Hello Mini Gang need a bit of info how many miles is average for the intake service and how often do you need this service "THANKS" in advance yours truly MINIINHD

 

The only intake service I'm aware of is walnut blasting the intake valves because these engines burn lots of oil vapor causing intake valves to get filled with carbon deposits. Remember since these Mini's are direct injection there's no gas related deposits to form on the intake valves.

 

If it is the walnut shell blasting you are speaking of, I believe it is recommended at 60K, but many have had to have it done earlier and some have gone beyond 100K. It depends on how you drive and the trips you make.

It is thought that a catch can and PCV block help slow the build up on the '07-10 R56S.

 

I did mine at 51,000 then again at 103,000. In between I added sea form. They said the build up was minimal at 103

 

Only S models, because non turbo MINIs are port injection... they do not require walnut blasting... just to clarify for anyone reading who is trying to figure it all out.

There is not a carbon buildup problem in non turbo MINIs.

 

This is a great forum, lots of knowledge for someone like me who has just had his Cooper for three days. Funny thing - I went 40 pages deep into this subforum before finding out that the non "S" Mini's do not require the walnut shell clean up or seafoam, I had got myself into such a snit trying to figure out where to get this done and it turns out I have the non turbo model!

 

That will probably save you timing chain problems mostly associated with the turbo models but can affect non-turbos also. That requires staying on top of the timeing chain slack and listening for cold start up rattle.
Just keep a close eye on your oil and coolant levels, service when due and you should be alright.

 

I live in SW Washington and a lot of local shops over a version of the seafoam treatment. where it difers from what i have seen on here though is they use a kind of drip device. its basically a cansiter that they feel with the cleaner that the plug into the pcv line and it has a valve that they can moniter the amount of cleaner entering the pcv lines. basically they just let it drizzle in slowly. also the engine doesnt run rough this way becasue the pcv line is completly plugged. i wish i had one of these devices to use for my seafoam treatment. it makes it was easier haha. its basically a seafoam treatment but with a different cleaner then seafoam and they charge like 120$ dollars to do it. i have had a difficult time finding a place to do the walnut blasting here. the only place i can find is the mini dealership accross the bridge in Portland OR. every local shop here just wants to do the chemical cleaning.

 

From what I've read, the chemical cleaning dosent work as well as an actual mechanical cleaning (walnut blasting). However I'm sure it would slow the carbon build process a little.
My thought would be that a catch can would be most effective in slowing the build up. That combined with the "chemical treatment" could give you more time between the walnut blastings.

 

thats what i was hoping too. i did the chemical cleaning with a pcv delete on the passenger side and a catch can on the drivers side. im hoping this will work because i really dont want to take it to a dealer and dish out a crap load of money to have them do a walnut blast.

 

That's why I posted about it, because it took me a while and a lot of worry before I figured that out, too. There are a lot of maintenance and breakdown problems that our non turbos don't have. Also a lot of things that went wrong with the first Generation cars, don't go wrong with the second Gen. Always ask first if you are confused, the forum is dominated by turbo owners and it's easy to fall into thinking that we will have the same issues. Mostly, we won't. :-) HURRAH for 'Justa Coopers'! We love our two.

 

TREX, as far as timing chain issues, I have failed to find one definite instance of timing chain failure in a non S. if you are aware of one, I would be interested to hear about it. However, watching your oil level and cleanliness is ALWAYS important. :-)

 

[QUOTE=jordan.burks;3758237 i wish i had one of these devices to use for my seafoam treatment. it makes it was easier haha. its basically a seafoam treatment but with a different cleaner then seafoam and they charge like 120$ dollars to do it. i have had a difficult time finding a place to do the walnut blasting here. the only place i can find is the mini dealership accross the bridge in Portland OR. every local shop here just wants to do the chemical cleaning.[/QUOTE]

You can do the SLOW Seafoam application treatment using a BSH boost tap. Blocking off the passenger side PCV tube is important on the '07-'10 R56S to slow the build up of carbon, but the added advantage to the boost tap is that you can use it to slowly add Seafoam. I hooked up a tube with bead shoved in the end of it to narrow the orifice. I then use the tube/bead to slowly suck the Seafoam into the PCV pipe. By regulating how close the bead is to the surfaced of the Seafoam it actually atomizes the liquid. It takes ~10 minutes to add 1/3 of a can.

I have not done the walnut shell blasting yet, but as a dealer alternative try: http://www.madnessmotorworks.com/ or http://www.thejagshop.com/

 

When researching whether to buy a base or S Mini I did run accross a few (addmitedly very few) instances of base models that had timing chain problems.
I also came across a web site that had records of vairious problems reported on Mini's broken down by year and distingguishing whether they were the base, S or JWC model. I did find on this site that there were a few base models who reported timing chain issues(again admitedly very few in relation to the S and JWC models). I cannot for the life of me find that web site again, so you can believe me or not.
The problem with searching for timing chain issues is that every one is concentrating on the S models, but base models are out there to be found. It's just very hard to find them.
Here is one I found on youtube.


In this video you will find where the guy had the timing chain fail, replaced it but still had some noise that he was tring to figure out and was asking for any input from viewers.
Another Mini Base owner responded that he also had timing chain problems on his base model.
I'm not at all trying to be an alarmist, only to educate those Mini Base owners out there that it might be prudent to keep an eye out for this problem as preventive maintenance.

 

That's very interesting, thank you. It would be great to know if those two cars ran really low on oil, or whether there was some other unusual problem with them. They would both have the N12 engines. I might put a call in to a MINI mechanic with tons of experience, to see what his take is on the timing chains for base models.