I just purchased a 2008 mini cooper s and have no idea about previous maintenance. I know these have issues with intake valves getting bunked up. Dealer offers a walnut shell blast with the cylinder head on car but what other methods work? Internets suggest CRC or seafoam treatments. Old school guys have suggest a water misting but the chunks hitting the turbo scares me. Gdi is so common now I suspect we're going to need to know this soon.
From what I have read the CRC and Seafoam treatments have so-so preventative effects if done regularly but do almost nothing once serious buildup is already present.
Walnut shell blasting is apparently the "best" option. Tons of vendors sell kits for it now.
http://subiebros.com/subie-bros-fa20dit-valve-cleaning-kit-walnut-blasting/
https://www.bavauto.com/bmw-media-blaster-b1100008
https://www.ecstuning.com/b-assembled-by-ecs-parts/n54-carbon-blast-kit/n54cbbkt/
I have heard of but not much looked into this as it pertains to the FRS.
Is this what is going to force the LSx swap in my car?
Pete
NOHOME said:I have heard of but not much looked into this as it pertains to the FRS.
Is this what is going to force the LSx swap in my car?
Pete
You shouldn't have to worry about it. The FR-S/BRZ have both port and fuel injection; the port injection washes the back of the intake valves so you should have little/no carbon buildup.
In full GDI engines no fuel (or any other solvent) comes into contact with the port side of the intake valve so the PCV and EGR systems gunk up the intake valve over time. Lots of WOT with heavy vaccum has some positive effect on cleaning this but physical scrubbing or blasting is typically the only method to clean it up 100%.
I did the wife's Forte when we bought it at 40k. I'll do it again at 70k and every 30k after as long as we have it.
In all fairness, I did this with the port injected car as well.
In reply to bobzilla :
The can cleaner or a physical blasting/scrub?
In reply to pointofdeparture :
can cleaner. I had a stock pile of Wynns intake cleaner and seafoam that I just finished off.
In reply to pointofdeparture :
OK, fine, go ahead and take away my hope!
Now I get what the fuss is about. Obvious once you see it. Wonder how this got past engineering verification?
Would a catch can /oil-separator for the PCV help this or is the EGR the main culprit?
Pete
Corksport has a good article on the how and why as it relates to the MS3. Should be pretty universal though.
NOHOME said:Would a catch can /oil-separator for the PCV help this or is the EGR the main culprit?
There's also lubricating oil from the valve guides and reversion of combustion chamber gasses from overlap that a catch can doesn't solve.
In reply to NOHOME :
Catch cans help a fair bit. EGR is where you see the most benefit, but emissions frowns on deleting it. It's common to just unplug them on the MS3 and delete the code.
Water/meth or PI helps quite a bit too.
I'm gonna try and sneak a peak with a scope to see what it looks like. We have a terraclean kit similar to wynn's or BG at work. If it comes to blasting I'll pay the shop to do it as I'm not interested in buying a setup for an occasional job. Nice to hear WOT will help keep it at bay. I'll just tell officer I was doing engine maintenance.
There is tons of information on DIY walnut hull blasting to clean up the deposits on the back side of the intake valves.
I've been looking into this recently because my little 2015 Honda Fit that I use for commuting duty is known to suffer from this issue.
It really looks like a fairly simple process, and the equipment needed isn't exotic or expensive. You are luckier than me, in that there is actually a custom adapter for the Mini that lets you do this without making a big mess. It's a little adapter that slips into the intake port and attaches to a shop-vac. It has a small hole to insert the blaster tip so that it points at the intake valves, and the spent blasting media is sucked right into the shop-vac. Extraction Adapter I've seen them for Mini and BMW.
Pretty clever. So far I haven't found one specifically made for my engine, but I might be able to use/adapt one, or CAD one up and have it 3D printed. As soon as I can lay my hands on a borescope I'm going to take a look at my intake valves and see just how big a problem this is going to be. We will see. My previous daily driver was a 2012 Kia Soul with the 1.6L, also an early GDI engine. I drove that thing over 130K miles and never had a problem.
I've also heard that if your driving style is, ummmm......"spirited"....then your intake valves are less prone to carbon buildup, but that may just be speculation. I rev the crap out of that little motor regularly (usually) so perhaps my heavy foot might help for a change. 
I think this is made a bigger deal than it should be.
I have a 2010 HHR SS with the LNF 2.0 DI turbo motor. I got it used with 96k on it. I am now at 207k. I have not done anything to treat this other than drive it. It is stock with a tune. I daily drive it, with an occasional stomp on the gas pedal. When you stomp on the gas pedal you see a puff of smoke/fuel/whatever. I think this with a catch can system is the best options.
Well I learned something new today. That tool with the vacuum adapter is actually brilliant.
I've used the CRC product on pur '14 Maz6 with the 2.5 once. It seemed to have some positive effect on rough idle and MPG. Not sure how bad the issue really is on those motors but I suspect a good pull-and-clean wouldn't hurt since it's approaching 100k miles being daily driven by SWMBO. She's not known for full-throttle driving.
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