.

 

I just induced the Seafoam into the intake system. I pulled off the PCV hose from the back of the valve cover and used a spray bottle to spray it into the hose. It stayed running during the entire ingestion process.

I am now in the wait period before I go restart Louise and take her for a very spirited drive to clean everything out.

 

All went very well. I let it sit for about an hour. It started up with no problems and not too much smoke. Took it for about a 15 minute HARD drive and it is a lot smoother all the way around.

The idle is super smooth now. It has better acceleration and pulls nicely. It also reduced the 1st gear start lag. I will do it again before Jan comes out to tune Louise.

 

Reading your post is making me relive the same experiences I recently had with my 07 Cooper S. 23,000 miles, check engine light came on, engine was idling rough at start up. Dealer found carbon built up.

Like you I only used premium fuel, specifically Shell.

I really think this is a manufacturing default reading from all the posts. This carbon build up in addition to the recent engine mount replacement is making me worried about the long term reliability of this great car.

BTW- my dealership was great about fixing this issue - Mini of Dallas

 

I just spent some quality time with the head service advisor at Rasmussen MINI - PDX discussing the latest timing chain tensioner repair, and since the key fob had logged a couple of misfires, their take on the cause of reported carbon build-up. He said the "bad gas" excuse doesn't make sense as the deposits, which they have seen, occurs mainly inside the combustion chambers of cylinders 3 and 4. They did note that a majority of the owners with the problem tended to be city dwellers, with short commutes and such. His suggestion was basically the "Italian tune-up" - put your foot into it on occasion, and he recommended using a quality fuel system cleaner monthly.

 

But how does this help, when the fuel is injected directly into the cylinders, never hitting the outside of the intake valves? It's pretty apparent that the problem here is PCV gunk being injected outside of the valves, where it would normally mix with the air/fuel mixture in a typical port-injected engine. But with DI, there's no fuel to keep the valves clean, and this crap builds up. Seems like a relatively simple problem to address somehow - in the design of the engine. If FI cleaner works somehow, I'd like to hear somebody knowledgeable explain it.

 

Just keep up the seafoam treatments,this applies to both MCS and MC owners .

 

My mini S is 2007 with 34k and I use only top tier gas 91 oc.
Right now my car has been in the dealership for almost 3 weeks. This is the inside of my car. This should not happen..... Serious design flaw.... :(

 

I ran clear tubing from the breather connection for three days to show what our engines are ingesting from the pcv system. Now I usually have to empty my OCC every week which consists of oil and a white foamy sludge. You folks definitely don't want this crap going through your engines. The previous post is a perfect example of how bad this pcv design is.



This was clear tubing at install.









Get yourselves some Oil Catch Cans if you plan on keeping your MINI's past warranty along with regular carbon/sludge removal treatments.

 

Looks like Jeff Spicoli's bong.

 

The Carbon build up (mine was in cylinders 3 & 4) issue has become quite concerning. I subscribe now to NAM.com because of my internet search on this subject. It has been 3 weeks now since the dealership has had my MCS '07 (auto trans.) Unbelievable - I will not be redundant, except to say that all the threads I have read are EXACTLY the same issues, symptoms and "run around." I really don't want this to be my deal breaker with my relationship with my cool little toy, but...
Fortunately they are fixing this one "just this once" for free. I will definitely be looking into a fuel additive every 3K. (instead of their recommended $400 every 3k cleaning) I will also be changing the oil when I want instead of MINI's intervals. My warranty runs out in 10K and I am now not sure I will extend the warranty. Up until this point, my MINI experience has been good. This is very disappointing.

 

My dealer said they contacted MINI UK directly and were trying to get a solvent cleaner before busting into the engine. No go - they pulled it apart anyway. Had I known, I would have added the fuel cleaner 4 5 weeks ago when the lagging started - my 2 cents

 

Is it safe to use a fuel additive in these cars? Thought I read in the owner's manual to NOT use it....

