At 32K miles I decided to go *****-deep on my intake valves. I soaked them in seafoam and scrubbed them as best I could. You can only scrub 2 cylinders at a time as the intake valves must be in the closed position during the process. I seafoamed the motor about a week ago, but it looks like there is still plenty of carbon stuck to the valves. This service combined with a catch can will keep airflow to a maximum. Note: Seafoam worked great for me. Also, it's best to soak a warm motor. The carbon dissolves much better when as hot as possible. The engine temp will depend on your skill level & speed. To easily turn the motor, engage 6th gear and push the car forward in intervals while observing valve position. You will be able to soak two cylinders at a time.

These are some before shots of the valves:








Some shots getting to the valves:



This is the 10MM bolt that secures the lower half of the manfold (underneath throttle body) :



Here is a shot from up top using a mirror:



What to expect when the manifold is out:


Valves soaking:



Magic Wand:
(PM me if you need these)



Cleaned valves:

 

nice job! So to do this, all you need to do is remove the inlet manifold? Is this a hard job to do?

 

Do you suppose Seafoam would want to use your pictures to demonstrate the effectiveness of their product? I ask because it's hard to imagine any more carbon than shown in your pictures.

After this experience would you recommend the "Seafoam treatment" or do you think the the mechanical removal is the way to go?

 

Here's another excellent thread describing the manual cleaning process and offering some alternatives for the choice of distillate used to help remove the deposits:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e-seafoam.html

Can you describe how you evacuated the intake port of the pool of Seafoam and the scraped-off crud after soaking and scrubbing? Seems there would be a lot of stuff in there that would be bad news if it made its way into the cylinder. I'm wondering if a Mini-Vac connected to some tubing that could be fed into the port would be effective.

I'm also wondering how effective the mirror is in being able to see into the port during the scrubbing process. Has anyone tried doing this with a borescope?

 

Yes, and I had the manifold out in 30min, but I'm a mechanic, so you would have to take a look and assess the procedure. Theres a wiring harness under the manifold with a vacuum line as well. You would need to be careful not to tug on anything and carefully move components aside.

Coupled with a catch can, seafoam treatments would work fine, but without one no way.

I just vacuumed the gunk out with a vacuum pump, then blasted with compressed air. It was pretty straightforward. The mirror is only there to view the 10mm bolt shown.

 

So how would I go about disconnecting the wiring harness from the inlet manifold? I could really see anything from the top :S

I have a DoS intake, so the standard intake isn't in the way. All I have to do (I'm guessing) is remove the wiring harness and the five bolts that hold the inlet manifold in place.....

 

I'm very interested in this procedure. My mechanic says the only real way to remove the build-up is by hand. Chemicals jus tain't going to do it. The buildup is a design flaw of these DI system. It's not limited to Mini. I watch him doing this removal of buildup on an Audi RS4 with 50K km. Huge buildup. It was crazy.

 

I was able to reproduce some acceleration hesitation to my dealer so they agreed to clean it. I have a BSH catch can and they said that my build up wasn't too bad and said that the catch can has likely helped quite a bit.

They said they were concerned about the boost port block off potentially causing a leak elsewhere, which doesn't sound likely.

So anyways, if your car stutters on acceleration and you can reproduce for the dealer, you can get it cleaned for free.

 

Does anyone have a copy of a SIM or other documented description of MINI's procedure for manually cleaning the carbon off the valves and out of the intake?

They are doing this often enough nowadays that I can't imagine it's done in an ad hoc fashion. It would be nice to be able to walk in with a SIM in-hand if for no other reason than to make sure everyone's expectations of the actual work to be done are consistent.

Question #2: Is anyone aware of an aftermarket vendor (e.g., WMW) who provides this cleaning as a normal, advertised service?

 

I haven't picked up my car yet, but I'll post any useful info if there's anything listed on my invoice.

 

My MPG is down and acceleration is not as strong and idle isn't as smooth as it used to be. It was REALLY noticeable to me when I had my 2007 S car in the shop and had a 2010 S loaner. There was a very noticeable difference in performance and MPG. It was getting 6 MPG better on the same stretch of Interstate that I took to bring my car to the dealer. The butt dyno was off the chart.

I took my concerns about performance and carbon buildup to the dealer and I was told the car has to throw specific codes and meet conditions for them to even pull the intake and CHECK for carbon buildup. Then they have to "call it in" to get approval to do the cleaning. SA said they've only done one or two (it is a brand new shop however). Mine didn't meet these conditions.

They will perform the two-part (non-mecanical) cleaning for $170 whatever that includes injector cleaning and intake cleaning. From what I understand it's sort of like a seafoam treatment only it uses the heavy duty blue BMW Fuel Injection and Fuel Induction System Cleaner. There is a SIM posted here that shows the instructions for doing the injector side cleaning on a non-S non-turbo N12 engine. I've yet to find the procedure for the turbo N14. However, from all the threads with actually photo evidence of before/after seafoam that I've seen in the threads, chemicals are just not enough.

In other words, if I want it done right, I'm going to have to do it myself, aka "***** deep". Then put a CC on.

I was following the other thread about mechanical cleaning of the valves with much interest. It seemed to be the first to show photos of how seafoam didn't really do a whole lot for the back of the valves if they already have buildup. I thought in that thread that you didn't have to completely remove the intake manifold, you could just push it back out of the way in order to do some mechanical scraping/soaking of the valves. One of the photos in that thread had sparkling valves after all the work!

