shreksbrother: What year is your MINI?

My mechanic is convinced that the combustion chamber build up happened before I bought it (40K miles ago). I'm not so sure. I've had 3 induction services during that time, and the back of the valves still looked like an abused BBQ when the CEL went on for this last issue.

 

Same as yours, just a different color. I bought mine just a few thousand miles ago. My priority was the clutch, which I replaced within a few weeks of purchasing it (thankfully I noticed the issue when test driving).

I picked up a cool boroscope (for doing the intake walnut shells) that I'm going to drop down each spark plug opening to see what the combustion chamber looks like.

If mine looks like yours, the car will be traded in!