This is the kind of detail that I am talking about. I would not jump the motor electrically. I much prefer to turn it by hand. That hidden bolt is another precious detail. Great post.

 

is this the kind of thing that a oil catch can would prevent?

 

Prevent? Not really.

Slow? Yes.

 

texasmontego, thanks for your awesome guide and irontree thanks for you add on about the 10mm bolt and how to crank the engine without using the ignition.

I followed all steps and cleaned the carbon successfully. Then afterwords installed my new BSH catch can and boost tap.

 

So from what I gather all R56 S models will needs this sort of thing at some point and time? If this is correct who pays for this and the walnut method, ie is the a warranty item if its still in warranty?

 

It probably depends on your dealer whether or not they perform a carbon cleaning under warranty. I just had mine in and they performed the cleaning because I was complaining about some rough idling and a few losses of power while accelerating. They found a superknock code so they pulled my manifold and cleaned the carbon. I’m hoping the superknock was from the carbon and not my HPFP.

I haven’t had time to run it hard recently to see if all problems are gone, but it does run noticeably smoother.

As soon as I was home from the dealer, I removed the passenger side PCV tube and fitted the OEM Peugeot caps I got from Czar. The other PCV tube has a BSH catch can on it. Time will tell if this setup helps.

 

Stumbled onto this post and figured I'd add something as I'm doing this cleaning now. If you're in search of a good small brush to use, I found that gun cleaning brass brushes and bore-mops (common rifle sizes) work great, and thread right onto the end of the gun rod. You can pick them up for under 3.00 usually.

On another note, Seafoam treatment absolutely does not work to remove deposits, only MAYBE to help maintain once they are clean. I ran two bottles of seafoam through and then disassembled and they were some of the nastiest valves I've seen in any pictures so far (70K miles).

 

I'm in the process of doing the carbon cleaning now and wanted to know what the best way to confirm no sea foam made it past the intake valve and into the combustion chamber while it was soaking. I want to make 100% sure there is no way I'm going to hydro lock the engine if some sea foam made it past the valve when i was soaking them. I was very careful and don't think its going to be a problem but I'm unsure how to confirm this.

 

Remove the plugs. You won't hydro-lock it...don't worry. The outer two valve runners open nearly the same time...the inner two do as well. As long as the outers are open, the inners are closed. Remember that even when you are 75% done with cleaning one runner, you need to open the valve to get around the edges anyways, flush, and blow out with air, so you will get a small amount of carb clean down on the piston. That's fine though, with the plugs removed it will evaporate quickly. I use a vacuum pump to suck the nasty fluid out of the runner when I'm done scrubbing.

Also...I wouldn't use seafoam for the cleaning. It's too expensive and won't work nearly as well as Acetone / carb clean. Go to home depot and buy a can of acetone. You'll need to fill each runner at least 3 times and one bottle of seafoam will barely do that. After a few flushes, then you can switch to carb clean, swab, then open the valves and finish it off. I've got some more tips in a recent post I put up.

 

Your not saying to flush and blast air over the valve while it's open are you? I thought it was extremely bad to get anything below the intake valve.

 

Sure..you want to limit anything getting into the combustion chamber...shop rags, dirt, carburetor return springs (BTDT). The fact is you can't thoroughly clean the very edge of the valve without opening the valve up and getting the brush up against it, thus, you are going to have a very small amount of carbon enter in. The brass brush does a good job picking up a lot of the loose carbon, but the amount that would enter the combustion chamber is minimal. Once I opened the valve, I brushed the edges, swabbed the valves with a few wet swatches, put a few quick sprays of carb clean down, and blasted it out with air (with the plugs out). If you are uber concerned...take a small length of small diameter fuel hose (approx 5/16) and duct tape it to the end of a shop vac hose...then feed the hose down the spark plug hole while you twist it around in there. Make sure all your carb clean has evaporated though (boom!).

Ask yourself...if Seafoam really did what people think it should do when sucked through the intake while the car is running...which is break up all the carbon and send it out...where exactly is it going? Down into the combustion chamber, and out the exhaust valves...and hopefully not lodge in the cat...the same place it would be going when you open the valve and get a small amount of carbon dust drop ontop of the piston. The Seafoam trick is derived from giving your car a "water drink" which is popular in older cars to break up carbon in the combustion chambers and on top of the pistons, where a rich running carb would cake the chamber full. You simply pour small amounts of water straight down the carb (I'm not kidding) and the cool water (not enough to hydrolock or anything crazy) hits the super hot carbon in the combustion chamber and shatters it, sending it out the exhaust valves (youtube it). It essentially "steam cleans" the combustion chamber. This is evident when you tear down a car that's got a leaking headgasket, and the combustion chamber where the leak is is bone clean, as are the valves. The problem on the Mini's is that the carbon is deposited behind the intake valves, where it is much cooler and there's simply not enough flow of Seafoam (or water for that matter...or hot enough to make the water steam) to be able to break up the massive amount of carbon that's in there. Preventative maybe...solution no.

 

Thanks! I feel much better about what I'm doing now.

 

Ok so i finished with the center 2 valves and they look good. Now i'm having a hard time figuring out when the outer 2 valves are closed, theres just too much carbon to tell. Any tricks for this?

 

Watch the inner 2 sets of valves....when they are open, or one fully open (I believe they are slightly off from each other), the outer 2 are closed.

The outer two work close to each other, as do the inner two...so when one is open, the other ones are closed.

 

http://www.flickr.com/photos/2178141...45807163/show/

Here's what your head/valves can look @ 90k miles if never treated. I was never told by MINI or anyone that these cars were arteriosclerotic, and I've been off warranty and maintaining myself since before the DI engines were identified as genetically inclined. Now I've got the head off to replace a burned exhaust. Since I had to remove head and one cam, I took the liberty of getting medieval on Stuart's valves with my soda blaster. Exhaust valves required a 3M wheel to clean. I'm looking forward to the improved breathing that's been slowly restricted over time.

 

Cheez louise that's a lot of coking in those ports!

that tells me you have another problem, a lot of oil is getting into your intake tract - you need to figure out why. It's usually from too high of crankcase pressure - ie clogged or broken PCV system.

 

I think it looks about as I would expect at 90k miles, based on what mine looked like at around 50k. Some great photos, Karl... makes me itch even more for an electric.

 

Yep...mine were close to that bad...minus all the broken valve bits and such. Good news is once back on the road it drove great. I used to never be able to drive it not being in sport mode because it would buck and stumble when I stomped on it. Now, it's fine...and runs even better in sport mode.

 

The head on my '08 was removed and reconditioned completely. But still idles off sometimes. Must be a leak somewhere. Never been able to figure that one out

 

Wow!! I should modify my post title, because you have cleaned the valves the right way. Good job

 

That's one of the nicest pieces of technical documentation I have seen in a long while - thanks.

I would only add one more caution - after all is said and done, change the oil and filter.

Just a precaution, but of a valve is not fully closed a fair bit of carb cleaner could find its way to the sump.

Kind regards,

Charlie

 

karl, did you get it all back together yet?

 

Subscribed.
Thanks for the great info and discussion.

 

awesome directions, had no problem. it was a pain to turn the engine tho. thanks for the write up. also if someone is thinking about doing this project but doesnt have an air compressor i rented one from a rental place, it was only 25 bucks for the whole.

 

Would this work on a 2011 MCS manifold too?