So Charlie Victor stopped by the shop yesterday and we pulled his intake manifold to take a look-see. If you know which bolts and nuts to remove, it takes about 20 minutes to pull the factory airbox and manifold.

A little background about the car:
This well maintained 2011 R55 MCS has 12,505 mostly highway miles and it doesn't get thrashed around at the track and twisties (= not spending alot of time in stop and go traffic or elevated RPMs). It's had 3 oil changes over its lifetime and always gets 91 octane Chevron and Shell fuel. Also, keep in mind that it's a SoCal car that does not see extreme temperature variance as the seasons change (= not alot of water vapor exposure in the PCV system because it's never seen a day below ~=37 degrees F or so.)

Here are some pics of the intake valves:

Cylinder 1:


Cylinder 2:


Cylinder 3:


Cylinder 4:


Yes, even on this kindly kept MCS we have carbon buildup! Maybe a tad less than on the N14, but it's there. It's forming a porous black surface on the outside of the valves. This will likely become an uglier situation as seals, gaskets, & rings age and more vapors are introduced into the PCV system.

Do you see the PCV ports built into each intake port on the N18? It's like the spent oil vapor and blowby byproducts have an even more direct path to the valves than on the N14. The Cylinder 2 port even has some oil dripping out of it.

I installed a prototype, lower priced, N18 Oil Catch Can (OCC) that we were working-on in conjunction with BSH on Charlie Victor's car. (It was an on-again, off-again effort that was shelved for a while because we did not know if the N18 would even need this preventative maintenance item.) It's a completely reversible, easy to install mod that will greatly minimize the amount of harmful PCV system vapors available to cake on the valves.



Based on yesterday's discovery, I placed an order for more OCC's from BSH today. (BSH is doing the oil catch cans. DoS is doing the fittings that attach to the turbo inlet hose and valve cover.) We will have our new, house brand, N18 OCC kit on sale at defendersofspeed.com by early October 2012. It will retail for $215.00, but we'll be offering pre-order pricing of $200.00 (+ shipping). We will have a pre-order link up on the site next week. If you can't wait until then, drop me an email and I'll shoot you a PayPal invoice.

-Clint

P.S. DoS will have a Seafoam fogger available for the N18 coming soon as well. Should be able to have these ready by November. We got some great ideas yesterday!

 

what did you do to Charlie Victor's intake tracks/valves while the intakes were exposed? seafoam? walnut shell blasting?

are there "after" photos?

scott

 

I'll definitely be picking one up. Still only have 2100miles on the car so I might as well get it on asap

 

Well I'm sure glad I've already purchased/fitted one for my 2012.
Thought I bought something that was unneseccary...glad its not

 

Hi Scott,

We did not have time to do a cleaning that day. It didn't make sense to do so until some more carbon accumulates because it's a messy and slightly time consuming process. However, once you get the intake manifold off, it's easy to do a Seafoam soaking + scrub, Gun Cleaner soaking + scrub, or Walnut shell blast.

-Clint

 

From that first pic It seems that with the occ set up a strut tower brace will not fit.

 

Clint,
thanks for the pictures on this. Two questions:
1) with the direct pvc ports to the intakes (already discussed to death in another thread) it seems that an OCC will help but won't be anywhere near as effective as on the N14 engine. Any thoughts?

2) will you offer the fittings as a separate kit from the BSH OCC for those who want a different OCC?

 

Wow i got 30k on my n18, no wonder i feel the car a little weird and rough idling!

 

am i the only one who doesn't think that looks too terrible? i mean, seriously, at the temps that the engines run, there's no way in hell you can keep the top side of the valves from turning black. granted, CV's car only has 12k miles on it, and more miles will result in more "build up", but this looks nothing like some of those valves i've seen on some n14s. plus, if you can't plug the route from the crank back to the intake manifold, adding an occ will only get you half way there. sure, it's better than none of the way there.
i know this is impossible, but i wish i could bring my car up there for a look-see. i have 25k on my car, and live in socal, so i drive in the same climate as CV. the first 10-12k miles were city miles, and the other half have been mostly highway, since me moved out of LA and into OC. i guess time will tell how bad this problem really is.

 

check out the pics in this thread about carbon buildup. for some reason, i don't think CV's will get to that level with 3-4x's as much driving. just my guess tho.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...on-issues.html

 

Nah, it's the same location as the N14 OCC. Folks run strut tower braces all the time. If you want ~=1/2" more clearance, just mount the OCC under the alarm tab instead of on top of it.

