My 08 Clubman S has 54K miles. I purchased 2 years ago with 27K miles. It has very slight fluctuation at idle, usually just when cold. No Check engine lights that I can recall under my ownership. Had it at the dealer and told them about it. They feel the valves need cleaning because of the age and low mileage. Also they said there was a "camshaft timing" code that they think may have been related to a low oil condition. Usually I try make sure the car is fully driven to warm up before making short trips. Thoughts?

 

My 2009 Clubman S had a lot of buildup on the intake valves at the same mileage. I had them walnut blasted. I noticed improved throttle response (engine responded quicker to pedal adjustments, able to make smaller throttle adjustments) and perhaps 5-10 horsepower increase (butt dyno). I cannot say I noticed any fluctuation in idle afterwards, but I do notice that the tune I am using via my AccessPort causes some fluctuation in idle compared to the stock tune.

 

It appears that there is a good probability that your intake valves have not been blasted. If this is the case, you should have them cleaned regardless of any symptoms or codes. It's basically routine maintenance on N14's.

 

Can some of you that have had this done at a dealer or at an independent shop tell us what the cost was ? Seems to be labor intensive.

 

just helped an owner with this issue in southeast Florida

his local dealer wanted $900

a local mech' he trusts wanted $750

I was able to point to a very popular BMW and MINI guy who asks $300 ......

if you have the equipment this is a job that takes less than an hour btw .....

don't believe me, search for the DIY thread here on NAM .....

yep, if you have a decent compressor and shop vac the 'special tools' to do this job cost around $100 and after that your cost is about $3 per job for blast materials .....

but you get charged WHAT?????

 

^^^^ This sounds like what I've seen before....the time consuming part is removing and reinstalling the intake manifold...and even that isn't very time consuming.

 

Just cleaned my '10 JCW - PO (original) had let it go so long the #2 intake valves were not seating. Since it wasnt done before it progressed - I had to pull the head to clean. 9 hour job + new head gasket.
Much much easier to walnut blast before that point.

Dont forget a decent catch can. Wont eliminate the build up, but will slow it down!

 

I was reading through this and was wondering if this should be done on a Non-S Cooper? Someone mentioned it's recommended for a N18, so that's what made me curious about my N12.

 

Shouldn't be needed. Your car is port injected vs direct inject on the N18.

 

I bought a compressor, media tank, walnut shell media, and the "special tools" and still came out ahead. Unfortunately I bought the fine walnut shells in Germany (where I live) and it's so fine I felt like I as soda blasting. It took a bit of time, but was finally able to clean everything up. And now I have a couple of new tools for other things...or so I tell my wife.

 

I recently had my 2010 JCW walnut blasted at 46,000 miles. It was misfiring and ran badly with noticeable hesitation. It now runs like new. It was a major improvement across the board.

 

I did my valves a couple of years ago. It wasn't really hard. It did take me more than an hour (maybe 3) to complete but I was unfamiliar with working on the Mini and took my time following a write-up I found here step by step. I had all of the tools I needed except the blasting attachment for my compressor. I ordered that part from http://www.bimmerhelp.info/Buy_Blasting_Tools.html I have a Harbor Freight 5 minutes from the house so I was able to get the correct walnut media quickly and cheaply.