage
323-318-2777
705 Monterey Pass Road Monterey Park CA
Ask for Alvin for more information...

They do MINI's, BMW's and I believe Fiats.

Likewise, I am due for one and need to set an appointment with boys of Helix soon.

 

Systemlord, I wonder what the compressor wheel and inside of the compressor cover look like on your turbo.

 

As I understand it the coked oil deposits on the valves causes the valves to get hot causing pre-ignition leading to burnt and even broken valves, doesn't the oil coked deposits create a heat barrier causing increased cylinder temperatures? https://www.google.com/search?q=mini...WaYG4ArCFXM%3A

I made an appointment for Tuesday 9:30 am at LTMW, Long is going to perform the cleaning with before and after pictures. He also said I can see with my own eyes when he's finished, I would rather make one trip up there so I'll wait around until he's done.

Short of removing the head and cleaning it, run multiple cans of BG 44K. I had pre-ignition pretty much every day even in the cold months, after 15 cans of BG 44K 95% percent of my pre-ignition disappeared. You can buy multiple cans cheap on eBay. I use it every three months.

I removed my post catalytic sensor and looked into my catalytic converter and it was shockingly clean with zero blockage, I plan on installing a new turbo in the next 30,000 miles Then we shall see what the compressor wheel looks like.

Indeed, I welcome it.

 

I'll be leaving Mission Viejo around 5-6 am on Tuesday to drive to LTMOTORWORKS in El Monte to have my valves walnut blasted, what's the best route at the times listed above? Thanks for any suggestions!

Options are I-5N to I-605 or I-5N to CA-57 N toward Pomona freeway to I-605 N.

 

Yeah. Thats probably your best route. I would highly recommend leaviing at 5 unless you dont mind sitting in traffic

 

Oops. I meant the 605 route probably

 

Many of his former loyal peeps don't go to LTMW anymore...best to stay away....

I told my buddy to not go there, his car sat in front for a month and nothing was done to it today. He finally picked it up today and yeah, nothing done. Same issues that'll get passed on to the next shop to address.

If anything it was 1 month of storage which he didn't mind. lol

 

Thanks, I'll use my Google Traffic app that's been extremely accurate for over a year now. Whenever I take a trip to the beach 10-15 miles away I always use it and it's saved my bacon more times than I can count!

It's a little to late now as I made an appointment for 9:30 am Tuesday, I will ask him about that on Monday because I won't accept that crap! I will have 4 hours to loiter around and I will be peaking in to make sure the work is being done the entire time I'm there. I can be quite the pest if I need to be!

I still have time to make other arrangements.

 

I have many options, but I travel to Motoring Magic in Thousand Oaks or Strasse Sport in Irwindale.

Scott @ Motoring Magic knows MINI's inside and out, I've been taking my MINI to him lately and I trust him with my MINI, absolutely no questions asked. Really enjoy my time there at his shop. It's quite the drive for you probably, but if you get the job done, get it done right.

An appt can always be cancelled. LT has a lot more time available than you think. Honestly though, it's not like he'll actually be working on your MINI, he'll probably be out golfing. lol

Honestly, he f'd everyone and everyone left him. All his loyal customers left and I hope that no one on here gets screwed based on my old recommendations. Those were the golden days, but nowadays, its about a quick buck, and it's not worth it, and I'm very adamant on that. When my turbo is back on I'm going to Motoring Magic to get my leakdown test performed and my brake pads changed out. Seriously, take the drive out to Scott, he'll treat you well. I'm pretty sure LT won't even replace your gaskets because they don't work on a lot of MINI's there.

I was their primary MINI guy there and I recommended a ton of people there, but 1/3 the time it was experiment work because they didn't know the engine like I do. I took a friend's MINI, years back, to have his M7 diffuser installed. They didn't touch it the 3 weeks it was there and I installed it for them. They didn't want to touch it with a mile long stick if they had to....

You've been warned and recommended.

 

What does Motoring Magic charge for a walnut blast to get the valves looking like a metal surface again? It's interesting because I have called LTMW since Tuesday to speak with Long Tran and every time I ask for him his not available, I made the appointment with another guy for Long Tran to confirm he's going do the work Tuesday. With what you have said it has been difficult to get a hold of him!

The red flags are waving!

 

I believe it's also $350 and I believe they would provide a rental.

I'm not surprised that you weren't able to speak to him directly. Same ole dog and pony shoe over there. Sometimes he'd be there and would just hide in his office and not want to take the call. I knew friends who weren't as close as I was and call him and he wouldn't pick up, but when I'd call he used to pick up.