 

Fuel additive is only going to clean your fuel system and combustion chambers. You need to induce Sea Foam into the PCV system to clean the gunked up oil out of the intake tract, intake ports, and intake valves. No matter how much fuel system cleaner you dump in a direct injection engine you'll never clean the intake system without using a "Sea Foam-like" method.

 

After reading the previous threads on this, it looks as though many people have resorted to this. Perhaps "additive" is the wrong term. Looks like the "Sea Foam-like" method is important.
Question: Is the "Sea-foam-like" method something a novice and non mechanic like myself can do, or is the $400 clean up the dealership refers to?
Thanks for your thoughts

 

Install meth injection and you will never need to worry about seafoam treatments plus you will gain performance.

 

+1 billion

 

The Sea-Foam method of introducing the cleaner thru the PCV hose to clean the intake system is very similar to or the same as the $400 service offered by the dealer. Note that many independent garages offer this same service, also called a carbon depletion service or fuel induction service for between $75 and $150. Several companies make machines designed to pump the stuff through the intake system at a specific interval to clean it all up. These include BG products fuel induction service
http://www.bgprod.com/products/products.html and from goss-garage.com:

Motorvac or BG Carbon Depletion Service: Removes carbon and deposits from injectors, valves, and combustion chambers. Carbon deposits are the result of additives used in modern gasolines to keep them stable and burnable. These necessary chemicals leach out and form substantial collections of carbon. Motorvac or carbon depletion services are recommended for emissions failures, engine pinging problems, rough idle problems, hard starting, hesitation problems and as general preventive maintenance. Failure to perform this service could lead to failed emissions, various performance concerns, lowered fuel economy, engine noises and sometimes --- engine damage.

From BG:
http://www.bgfindashop.com/bgservices/fuelair.htm

[FONT=Arial]Injection Services News Video[/FONT]
[FONT=Arial]Fuel System Cleaning Video[/FONT]


Motorvac carbon clean. http://www.motorvac.com/products/CarbonCleanMCS245.html

 

Yes, it's doable, I did it with a baby syringe, though I could've done it more properly if I had had a plastic tube to work with. Just slowly add half a can of Seafoam into the PCV hose (pulls right off with a bit of convincing) while a buddy keeps the revs up (2-3k). put it all in at once, and the engine will hydrolock but if you put it in semi-slowly , the engine will bog, but not come close to stalling. Once it's all in, shut off the car immediately, let it sit for maybe half an hour, and watch the smoke show when you rev it

 

They ended up changing out my whole engine, turbo, engine wiring harness, tranny wiring harness, brand new ECU, thermostat 2-3x. Thanksgiving day the 02 sensor failed, THATS IT I QUIT. Traded it in on something else. Could not deal with a car that had to be in the shop as much as this.. There is alot going on with these engines and you are trying to circumvent the problem by using a external agent "sea foam, etc, etc." Mini has a problem with these engines and they do know what it is or they refuse to tell everyone. In addition, they just extended their contract with

http://www.motoringfile.com/2010/02/...e-development/

Something is wrong! Thats my story and I'm sticking to it.

 

What did you buy?

 

I've been going green for quite awhile, went with a Honda Insight. Pearl white, trying to pimp her out. Gonna take awhile. 41mpg during the dead of the winter here in MD. Summertime hoping for 50+. I really miss the coop though. The wife and I had alot of fun in it, lots of rally's, but in the end-she had to go. Just to many problems.

 

Meth Injection the problem solver.

 

i think we can agree that this is a major design flaw. I don't want to give up my MINI just yet, so I plan to use Seafoam or similar in the short term until the warranty is gone - then water/meth injection. I used water/meth injection on a Saab turbo years ago with lots of boost and no problems whatsoever. Had to remove the head at 35K due to a coolant leak (bad casting) and the piston crowns and valves looked like new. James Hunt's water/meth unit (RMW?) looks a bit complicated to remove for dealer visits.....or is it?

 

Can you recommend a system? I just had my cleaned and fixed.