Thanks for the advice. It certainly makes sense that I should add the CC system, but it seems I may be in limbo until the various aftermarket sources come up with a version for the 2011 and later cars. I discussed this issue with my son and I think he will be adding the CC system to his Clubman. He is a poor college student and while the cost of adding the system isn't something he has budgeted for, the cost of the consequences could be a much larger unbudgeted expense.

 

I was just reading through the Mini TSB .. WTH !!
How does carbon on the intake valves relate to the quality of the fuel that the back side of the valves never see ?!?! Well at least now I know why the service advisors won't do anything.

---
oops, might be premature in ranting at Mini. This TSB does NOT cover the turbo engine. You can see from the illustrations in Procedure C along w/ the engine designation (N12) this is for the non-turbo/base coopers. The turbo engine is N14. If anyone has access to the Mini TIS system, I'd really like to see if there are any TSB's pertaining to carbon buildup and the N14 engine.

 

was going to ask about that…

 

Good ole BMW service! Looks like all us weekend DIY guys will be learning how to clean the intake ports on our own now.

 

Fishbert,

When you say "another round of the blue stuff", do you mean by the dealership or did you use it yourself? If you did it yourself, what was the procedure? Seafoam style or some other?

 

I second that! We need the "official" N14 procedure! Going into the fuel rail isn't going to do squat on the DI engine.

 

I had the dealership do the blue stuff. Good thing, too, as I believe the gunk dislodged in the first go-around fouled my catalytic converter. I doubt it would've been covered under the 80,000 mile warranty had I done it on my own.

 

Fishbert, I may have missed it, but what is the "blue stuff"?

 

The blue stuff-


1 bottle, 16 fl. oz

It is the only cleaner that MINI approves for use in their engines. There are some special tools and proceedures that go with administering it to an engine also.

Dave

 

You can find it on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/bmw-f...Q5fAccessories

I was advised by a tech that contribues to the bobistheoilguy.com site to mix 150 ML (milliliters) of it with 400 ML gas before use as it is highly concentrated. I have used it a couple of times with my carfood.net drip feeder and it works very well with less smoke than Seafoam. However, I usually get a misfire and throw a CEL, even on other cars besides the MINI. The CEL goes away after a battery disconnect or driving an hour or so.

 

https://i.imgur.com/e3FdPl.jpg

I would caution that, after having the dealer run a bottle of the blue stuff through, my car's catalytic converter kept throwing a CEL. Replacement was covered under the federally-mandated warranty for emissions-related equipment, else it would've been over $1000 to take care of. I believe the blue stuff did such a good job of removing carbon, that the cat couldn't handle all the gunk it was receiving, and it ended up getting fouled (but that's just a guess).

So, yeah, have the dealer mess with it, unless you've got a lot more money than the rest of us.

 

If i had that much money, i would not be reading how to clean the valves myself

thanks, I might go with the brush and time method.

But i am taking my mini into the shop on wed, so will mention this to the tech.

 

what they did on mine is run the stuff "through the fogger" (don't know what that is, but it's what they said), and put the whole bottle through slowly and over a couple passes (like, half the bottle... wait a few minutes... do the rest of the bottle).

 

This is what I've been told by my SA regarding the carbon cleaning procedure on a R56 S:

This Carbon Blasting is the walnut shell machine blaster that has been mentioned here, maybe in another post. My 2007 with 25,000 will be the first or second car to use this machine at this dealer. I had them take a picture of my valves "before" blasting, I'm not sure which cylinder this is (EDIT: It's #4), and will get one "after" hopefully tomorrow. I'll edit the post when I get it. I know after seeing this "before" picture that I'm going to get a catch can on as soon as possible.

I hope this sheds some light on what dealers are doing differently. It seems they are not on the same page.

BEFORE
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cnorrick/5611289028/
AFTER
http://www.flickr.com/photos/cnorrick/5614499964/

 

so they're claiming this horrendous build-up is a normal maintenance item that you (or I should say "we") need to pay for ?

 

You should ask them if this carbon blasting machine & procedure is something new that's being rolled out by MINI USA to all dealership service bays for carbon issues on 2nd-gen R56 MCSs, or if it's just a local thing. I would love to see it available here in Arizona (never mind the perfectly valid griping about who has to pay for it).

 

That is exactly what they are saying and what I'm begrudgingly doing. I still have warranty till August and I've explained my loss of power, MPG, etc to my SA and was told the car has to throw codes and meet conditions before they will pull the intake and look at the valves. See this post https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...45-post11.html.

I just ordered a BSH Catch Can and Boost Tap to hopefully stop most of the oil vapor from getting to the valves.

