2nd Gen R56 Cooper S Walnut blasting.....anyone have it done?

I think some folks have had that covered under warranty. I'm not sure if it was due to some check engine light problem or not. It sure is worth taking it in & telling them you are having diminished performance from your MINI.

 

had it done on my '09 MCS at ~78k... enjoyed the bump in performance... then traded it in (at 80k) on a cherry R53 Checkmate w/ less than 11k. But I paid out of pocket to have it done.

 

My '09 needs it done (I pulled the intake manifold back and looked for myself) but my dealer (who will do anything they can for their customers) said they couldn't get MINI to pay for it unless the car threw a code - and mine hasn't. I've got 3 months and 5K of miles left to have it done under warranty......that's why I'm building my own walnut blaster set-up. I figure it will be an every 30K maintenance item for me.

 

Mine cost me under $300... the benefit of being the "guinea pig" for a regional "performance" shop.

 

Indeed, but that probably cuts both ways? Dealer: "Really? Why do you say that? No codes, idles & runs smoothly." Or something. That'd be my luck, I'm sure.

I wonder if this procedure will ever make it to the service schedule?

(from a guy who's old enough to remember ancient two-stroke motorcycles that required the head to be "de-coked" every x,xxx miles, "back in the day")

 

I'm out of warranty with 65K and I'm looking for a indie shop in my area to do this for me.

 

I had it done by my local dealer about 10k miles ago. Cost $450'ish. Annoying? Yes. Worth it? Hell yes. Noticeable improvement in gas mileage and throttle response. Plus improved longevity to the engine.

 

I had it done at the Mini Dealer in Warwick. My car is a 2007 MCS with AccessPort and a number breathing mods + Oil Catch Can. The car only has 27,000 miles. The Tech brought me into the service bay, and I was able to view the back of the Valves and such to see that there was significant buildup. I did not get an "after" look, but that's my fault. i should have asked. The work that was done, was the following:
Walnut Blast and Vac
Seafoam like cleaning of intake systems
Loading of new ECU code
It cost me about $500

 

I've had it done to my '10 R56.
Carbon build-up was pretty bad, so the dealer did this for me.
Completely covered under warranty!

Seems to have done the trick, for now

 

Hey... It's just a maintenance detail...:rolleyes5:
Kinda like putting new brake pads on or changing the oil, or, or, or.......

Use'ta be you had to hand crank the engine to start it...
Then they added a starter and battery...
Now they sell more batteries...

 

:idea: Think I should invest in Walnut futures.

 

You may be on to something there....when I dropped by my dealer's the other day to look at their spray nozzle on their walnut blaster, they had a large pallet of 100 lb bags of walnut shells cross stacked 4 on a level up almost to the ceiling! They seem to think they'll be doing a few of these, is my guess.

My S/A says they charge about $400 to do the actual cleaning, but they usually also reflash the computer and do some other maint at the same time so that the average ticket is more like $750 - I guess that's where I got that price....

 

It is good to know that the dealers are aware of the special maintenance requirement for those DI engines. I'm sure other makers are having to do the same thing on their DI engines.

 

The one thing about those bags of shells... if they aren't smart about it... they can easily tear through 3 or 4 of those bags per car

 

Now the big question....
Do the bags of walnut shells have a BMW part number assigned.... Are they certified BMW...

 

I took mine into the dealer on 10/8/10. She had the check engine light on and was throwing a code (I'm not sure which). She was at about 36k miles. This was covered under the 3 year maintenance plan.

I just had this same problem a few weeks ago at about 62k miles. She was missing on all 4 cylinders. The dealer charged right around $800.