I have been doing business with MAG for 15 years. No problems, great customer service and responsive to my needs. Also no carbon problems with any of the 4 MINI's I've owned. Drive it like you stole it instead of driving like it's an economy car.

 

Mini of Cincinnati gave my 08 MCS a walnut shell blasting after replacing a bad thermostat, all under warranty. I had about 45k miles on the car at the time. It made a huge difference. I believe my Mini WAS suffering from carbon build up, but I also know that the bad thermostat caused flooding of the engine (I was forced to drive the car for quite a while with the bad thermostat). I don't know if this is what you were looking for, except that, yes, I had problems with carbon build up, and the dealer did fix the problem, no charge. I expect to have to pay for the procedure next time (~$100-$150 if i remember right), though hopefully I won't have to do it more than every 50k miles or so. With the performance I get from this car, I can live with that.

 

I could be wrong but I don't think you can get walnut shell blasting for $100-150. I have seen numerous posts of folks looking at $400 or more.

If you think of hourly labor rates, it would be awful hard to perform that task for that kinda money.

My $0.02

 

I'm going to rant a little and this isn't soley aimed at the OP. This is a perfect example of owners thinking that engines or vehicles should work flawlessly from the date of purchase without ever spending any money or effort to maintain them. The minute something goes wrong that might cost time, money or energy, and that it's anything other than tires or oil changes, they scream out "design flaw" and expect the manufacture to pick up the cost.
Engines are tools and tools have to be maintained if you want them to continue to work effectively. Oil, coolant, grease, they all have to be checked and changed from time to time. Just add valve cleaning to the list. It's the cost of ownership.
All DI engines have carbon buildup. It's an engineering fact and those people that claim they've never had it on their 70K mile vehicle haven't removed their intake manifold to look at the valves.

Bottom line is if you want your vehicle to continue working at top performance, then it's up to you. You need to listen, look and pay attention to your vehicle and do what it takes to keep it performing. For you to think the manufacturer or dealership is going to pick up the cost is just a pipe dream. It's our car, you bought it and at the end of the day it's still your car.

 

texasmontego

Wow, I think you are serious. The issue is, that not a peep was mentioned about valve cleaning, look in your owners manual, where is the procedure for maintaining the valves?

There is none.

Lets look at your logic...

A problem with carbon buildup is present and known, can lead to severe engine damage if not addressed, causes CEL. Even minor misfire is bad for emmisions and enviroment. (think of the thousands of Mini's sending unburned gas into the world).

And you think that it should not be mentioned, by dealer or MINI, until it happens to you?


Not that long ago the timing belt was a new system, Look in any owners manual for the timing belt replacement schedule.

Holy Cow it is there.

 

+1 for MAG

My son purchased his 09 Clubman S in Indianapolis because we didn't have a MINI dealership in Louisville yet. He now is in Columbus at Ohio State and has received excellent service from MAG.

As MINI owners we are all "early adopters" of DI technology, and as such should expect some issues. As manufacturers look to create vehicles with better and better fuel economy, DI will become commonplace. Hopefully as more and more DI engines are developed, some of the design issues related to this will be improved or resolved.

 

Please tell him to stop by the Tim Horton's in New Albany the 3rd Saturday of every month at 8:30am for donuts with Mid-Ohio Motoring, the Columbus MINI Club. (sorry for the thread-jack).

 

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