[old grey steve]

Had some cars through our doors as you know for the WAlnut Blasting Service and I thought out of interest I'd share some of the pics to visually illistrate what's going on.

To start with a car that's been known to have the dreaded issue but as yet we hadn't manged to do until today. A Mini namily a Cooper S Works. 54000 miles FBMWSH, this Mini came in with known "Super Knocking" issues something that's well documented and sure enough when briefly driven it was easy to understand the problem both cylinder 3 & 4 had been severly effected and had been flagged up accordingly.

Also noted which was disappointing was the fact that the internal breather which is built in to the rocker cover had failed, sadly this had been repalced in late 2013 less than 5000 miles ago by a BMW main dealer... therefore had the cars issues helped to errode the breather so quickly.... one things for sure the car will go back once we've finished to have the rocker cover sorted as without this the breather system functioning correctly the cars overall efficiency will be effected, which is a shame as when we drive post work it won't be IMO fuilly fit.



I thought I'd kind of circle the light shiny coloured oily "film" if thats the correct word that we'd noticed on al 4 of the Mini's ports at the top, this was a very similar oily "film"we'd noticed on Farokh's 325i though this was far more visible and on his car due to light/shape/angle of his ports was rather difficult to accuratly photograph as stated elsewhere.





the above pictures are cylinder 1,2 and 3 the picture below is of cylinder 4



from a slightly different angle you may be able to understand what I refer to later as the port depth and angle, which is steeper than the BMW's we've done and also shorter in length too.




Apart from the usual valve coking issues its the oily light shiny residue coating the ports which is visually different from the various 335i's we've had in, which are darker far darker and more caked on.

On the Mini's if you're not aware the inlet ports are to the rear as its transverily mounted and also as stated the angle of the ports are deeper making it more difficult to gain deep access to clean and as you have no direct eye vision, which you have on the BMW's we opted to use mirrors first to see what we were doing to be extra safe we broke out the endiscope camera and visually scanned each port for any walnut debris to back up our visual conformation that all ports were clean.



which you can see from the pics proved above proved worthwhile as leftovers can be seen.

The Mini due to these various restrictions took us longer to do than a 335, purely based on the access and vision issues....and treading carefully to ensure 100% cleaniness even though you think you've cleaned everything up was the right call to ensure nothings can be left behind.... and then you go in again and re check until nothing can be seen in the ports or on the valves But once cleaned





The one thing we've gleaned from all this is once attatcked the ports and valves on the Mini seem to clean up a little quicker than all the 3's we'd seen (the picturs you're seeing below are directly after the first clean and need more time to get all the walnut residue out) We managed to finish everything off once I'd taken these snaps just after 6 this evening.

The Mini's being put back together and will be run up during tomorrow, needless to say the plugs were repalced as they were past there sell by date, but sadly it won't be a true reflection due to the issue re the rocker cover and failed breather.

Now comparted with the above the typical 335i looks like this before cleaning






Deeper and blacker in colour than the Mini ports and valves pictured above the 335i's seem to have a consistancy for No5 and No6 port being more contaminated than the other 4 ports and as we've discovered the muck left in the ports and around the valves was always more stubborn to remove and the process even though you had good access seeing as so the engine is "side on"




took longer due to the fact that in many you had to spend some decent time on each port to get them looking good.. But you can't knock the end results






Beautifully clean every single 335i we've done including mine has been very sucessful with improved fuel economy, throttle response, smoother tickover amongst the various benifits immediatly noticable.

Perhaps the most interesting engine was Farokh's 325i this was the first normally asperated direct injection engine we've seen/done and we didn't quite know what to expect, logic said as many of you had asked that it would be caked up due to direct injection but due to the less extensive crank case demands what would we find. We simply didn't know. But here's the answer





I really struggled to get some decent photo's of this pre work, but like the Mini described at the top of the page there was a light shiny "film" noticable in the ports and around the valve area different visually to the state of the average 335i, I suspect crankcase variences where the 335i runs a much more demanding combustion cycle with more crankcase pressure ultimatly leads to the visual results we've seen... But the end results are again for us pleasing to see







The case for this process judging by the amount of these engione we've seen stands I think to reason. In all cases the inlets are contaminated

If you chose to have this done on our 335i once done if you haven't purchased a catch can and one of Rob Becks(there are other alternatives avaialbe)diverter valves invest in each of these to reduce the issues the 335's habitually suffer.

For the Mini's I understand the there is also a crankcase breather system offered(in the states)though opinions vary as to how effective this si compared with the tried/tested ones offerd on the 335i.

