Yeh, good point I guess.

Also, when removing the intake manifold, what do I need to unplug from the bottom of the manifold, and how do I do it? As I found it hard to remove the inlet manifold by tilting it to the back of the bay, and I didn't wanna break anything

 

Is it only the S models that have the carbon issues? I have a non S 2010 Cabrio, and was just wondering if I am going to have all of these carbon issues!

 

Does anyone have a 42DD catch installed in a JCW stock engine compartment? Where can it be put so there's room and good hose access. I'd like to go this route, but am keeping stock intake etc.

Thanks

 

Hey Hoopty, in your instructions you said you turned the engine over to align the valves. How? with the start button?

 

only a problem with direct injection engines.
only the MCSs and JCWs are direct injection engines.

 

yes. That's how I did it.

I used a toothbrush and some Subaru Upper Engine Cleaner, and an air compressor, and I got a lot of the gunk out, but I couldn't clean the valves properly, as the toothbrush didn't have any bristles that were vertical :(

Also did a BMW fuel injection system carbon cleaning. Nothing helped with my problem

 

So here's the proff that Sea Foam works. I replaced the intake manifold this weekend with the redesigned R56 intake manifold for the 2007-2010 MINIs. Here are the pictures of my intake valves:














I forwarded these pictures to the dealer and they were surprised at to how clean they were. I have probably done the Sea Foam treatment about 15 times since October 2009.

My MINI has over 63,000 miles on it.

 

It looks like you've got some buildup in there, but much less than I'd expect to see at 60k+ miles. How many miles did you have on it before doing any seafoam treatments? I suspect what you show and what I've shown work to confirm what some have theorized in here; that seafoam will do very little to remove caked on carbon, but starting early and doing treatments often is where it would help.

 

I started at about 37K miles. With the newly designed intake manifold you can inject Sea Foam or any other cleaner right into the intake ports. This should make any cleaning a lot more effective.

After getting the MINI back together and running I slowly induced carburetor/choke cleaner directly into the intake ports on the head for about 5 minutes. I suspect whatever buildup remained was greatly reduced.

Here's a pic of the new manifold designed for the 2007-2010 R56.

 

Scott,
Do you have a picture of the old one that shows the dif? whats the new part number?

 

That hose assembly pictured above is not on the old manifold. With the old manifold the PCV line from the valve cover connects at the bottom of the intake manifold directly accross from the throttle body. This allows for moisture and or ice build up in very cold weather.


Old Manifold

 

Oh, that looks very interesting.
Do you know when it came out, and do you have a part number or price?

One concern I have with it is that those hoses look much more restricting than the previous one.

 

The part number is 11-61-4-584-240 (11614584240) and the price after the 20% discount will be around $326.00

It is a brand new item that is flying off the shelves right now.

 

Thanks.

I might point out to everyone that we don't know if this change was intended to address carbon buildup issues or some other problem (like the water/ice concern you mentioned earlier). It may end up not helping with carbon at all.

Looks a little more difficult to hook an OCC up to as well.

 

Good point fishbert. This will not help the carbon build up issue at all. It's made to help reduce or eliminate throttle body icing and freezing.

It will however get your carbon removal treatment chemical soup injected directly into the intake ports on the head instead of dumping the solution at the bottom of the intake manifold where it's waiting on a stiff breeze to whip it up the intake ports.

I would also recommend that what ever chemical solution you inject, do so at a slower rate and smaller volume over a longer time period. When it's injected into the new intake manifold, it's only a couple of inches away from the valves.

 

serious, that's not a home-mod ?
I'm definitely hitting up the dealership next week !

Should also ask, has anyone had any luck getting it replaced under warranty ? I've been in a few times complaining about the carbon buildup.

 

i'm just curious...

why so much focus on the intake valves and non on the exhaust valves? simply easy of access? or is the problem isolated to the intake side?

why is there so much carbon on the back side of intake valves?, is it ALL from oil blow by? is oil misting onto the valves, and then transient heat cooking it onto the valve stems and such?

if the intake side is this bad, shouldn't the exhaust side be much worse? since it has fuel as well as burned oil?


and how come you don't hear of euro mini owners complaining about this problem?