There is another thread about carbon buildup that talked about the walnut media blasting machine. Let me see if I have it saved.

EDIT: Talked about in this DIY thread: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-cleaning.html

Also forget to mention that I got a bottle of the BMW "Blue Stuff" intake cleaner that I'm going to "Seafoam" style into the boost port every oil change (7,000 miles). I'm going to follow the SIM 11 02 07 procedure of diluting with gas and hope that takes care of it.

 

I can't speak to "all dealerships", but I saw the machine at a dealership in SC a few weeks ago. Was told it had just arrived and it looked like it had just been removed from packaging.

 

Up here in the Great White North, this is what I've heard at the dealership. IF you have the right documentation of complaints and the right symptoms, the dealership will remove your head (engine head!!) and send it out to be cleaned up of all the carbon fouling. It takes two weeks, you have to be under warrantee, and you get to pay for your own transportation even though it's a warrantee issue. It's also a rare occurence. But to even know that it's a possibility is f-ed up. It means that Mini knows that there's a problem.



Ok, onto a few comments about DIY-er this issue. This is the road I want to head down as once she's out of warrantee, I'm sure I'll be hearing crickets from Mini when asking for help on this issue.

The dealership will also manually remove the carbon buildup in the intake tract and on the back of the valves for a price. When I asked them about closing the valves to ensure you don't get crap down inside the bottom end of the head, apparently they remove the passenger side front wheel and can manually turn the engine over via the (?!?!) using a wrench on one of the (?!?!?!?) or some nut down in that area (That's right, I'm no mechanic !!!). I may have totally missed the boat on the explanation there, but to me that seems like the place to manually close the valves. Also, any engine experts here ?!?!??!? Will not top-dead-center close all the valves at once or .... !?!??!

To me, to keep our turbo Mini's running well off into the future, this seems to be a critical issue to document and post. A DIY-er on this with instructions and photos would be a REALLY helpful resource on this forum. Any pictures, insight or submissions would be welcome. Manual cleaning is the ONLY way to clean out the intake track buildup. Otherwise it's only a half-azz job. I also have seafoam and have read all the postings. But it just does not clean it all up. There's no easy and fast fix for this issue.


The BSH boost tap causing a pressure buildup in the crank case doesn't sound great. How serious is this as an issue !??!? I have this setup.

 

They are turning the crank with a wrench on the crank pulley nut to position the valves at top dead center on the cylinder they are cleaning. Removing the spark plugs and having the transmission in neutral make this operation much easier.

The BSH duel boost tap only blocks off one route for the crankcase vapors. The hose to the turbocharger inlet is still open, with the BSH oil catch can/dual boost port installation. The turbocharger maintains a negative pressure on the crankcase through that hose.

Dave

 

turning the engine over is just a matter of putting a wrench on the crankshaft/pulley, it's pretty easy to get at.
removing the intake manifold is actually pretty easy and the rubber gaskets are re-usable. So if Mini makes a stink or wants to charge a bunch of money, it's not necessarily a big deal, just make sure to tape off the cylinders and plug the rest of the intake tract before you get started. I'm more annoyed that Mini even with their "free maintenance" is being so f'ing difficult on this issue.
Assuming you have an air compressor, the walnut shells and a blaster can be had for about $45 (on the cheap route)..
http://www.harborfreight.com/portabl...kit-37025.html
http://www.harborfreight.com/25-lbs-...dia-92155.html
When you're all done, I'd squirt some throttle body cleaner/air/wd-40 down there just to make sure there's no walnut shell dust left chewing up your valve seals.

 

Doing the clean this weekend. Put new hot and cold side piping in yesterday and found nothing but oil in the old pipes. Installed a catch can a week ago but for got to get the boost tap. that is on order as we speak. I'm going in there with a spray bottle of sea foam and cleaning it manually. also got a brass brush to clean the intake walls. Had this done by mini 20k ago and now I'm starting to get a strange tapping noise like before. I too was told i was using bad gas... California 91 octane always chevron...... but i guess I'm using bad gas. Anyways, I'll take pics and put them up. This is going to be a 8 hr job because I'm also blowing out the inter cooler with nitrogen. Hope all goes well

 

Why are you blowing out the intercooler with nitrogen?

Dave

 

because nitrogen is a inert gas that picks up impurities and moisture. Plus with a reg i can push up to 300 psi to make sure all oil is removed.

I have a feeling a lot of oil is sitting in the IC

 

Wouldn't just washing out the intercooler with a solvent or a detergent clear the oil out better? Then you could dry it with air, which is, after all, 79% nitrogen.

Dave