My 2008 MCS has just over 60k miles, and as far as I can tell, has never had its intake valves cleaned. Using some very good write ups I found here and other fan sites I was able to to do the cleaning myself. Total time invested maybe 6 hours, total money invested about $80.

This is NOT a hard project, the biggest hurdle is getting over the anxiety of taking off your intake to dig deep into the internals of your MINI. I have almost no experience is tearing down engines, and have never done anything more advanced than replacing a water pump or alternator.

I would like to thanks Texasmontego for his write up on how to take the intake off. and how to clean the intakes w/ carb cleaner and brushes. I also would like to thank gawanamini for his write up on the tools you need to buy and the process of walnut blasting.

I actually endedup using both meathods. After blasting It seemed like there was walnut poweder on the runners, where it has stuck to the oil residue on the walls. Also I guess my build up was so bad, there were areas the walnut shell was not clealing effectively. Using a long thin flat blade screwdriver very very gently, I was able to scrape the larger pieces off, and used a brush to clean things a little better. Here are some before and after pics.

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Man, thats ugly
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Much better.

I wanted to add one thing that I feel both DIY's touched too lightly on. While removing the intake assembly, on the bottom is a knee brace that can only (as far as I could tell) be removed by taking off the passenger side wheel, and using a long extension, or in my case, every extension I owned daisy chained together. I had to lay on the floor to access it. The bolt is difficult to see, much less remove, but with a little patience I got it. Here is a pic to help any who run into the same problem.
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Also I fabricated my tools a little different. The flange I made is a different shape. Here are pic of that.
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The wood flange can be flipped over to match the bolts and has a notch cut from the corner to fit the two end cylinders.

Everything went well and the results were great. The car runs smoother and has better pickup.

Hope this helps anyone thinking about doing this themselves.

 

Kmason, You did a beautiful job and have taken some of the best pictures I've seen. Tell us what you used to take these pics. Thanks

 

I used an app on my galaxy S3 called Magnifier. I meant to put that in my post. It lets you zoom in with the led light on, and has a button to refocus when you get really close. I almost bought an inspection camera, but thought I would try this. It worked beautifully and took very clear pics, and saved me another $100
I also meant to post the links to the two DIY write ups that I used. Here they are.

 

I managed to get the "Knee Brace" bolt off by leaning over the engine and using a 1/4" drive socket, extension etc to remove / fit. Was a tad difficult, but not to bad. I used Mr Muscle Cooker Cleaner on the carbon deposits. Used very little elbow grease as it worked wonders, all i have to do was wipe away the sticky black residue. The great thing about oven clear was I had some alrdy, so it cost me nothing to do the job

One thing, i did not replace the blue silicone gaskets for the inlet manifold. I must go check for air leaks as its really bad practice not to replace things like this.

Tab

 

thats shameful! how a modern engine can look like that in this day and age, is ridiculous! VERY NICE WORK!

 

I wish you had of taken before and after photos you might have doubled the sales of Mr Muscle. Or MINI can rebrand it and sell it to us for 5x the price.

 

So I want to revive this thread, because I can't open the link to modifying the nozzle on the HF media blaster, how is this done KmasOn? Or really if anyone has any valid working links to that part of the process I would appreciate it. Also if anyone in Maryland is looking for advice or whatnot on how to do this, I would gladly provide that in a week or 2 once my tools arrive and I do it myself (hopefully with some actual success). Thanks for the help in the meantime!

 

Missed this a few months ago - nice addition KMas0n. Thanks thininmini.

 

Thinkinmini, I clicked on my links and at least for me, they are still valid. It is not a link to a new web page, but a pdf. Your browser might need permission to open it. If you have any questions, i'm happy to help

 

I might want to check this out. Where in Maryland are you? Just bought a house with two garages about 20 min west of Baltimore, and I don't feel like driving to Philly once a year to get this done. Lol.

 

I'm in Sykesville. I haven't gotten my package from harbor freight yet in the mail but I'm hoping it'll come today or tomorrow, and I can work on it sunday. Depending on my results, my follow up posts could range from "job well done" to "well, everything's on fire"

 

Hahaha. Awesome. Lived in Sykesville for a few years. Moving back to Finksburg in about a month. If it works, I'd love to learn the process.

 

Ah yeah I've got a few friends that live in Finksburg. I can definitely offer some pointers in a week or so after I've done it myself.