 

On a non-direct-injection engine the intake valves are washed off with a squirt of fuel every time they open, but that doesn't happen on a DI engine. The oil comes from a number of places, the PCV breather system before and after the turbo via the hoses from the valve cover, from leaking seals in the turbo, and from around the valve-stem seals in the head. It's perfectly normal for an engine to produce a bit of oil like this, especially when Mini recommends a very thin full-synthetic oil and tells people they only need to change it every 18k miles !! (that's another story). You don't really need to have any blow-by in the engine to end up with massive carbon buildup on the valves, but if you do have blow-by it would definitely make the situation worse.

The exhaust valves don't normally get carbon buildup, especially in a very lean running engine so they're not a big deal. If you're getting carbon buildup on the exhaust valves, there's probably something very wrong with your engine.

I'm almost surprised the aftermarket companies aren't selling their meth kits with a seafoam/meth solution as a maintenance addon

(note: I don't seafoam and a water/methanol solution would actually mix and work properly, but the water/methanol by itself would probably clean the valves nicely)

 

Not really.

 

Oh, that's a bummer, a squirt bottle with a bit of water down the carburator works great to get rid of carbon in the combustion chamber, I guess this stuff's a little gooey'r maybe add some Joy dish soap to the methanol ? It was good enough to clean up the Gulf Coast and the Exon Valdez oily messes.


(probably another poor idea, don't actually try this)

 

Interesting thread. I have an MCS on order. I am wondering what if anything I should do right away to prevent these issues. Is the "catch can" something I should consider adding immediately. My son has an 09 MCCS and he follows the Mini recommended oil change intervals. I am old school and there is no way I can see going beyond 4000-5000 miles between oil changes, no matter what Mini says. Thoughts from those with experience?

 

The sooner you add the Oil Catch Can, the better.
I got this one,

http://www.bshspeedshop.com/bshstore...Catch-Can.html

If you get a Oil Catch Can, you'll need this too,

http://www.bshspeedshop.com/bshstore...Boost-Tap.html

On series two Cooper S MINIs, the hose on the passenger side of the valve cover can also allow oil vapor to enter the intake, especially at low load. I understand that the 2011 MINI Cooper S doesn't have that hose.

This is the thread that convinced me.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t-install.html

Also, following the factory recommended oil change interval is a good way of getting a clogged turbo oil drain.

Dave

 

Highlander, Wellcome to the board. Those are 2 separate issues. The more frequent oil changes will improve engine life, I recommend an additional oil change in between the free Mini ones. The synthetic has no problem going 6 or 7 thousand miles. Be sure to use MINI oil, or Mobil 1 0w-40 or German Castrol which is 5w30 (I think). They state BMW LL-01 approved, which is the standard required by MINI. The other standard is the European oil standard ACEA A3/B3 or B4. Those meet both. I use Mobil 1.

The oil changes will not help your carbon build up on the valves. You need a catch can and to do the Sea Foam style treatment thru the PCV hose as outlined here. I do it every oil change.

Study the threads and search and you will find more detailed answers to your questions.

 

Make sure the OCC you end up getting is made for or will fit a 2011 MCS. The BSH OCC that many on here have installed may not fit due to a change in the configuration of the PCV system from a 2007-2010 MCS and a 2011 MCS. It also appears that a Boost Tap that is mentioned *may not* be needed. I haven't seen a definitive answer on either of these issues. See this thread for more info.

Also, keep in mind that a 2011 factory JCW and a 2011 MCS have different PCV systems.

 

On a 2011, as far as I know, people are still trying to figure out where the PCV line directing crankcase fumes to the combustion chamber is.

Only if you want to increase the pressure in your crankcase in an effort to save a couple bucks on a 2-can setup.

If you have a functioning catch can, you don't need to continue de-carbing the intake ports.

Also, to the OP: using Seafoam on your son's 2009 MINI will do pretty much nothing to remove the carbon already present in the intake ports. It seems Seafoam is only a good if started early and used frequently.