2nd Gen R56 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: The 'Carbon' Problem...

:cornut: No Sir, sorry no photos. If she does develop this problem though; I promise to post it here such that all of our good 'Miniac Buddies' can post their 'I told you soes.' I love to laugh at myself, good for the sole and keeps the ego in check.:lol::lol::lol:

Jason

 

Do you change your own oil at "half-cycle", or at MINI dealership?

 

I'm still on MINIs three year free maintenance program. I got my oil changed, for free, the day after the anniversary of my purchase. I had a bit over six thousand miles on it then. It looks like it will be close to twelve thousand miles this year on the second anniversary of my buying my MINI. I'll have the dealer change the oil yearly, while it's free. After that, I'll change it myself, every 6K miles.

Dave

 

We are coming up on 15 months of ownership with 24K miles, and have stuck to the maintenance schedule (every 15K, which means one:eek6. I'll look for the "oil change" thread...don't want to hijack this one. Thanks for the input.

 

Here is the tool and procedure BMW / MINI use to remove the carbon buildup.
View attachment M040311_Carbon_Blaster_Operating_Manual.pdf

Here is a discussion on how to DIY the carbon problem.
[ame=http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=645616]I cleaned my valves, before and after pics! - BMW 3-Series (E90 E92) Forum - E90Post.com[/ame]

 

Intersting to see what they are using, it's basically a pressure pot sand blaster using walnut shells instead of sand. The really interesting parts to me are the shop vac port adapter and the "future use" part, wonder what engine that's going to be for?

Audi has been doing this since the mid 90's, well before direct injection came about, so I'm not buying the "gas injected before the valve washes the carbon off" theory.......

Still wondering why some engines need this done so badly and others don't.....

 

Yippie....
Just got notification that the special BMW/MINI tool used with the walnut shells to clean the carbon buildup off the intake valves and passage has shipped. I should have it in hand Monday. I'll post pictures. Now to come up with my own walnut pressure pot. Ha, $600 - $800 to the dealer for one cleaning, who needs that?

This would be the tool.... I was anticipating being told it was out of stock and no longer available...

 

So do MoM's get the Metalman cleaning discount?

 

That's only one piece of the puzzle, but a very specialized piece for sure. Without this piece, I would have little pieces of walnut shells all over the shop floor...... Lotsa pieces in this response... Heh, Heh, Heh....

 

I like walnuts and all but I don't know that I could eat enough walnuts to gather up the needed amount of shells. :crazy:

 

I see a group walnut eating day in our future...

 

Would pecan shells work? We could hit Amish country. You keep the shells & I eat the pecan pie..... :drool

 

^^^ whatever you do don't let them switch the pecan shells for horseshoe nails.....

 

I just had the local dealer do the walnut shell thing to mine, cost about $600 for the work. I have an 2007 MCS with 60K miles and for the last 10K miles or so I noticed a lot of hesitation during acceleration and rougher idling. My car now drives like it did the first year I had it, big improvement. My only other issue is the amount of oil I go through and the dealership checked my compression during the same visit as above and they determined the oil use is not due to worn rings. They also checked for leaks, but again nothing. Frustrating but now that I know the engine is in good shape, I'm not too worried.

 

It's looking like 60K is the magical mile post.....