Has anyone hat the carbon cleaned? Just had the engine scoped at towne. Its causing a misfire until the engine gets warm enough to muscle through the build up. However, Towne wants $380 to remove the carbon completly plus $175 for a fuel system cleaning.
Has anyone had this work done elsewhere? What were your results? How much?
Id rather it get done at the dealer but I'm tight on cash and ~$500 is not an option.
I used seafoam a couple times and it seemed to help a bit. ~$10 a can at autozone. I would be a little worried about using it if there's THAT much carbon buildup though.
I know there are a few threads on NAM with detailed pictures of how people DIY'd the carbon cleanup.
I seafoam too but had to have the walnut shell blasting done at about 50K. It's amazing the difference in the cars performance after that is done. It is a steep price to handle what I think of as a design flaw in the car.
And remember, the fuel system cleaning (misnomer) is only going to effect the fuel injectors and possibly the combustion chambers. Being a direct injection motor this does not effect the valves.
As stated, if you are handy with the tools and have someplace to work it is a small task to pull the intake and stick a brush down in there to clean things up.
My christmas wish is for a walnut shell blaster so I can do this at home but not sure Santa is going to deliver on this one.
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2007 MCS Laser Blue 2010, 2008 BMW Oktoberfest Autocross - Stock Mini First Place
2009 BMW Oktoberfest Autocross - Stock Mini Second Place BMW CCA Driving Instructor/Engine Mechanic/Speech Recognition Specialist
I havent had any experience with seafoam on my mini, but I would use it on the truck and It shaved damn near 3 seconds off my 0-60. granted its at a blistering 12 seconds being an 87 Dakota, but it did work wonders
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2002 Indi Blue Cooper
Hella 500FF Rally Lights, K&N 57 Series Intake, American flag window decals, Hoonigan
I just seafoamed my mini, felt like it cleaned out a lot of gunk, but when putting it in through a vacuum tube, is stalled the engine and thew a code. but after i cleared it with my reader, the car drove good as new!
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2002 Indi Blue Cooper
Hella 500FF Rally Lights, K&N 57 Series Intake, American flag window decals, Hoonigan
Just had the walnut-blasting AND the injectors cleaned, AND the spark plugs checked - but the hard starting continues. It's a '07 MCS with 45K. Any suggestions?
morris.. how much did towne charge you / how long did the work take?
$550 after tax. That also included a software flash (around $100), but I think it is optional. Not too bad considering that Little Speed Shop wanted $600.
I had some other issues that they were fixing, but I would say it took them 3-4 hours.
oh wow...I was quoted lower a little speed shop and higher from towne...I'm in tonawanda, if towne will do it for less, I will go there. I will call them next week and see if we can work something out. Pull the veteran card
The build up happens because there's no fuel getting to the top due to the design of Direct Injection. Everyone I know with a DI engine (or have read/heard) runs a can of seafoam about every oil change (just a couple $) The foam can break up the light build of carbon before it starts to really harden (to where you need it blasted/scrapped off). They recommend to do it every 10-15k to help mitigate the the issue. Unfortunately, I waited too long (nor was aware of the issue) until it was too late. From what I've read, if you stick to that regimen of every 10-15k, you shouldn't have a severe problem until almost 200k. (by then you'll have other work to do lol)