Thanks for this thread. It adds a little more info to the actual DIY procedure that I didn't know before. It seems like this topic is "sticky worthy" and some full documentation is needed for the average shadetree mechanic.

One question, how exactly do you get the valves closed in the cylinder you want to clean? The start button and luck?

 

I would pay Way or Chad or one of the other trusted MINI gurus good money to perform the manual cleaning process if/when I need it, if for no other reason than to make sure I didn't dork anything up and that everything got put back together properly. However, I've seen no evidence of any of our favorite vendors offering to perform this as a routine service. I think they're missing out on a golden opportunity for new business.

Agreed. The photo evidence seems to suggest that the risk of use outweighs the potential gain. Lots of happy claims here on NAM based only on the prevalence of smoke and butt dyno.

Yep, I think that's it. At least you have a 75 percent chance of the intake valves being closed in a cylinder at any one point of the cycle.

 

That injector service that dealers provide does NOTHING outside the combustion chamber. Don't waste your money on that. It's a huge money-maker and they really milk customers with it. I know because I used to perform these services at a dealer.

Anyway, Once you have the air filter assembly and cold-side boost tube out of the way it's only a matter of removing the 13mm nuts on the intake manifold and the 10mm bolt down below as pictured. The rest is just a matter of moving harnesses out of the way so that you don't rip any as you pull out the manifold. DO NOT TUG! If there's resistance, that means there is still something attached.

To get your valves closed, put your car in 6th gear and push the car back and forth until the valves are closed. Remember, only two cylinders at a time will be closed.

Locals, PM me if you would rather have a pro do this. I'm in the NYC Metro area.

 

A MINI dealer or other company?

According to fishberts story https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...70-post36.html MINI used a fogger to introduce the cleaner into the PVC. Which resulted in at least getting them this clean: http://fishbert.imgur.com/valve_clea...alership#8mRi7

The only instructions I can find are these for the non-turbo: http://www.minitis.net/tsb/bulletins...p/M130107g.htm which only shows going through the fuel rail for an injector cleaning. I guess this is "induction" cleaning since it is not DI like the turbo.

The official TSB for the N14 carbon cleaning procedure would clear up a lot of confusion. I just don't know how to find it.

 

My local dealership media blasts the valves and port while on the vehicle. Sorry, no photos, but the tech says valves look like new, and it is possible to completely evacuate the crushed walnut media after cleaning.

 

Back in the day Audi's had a real problem with carboning up of the intake AND exhaust valves, the dealer used to offer a cleaning service where they'd blast the entire port and valve with ground up walnut shells - made them look brand new. I think their issue was with valve stem seals, but I'm not sure....

A mechanical cleaning using a blasting agent like this seems like the only real way to get them uncarboned completely. No offense to the OP in this thread, but other than getting some of the built up crud off the stem, I didn't see a lot of difference, in that what was left looks like it will just build up again. Also, since you have a catch can and still had substantial build up, that doesn't seem to be the answer.

I still wonder why some cars are so much more prone to this than others?

Was this car using oil?

 

I think he put the oil catch can on after he cleaned the valves.

Look again, there is significantly less carbon on those valve stems after he cleaned them.

Walnut blasting would be the best way, vacuum the crumbs out and go, any walnut residue left would burn up and go out the exhaust.

Dave

 

My dealership just recently got the walnut machine and said it would excellent and would recommended it to fix any carbon issues on the S motors.

 

It would be nice if this equipment became more universally available, i.e., at every MINI dealership.

One would think that if a dealership has this machine, they also have a vetted (with the MINI engineers) procedure in place for performing the work in an approved and standardized manner. It would be good to review this...along with the labor hours they have associated with the task.

 

Tintman,

Any particular vacuum pump you recommend? I have a shop vac that I could Jerry-rig with duct tape and small 1/4" hose, but I'd probably smoke the motor from all the restriction

 

I was referring to a fuel injector service at any dealership in which a cleaning solution is run through your injectors.

This is new to me. We definitely don't have this at lexus.

Those are high-quality shots. If you don't see a significant reduction in carbon then I would advise you to visit here. My car had 30K+ city miles on it without a catch can. The amount of crap that it catches is significant. You can read about it here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...n-install.html

Oil loss has nothing to do with this problem. A leaky valve seal would only cause buildup on one cylinder. This is due to the oil in the crankcase vapor that cooks onto the back of the intake valves.

I just use my hand vacuum pump from Mityvac. Same instrument I would use to bleed my brakes. Something like this, just without so many attachments:
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_SPM201559961P?sid=IDx20101019x00001a &ci_src=14110944&ci_sku=SPM209386633

 

That is pretty bad *** Tintman! My OCC is catching some crud , wondering if I will ever need to top up on oil as some others were saying in different threads. When we gonna chill? Weather is getting niceee.

 

Excellent write-up tintman718. I hope to try your process this next weekend. I'll post before and after.

 

Just to note, the Dealer walnut blasting operation is totally 100% bullsh*t. It doesn't work. Manually cleaning it is the only way. Doing it yourself is the ONLY way.

 

Thanks again tintman718 for a great write up. I cleaned them last weekend and here are a before and after shots of cylinder 1.



Big difference in port diameter and you can actually see the valve stem now. A word of warning...don't forget to tighten all of the hoses during reassembly.