That's a really difficult question to answer without more testing. In full disclosure, no OCC will ever get all the harmful spent oil, water vapor, and blowby mix out of the engine. The goal of a good OCC is significant reduction.

I've pulled the PCV line from the turbo inlet hose on nine N18 equipped MINIs now and they're all super oily (not light vapor residue, but dripping oil) three of them were Coupes, Roadsters, and Countrymans that came off -the lot a couple of weeks ago. This indicates one outlet for that nasty PCV system mix. An oil catch can contains this source contamination and will reduce the byproducts that can escape from the PCV ports in the cylinder head.

I want to see if DoS can find a simple way to plug the PCV ports in the head -or- design a filter for the PCV system in the valve cover. Anyone in SF want to drop their MINI at the shop for a few days?

Maybe in the future, but no direct plans to do this.

Yup, maybe . . .

 

I agree, Charlie Victor is not the worst case scenario for carbon buildup. His maintenance habits and care to not beat on the engine alone will probably not allow quite this level of buildup to happen at 40K.

However, carbon builds in layers. The foundation is definitely there and that vapor loves to stick to rough surfaces like castings that are not constantly bathed in a solvent like gasoline or water-meth.

I also agree that time will tell. . .

-Clint

 

Could a head cover gasket be made with the holes to the intake port blocked off?

That would have the same effect as blocking off the PCV hose on an N14 engine.

Dave

 

Interesting idea, maybe a valve cover gasket could be made. Maybe it's even simpler than that. Sounds like it's time to start playing.

Just got to pull a valve cover and dig a little deeper into that cylinder head to see what's the best fit.

 

You know Clint, I was toying with an idea last week to help out with the oil buildup problem. I think, when used in conjunction with a catchcan, it might prove highly effective. It is really quite simple, but often overlooked. Not sure of the implications of it, but you may be able to chime in on it. How about using the Seafoam in the oil, like it says you can do? They say it prevents sludge buildup, etc. Wouldn't it help in this instance as well? Thanks in advance for your insight.

 

You benefit from adding Seafoam to your oil if you have a car that's suffering from deferred regular maintenance or you're getting sludge inside your engine & its moving components. Even though they do burn some oil as seals, gaskets, and piston rings age, this never been an issue on MINIs that get regular oil changes (at 4K to 7K mile intervals with synthetic oil).

Carbon buildup is a different issue than engine sludge, so DoS does not recommend adding it to your oil.

-Clint

 

Yes, I do understand that the carbon build up issue is different than sludge in the oil. My thinking was, that maybe the same compounds that prevent the buildup of sludge, would also prevent the buildup of carbon from the oil vapors, as well.

Thanks for taking the time to reply Clint!

 

I have the boost tap currently installed in full-block mode and am possibly doing a reconsider. I am prob going to install a second OCC since I have several already and then observe what the effect (or lack of effect) really is, since I am beginning to suspect that excessive sump pressure is being generated. The N14 had two pipes for a reason and think I'm possibly seeing some valve cover gasket outgassing because of it, If I go this route I will try to post observations.

 

With or w/o a Boost Tap, the N14's valve cover gasket is prone to leaking. The material that BMW/Peugeot selected for the gaskets is not as heat and chemical resistant as it should be.

There are quite a few threads discussing this valve cover gasket leaking and dual oil catch cans on NAM and other forums. You should probably re-post on a thread discussing the N14 engine. This thread pertains to the newer N18 engine found on the 2011+ MCS.

 

What would happen if you just ran the PCV hose to the atmosphere?

 

It would make a mess, depending on how you routed it, and the EPA will kill a kitten for every day that you ran it that way.

 

That's the way they did it before '68. They ran a pipe under the car and called it a draft tube. The air running past the end of the tube drew the crankcase vapors out.

Dave

 

My 2012 JCW has an N14 engine right? I have 2400 miles. Do you feel that putting an OCC on my car would eliminate any buildup in the future? I thought I read Way sat that our turbo cars do not benefit from the catch cans like the supercharged did.

 

There are several threads here that discuss this topic. If I just spent the money on a new JCW, $200 for a catch can seems like a good insurance plan. IMO, I can't see the down side, except for the $$$.

Mike

 

I think it would benefit for sure to purchase a OCC. There's no negative to having it. I'm at 37K on my MCS and I'm about to check for Carbon buildup and clean it all off if the valves are covered. I will purchase the OCC for sure after that point.