I use this stuff on regular basis(right before my 3k oil changes) and was unable to find ANY videos of Seafoaming a MINI so I managed to throw together a quick video of some past treatments. I can't emphasize enough how useful this product is on the N12/N14 engines with the high compression ratios and the PCV design. I've seen the cylinder heads from these engines after 20k+ and the amount of burnt oil/carbon buildup is ridiculous. You can pick a can up at Walmart or most auto parts stores for under ten bucks. Installing an Oil Catch Canister will also help in preventing sludge/carbon buildup. For you folks who are hesitant for fear of hydrolocking I've done this procedure every 3k for over 85k on the MINI and never had any catastrophic results. You will definitely notice a difference in performance after the treatment. Motor On, Chad [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5o4t7I1BCgk"]YouTube- Seafoam Procedure For The R56 MINI Cooper N12 Engine[/ame]
Why not just use a Good Throttle body cleaner?? Does the same thing and is made to do the same thing it cleans the carbon out of the top end of the engine
oxybluecoop, You should throw that how-to up on our site. Make sure you post a link back to reference this post here to keep the traffic moving to this site. We are giving away by drawing a free part for adding how-tos to the site. Link Free Mini Cooper Parts! | Mini Cooper Speed
Love the vid! only thing I do different is if I have a second helper, I have them revving the car while I meter the seafoam in. I have them kill the ignition while I putting liquid in so that it's really soaked when it sits for a while. There are tons of products that do pretty much the same thing. They're all some nasty petroleum distillates that have some pretty good capability to dissolve all this crap left behind. Most people tend to stay with whatever brand they found that worked. I buy the stuff about 6 bottles at a time to get a break on price... Great vid! Matt
The smoke is from the stuff burning up when you start the car after injestion. It lasts a couple minutes tops... It can be quite the "show"..... Anyway, Sea Foam and other products like it work very, very well. Matt
The old biddies in my HOA would have cow, they already make it known my comings and goings are heard.
Why are you changing the oil so frequently? I thought these babies were go to for 15k between changes?
3k is very aggressive. I'm in the once a year camp or the 10-12 k miles. Really, if you want to know what's up, get your oil tested for additive breakdown and contaminants. Matt
On my new R56, I did my first oil change at 500 miles. With the break-in period and figuring all the sliding metal parts in the new engine were just getting to know each other, changing the oil myself was pretty cheap. Since then I'm changing the oil at 5,000 miles with European Castrol Syntec, SAE 0W-30.
I did a Seafoam treatment on my MINI about 3 weeks ago. Not sure if I borked it as I did not get any smoke from my application. Did an oil change and switched over to RP at the same time. Between the two, in the three tanks of gas I've gone through since then I've since an improvement of about 2 mpg.
Oxyblue, I know this is for second Gen's but you said you had done it on your R53 as well? You just add it to the gray line under the IC?? That line runs from the PCV valve to the intake manifold? or to the supercharger inlet tube?? I always thought it went to the supercharger inlet tube. I've got a can of it and a can of deep creep to clean out the throttle body, so I'm just trying to confirm where to add it to. Thanks, Steve
anybody got any ideas?? is it safe to run the seafoam through the supercharger vanes?? I know this is 2nd gen but I saw it come up so that's why I'm asking thanks Steve
I personally wouldnt. I dont know if it would actually harm anything but going post would be the best way in my opinion.