Bought my r56 used with 35,000 miles on her. I'm now at 45,000 and she still runs great. I have changed the oil every 4 to 5 thousand miles but have not performed many other maintanence jobs. One thing I Was thinking about is SeaFoam through the PCV Hose like I learned on this site.What do yall think? Just wondering what the best preventiative maintanence is at this miliage? Thanks

 

I wouldn't really worry about that. I'd definitely check out to see if you need to do a coolant flush and brake flush. I don't know what year you have but it does make a difference if its a 2007-2009.

 

It's a 2008 r56. Some are saying Seafoam is a great way to get rid of the carbine build up which the r56 collects a lot. Thanks for the advice.Which one is more important to get done first? Still kinda a newbie.

 

+1 to the coolant and brake flush. thats really all you have to worry about at the moment. I blieve its 60000 is when the spark plugs and belt are recommended to be changed. you might check your engine air and cabin air filters. carbon cleaning is good to do on the regular. i dont know if the seafoam is the best thing to do but carbon is super common on the r56 so keeping up on that is always good.

 

if you are not noticing any proplems with performance then seafoam is probably okay. especially if you do it often. it is supossed to help prevent the build up. If you are noticing issues though then seafoam probably wont work and you will have to actually get in there and clean it. I do seafoam atleast once a year and i have 52000 miles on my 07 MCS and i have had no issues related to carbon yet.

 

Are you going through the pvc hose on then back of the manifold? That''s what im planning on but im worried about it.

 

yes thats what i went through. Your engine will run a little rough and it seems a little scary but its all good.

 

Well I did it! Smoked like CRAZY!!! It was very scary but it was easy to do and it's a little more responsive now (Beyond the regular placebo effect). Thanks for you response. Made me feel better having someone on board who has actually done it, instead of theorist.

 

How are those H&R Lowering springs working out for you? I'v been thinking of having some lowering springs installed but haven't researched them yet. MINI really screwed us on the ride height in the r56.

 

Just curious but have you pulled the intake manifold off and actually inspected your valves for carbon buildup? How bad does it look?

It is a given that with the DI engine you will have carbon buildup. I cannot prove that Seafoam does or doesn't work. But I tried it and it did make smoke and made the engine run rough. I didn't seem to make a difference on performance and when I had the car walnut blasted for my valves looked like this after 100,000 miles.
I also included a clean valve shot.

This was the first cleaning that my car had. It was at 100,000 miles on my 2009 JCW.

 

I have not pulled off my valves to actually inspect. what i was saying is that i have not had any performance issues related to carbon, EX. rough idle, loss of power or anything like that or it dying on me. i dont know if my intake has carbon or not but my car is runing great and i do the seafoam often. i have since done a pcv delete on the intake side too, so im hoping to not have any carbon related issues in the future.

 

I love the look of that the lowering springs gave it, it did make the ride a little rougher then it already was. that was just my experience. i didnt mind it though because it was just way to high the way stock.

 

If you don't me asking around how much did the install cost? I really want to do it but haven't got a price yet. It seems like installs are often more than the parts.

 

it wasn't horrible but i dont know for your area. i went to a shop up here that does mini service specificaly and i paid 350 total. that included parts and labor.

 

HMMM, my mcs 2007 has 63k miles on it (bught used). Definitely have seafoam on the list of things to do. The coolant is the prestone orange color so I'm pretty sure its been replaced at some point. Might want to flush it before end of summer just so I know when it was done.
About brake fluid flushing, how hard is that? Would I benefit from drawing out the fluid from the reservoir and replacing what I sucked out?

 

If you find out let me know. I'm new to the brake flush as well so im not sure. Seafoam is great. Highly recommended. Just don't let the smoke scare you.

 

Heres a link to a NAM Thread concerning brake fluid changes but it doesnt say how to do it.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...uid-flush.html

 

A brake flush is pretty easy with 2 people. There a plenty of YouTube videos to follow. Most cars work the same way.

In a nutshell:
Work from the farthest wheel from the driver seat.
Put the car up on jack stands and remove wheels.
Empty the reservoir and refill (keep it full by checking often during process)
Put a hose on the bleed screw and run it into a container
Open bleed screw and have partner push and hold brake pedal down
Close bleed screw. Partner releases pedal.
Repeat last two steps over and over until new clear fluid comes out or about 15 repetitions and no bubbles. KEEP THE FLUID FILLED.
Move to the next farthest wheel away until done with all four wheels.
Fill the reservoir. DONE

It helps to have a brake wrench (open end, but with more faces), but the closed end of a wrench works just fine but more of a hassle to position it.

 

[QUOTE=Mini2na;3756346]A brake flush is pretty easy with 2 people. There a plenty of YouTube videos to follow. Most cars work the same way.

Thanks for the advice! Thats what I thought but wasn't sure if that was the only thing to do.