My dealer suggests that I have them do a "fuel system treatment at the next oil service for $389 to prevent carbon build up that seems to be a characteristic of the direct injection".

Does $389 seem reasonable? From what I've read, others have paid no more than $200 for this.

After reading many threads, it appears that I need to do something. I think that my options are:
1. dealer treatment
2. manual process using Seafoam described so well by Hoopty
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...e-seafoam.html

I don't have the time to do Hoopty's process, so I'll probably go with the dealer.....it just seems so expensive.

My Clubman S has 48,000 miles on it. I've changed the oil at 5 - 7,000 miles and have filled up with Mobil nearly every tankful.

I also know that I need to do some routine maintenance - like Sea Foam at every oil change.....maybe with an oil catch can as well.....and something on my wife's justa (53k)........

The dealer also recommends spark plugs for $215....also seems pricey!

 

Paying a dealer for ANY service after the 3yr/36m maintanence warranty has expired is a waste of money (IMHO).

It truly takes only 30min-1hr to do a Seafoam treatment. Surely you can find 1 hr on a weekend to do the Seafoam treatment.

$9 (tops) for Seafoam at Walmart (it's always $8.88 at the local Walmarts near me)

1 hr of your time

Total cost: $9 + applicable sales tax

vs.

Calling the dealership to schedule the service...driving to the dealership to either (a) drop-off MINI and pickup loaner or (b) sit and wait while they do the service.

Total cost: $389 + applicable sales tax & "disposal/recycling fee"

I bet if your wife or daughter watched the easy how-to video, they'd be very successful doing it themselves.

I can think of LOTS of stuff to spend $380 (I subtracted the $9 for the Seafoam) on instead of giving it to a stealership.

 

Sounds like another case of MINIFied buy BMW.

 

Thanks for the response. I was thinking that the Sea Foam treatment was more of a routine maintenance process that would remove small amounts of carbon, but would not remove the amount of carbon that would have built up after 48,000 miles....if I can do the same thing with Sea Foam, then I agree it's a no-brainer. I just don't want to spend the time going through Hoopty's manual de-carboning process....especially with temperatures in the teens and twenties.....

 

Try the seafoam first....
Simple, easy.....
Chemical cleaning...
Most dealers try to use a similar type product as seafoam...many trade names....physical cleaning is kept for stubborn bcases with drivability issues...
Your car is running fine...seafoam should clean it up, make it drun better, keep it running fine.
380$ is crazy...like $120 at many car places is common, even 69.99$!!

 

I'll stop by Walmart on the way home tonight.

 

$389 of pure profit for them....to dump a bottle of stuff through the car

Maybe it would be worth it if they actually remove the head and have it professionally cleaned.....but let me tell ya, they aren't.

 

They probably do the 'ol drive the **** outta it routine as well, which is part of the Seafoaming protocol lol

 

Ain't done none of this to my 07S

Never did any of this to my 02S with nearly 100,000 when it was sold

Never did any of this to my Miata when I sold it at 120,000

read several post of folks blowing head gaskets when they used Sea Foam tho . . .

your call

 

Seafoam won't remove 50,000 miles of built up carbon. Only a manual removal of the carbon will work.

Read this thread:

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

After spending the $$ to clean your cylinder head, get an oil catch can. It's the oil vapors from your PCV system that are cooking on to the intakes of your MINI's engine, because the MINI Cooper S has direct fuel injection, so gasoline doesn't wash the oil off your intake runners as it is sucked into the engine, like other cars do.

Here is another good thread concerning oil catch cans:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...bsh-vs-m7.html

Dave

 

That's why they're called stealerships, stay away from them...

 

If it ain't broke don't fix it. Just drive the thing. $388? You pay that and they'll be busting their guts in the lounge later. Notice how they never mention anything about cleaning it when they're paying for it. There's a reason for that.

 

If your Clubby is the '09 in your signature and it is running bad, you have a 50,000 mile warranty... make the dealer do whatever it takes to make it right. If it is not running bad, why worry about it? Don't fix what is not broken and don't feel like you have to do stuff because you read about it on a forum.

Change your oil like you're doing, run good gas, drive it hard enough to keep things "blown out", and don't worry. A lot of these problems are caused by not enough driving (<10,000 miles per year) and being afraid to "exercise" the car. A car that sets more than driven will fall apart. A car always driven in a "granny"-like manner will get constipated. Rev it, wind it out a bit, accelerate quickly from lights, sling it around some corners and it will last longer. If it doesn't it was probably going to break anyway, but you at least had some fun.

 

Seafoam isn't going to do squat to the buildup you likely have on the back of your valves.
This is what my valves looked like before Seafoam, and after Seafoam (2 cans of it).

Ask to speak with the technicians about carbon cleaning options, and see if they'll run some of this stuff through their "fogger" (what the techs at my dealership call it; don't know what exactly it is) to get the back of the intake ports. It's something BMW/MINI tells them to use on stubborn, hard to remove carbon, and this is what it make those same valves as above look like (the rest you'll have to scrape to get rid of). Cost me about $150 to have them run the blue stuff through.

And anyone in here saying that it's nothing to worry about or that driving it harder will fix everything... they don't know what they're talking about on this issue. Intake valve carbon buildup by way of the PCV system is a known issue of direct-injection engines across a wide range of different manufacturers (MINI, VW, Audi, Lexus, Cadillac, etc.). This is not something you can ignore if you have any long-term plans for the vehicle. Don't take my word for it; here's what Bob Weber of the Chicago Tribune has to say.