Again the interesting one is the case for the 325i/330i models. I think from what I've discoverd these suffer less but they are still effected, I'm awaiting Farokh's verdict on how his car drives as I know he'll be doing some miles over the next 7-10days and look forward to his feed back, but I'm sure he'll notice a difference butit won't I suspect be night and day the differeces will be subtle but for the longterms health of the engine they'll be positve as this process is for all these engines.

On the Mini to finish as stated this will be run tomorrow will post a post work report for those who are interested..

Thanks for reading

Steve

[gazz1971]

Good write up as always Steve .

[gaza01]

Steve that read just made my train journey fly by. Great work as usual by A1

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by gaza01

Steve that read just made my train journey fly by. Great work as usual by A1

Better than 50 shades of Grey Shaun and more useful

[Sparky68]

How long does it take to complete?

[ walnut blasting a 335i, not 50 shades] !!!

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by Sparky68

How long does it take to complete?

[ walnut blasting a 335i, not 50 shades] !!!

Haven't read 50 shades, wife has though re the blasting from the moment the car rolls in to the moment the cars test driven takes around 4.7 to 6 hours from the 11 we've done(all depends on how stubborn the grime is on the inlets), the 330's take slightly longer as the manifolds more tricky to come off

[Sensible_]

I was a little dubious at first, but after seeing this I'm converted. This looks awesome! I'll spread the word!

[hargreaves1]

Whats this service normally cost please?

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by hargreaves1

Whats this service normally cost please?

Labour wise as stated to sparky 4.8-6 hours max cost will be £354+VAT (at 6 hours)injectors spark plugs all come out therefore fairly labour intensive overall.

[Ess]

Very interesting Steve, thank you. What are your thoughts on this coking problem on the D? I've heard some opinions saying it's not as affected as the i. Have you done any Ds Steve?

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by Ess

Very interesting Steve, thank you. What are your thoughts on this coking problem on the D? I've heard some opinions saying it's not as affected as the i. Have you done any Ds Steve?

In the states Seb there is a SIB for diesels this is from the states on E90 post but it'll answer the question nicely http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=983574
Downside is this is a more long winded program than the petrols as you're also removing the rocker cover and cleaning the head internals and the tools as I understand it over hear aren't exactly available.

But from the countless diesels we've seen yes ther is plenty of scope for cleaning them all up.

[Ess]

Originally Posted by old grey steve

In the states Seb there is a SIB for diesels this is from the states on E90 post but it'll answer the question nicely http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=983574
Downside is this is a more long winded program than the petrols as you're also removing the rocker cover and cleaning the head internals and the tools as I understand it over hear aren't exactly available.

But from the countless diesels we've seen yes ther is plenty of scope for cleaning them all up.

That does indeed look quite involved, and not cheap either according to the numbers posted on that thread. Thanks for the info as always Steve.

[rhysh1990]

My misses mini cooper s was running like a bag of shit lumpy idle, slightly delayed throttle and hesitant/flat spot at higher revs. 09 plate with just 36k miles was looking into the walnut blasting but couldnt fibd anywhere local so tried the seafoam treatment and what a difference! Totally different car idles smooth and pulls throughout the revs. I know this is no substitute for walnut blasting and can only imagine how much better again it would be if she was to have this done.

[nik patel]

Hi Steve

Any news on Farokh's comments on any difference?

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by nik patel

Hi Steve

Any news on Farokh's comments on any difference?

Haven't as yet heard a thing, I know he's away but I'm sure as I've PM'd Farokh as I'm also interested to hear what he feels is the difference is, we all know on the 335i's there's a real difference and on this Cooper S we've done the difference is night & day revs sooooo sweetly now but on this no idea... time will tell I guess but I do expect a difference though I think on these engines as they aren't so coked up the differences won't be quite as marked.

Update.. forgot to read the thread I started http://www.reviewcentre.com/reviews182031.html have a read you might like it

[nik patel]

Hi, what you mean the 325's are less coked up? Farokh's valves look preety bad?

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by nik patel

Hi, what you mean the 325's are less coked up? Farokh's valves look preety bad?

Not as bad as the 335i's I've seen but yes valves are coked up for sure Farokh's now replied link re his comments supplied

[nik patel]

Where is his comments?

[fm]

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1022094

[old grey steve]

Originally Posted by nik patel

Where is his comments?

Whoops sorry... Forgot to supply the link..

Originally Posted by fm

http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1022094

Ah cheers Farokh.. It's been a busy day

[old grey steve]

And re the Mini 35 miles done super knocking fault gone revs like a trooper and now has a nice even smooth idle.

[mob17]

You're an asset to this forum Steve. Love getting your insight!