[JoosyJoos]

I wouldn't worry about this problem too much. While it's true the professional tools would probably pay themselves off the one time you use the... the majority of owners on these boards wont own there cars past 100K miles.

I plan on cleaning my valves around 50K miles and at that same interval moving forward if I do decide to keep my car.

[Pseudo Nim]

Originally Posted by 805beemer

I found this post by Alpine300ZHP on another forum. Sounds interesting


To all of you. Take this from a guy who had an N54 with 70k plus miles on it. I dealt with all of the symptoms you guys described and think I have reasonably figured out how to work around it. First, you MUST drive the car at sustained high RPM's at least once or twice a month. I had all of the symptoms you guys have described in this thread and they started around 30k miles. By 50k miles the engine ran better than at 30k miles and I am about to explain how I accomplished that without the shop ever looking at the motor.

1) At least once a month and preferably twice a month take the car onto an interstate or high speed road. Warm up the motor at low RPM's and then put car in 3rd gear and do 65-70 mph. It will turn about 4500 rpms. Drive like this for a good 20-30 minutes. You will notice that the engine pulls harder and runs better. This method helps to burn off that oil and carbon on the back of the valves, but this only works if you do it often and before the buildup becomes an issue.

__________________

If the above is true, then wouldn't a few track sessions during the year address that?

Originally Posted by JoosyJoos

I wouldn't worry about this problem too much. While it's true the professional tools would probably pay themselves off the one time you use the... the majority of owners on these boards wont own there cars past 100K miles.

I plan on cleaning my valves around 50K miles and at that same interval moving forward if I do decide to keep my car.

^-- agree with the above, but the problem is we all will probably own the cars JUST enough to potentially benefit from one cleaning.

[Rotorocious]

Just so everyone can see. I've cleaned my valves before.
This is the before around 48,000 miles.

Then once cleaned.






Now this is what it looks like about 9-10k miles later. This time it had meth and mostly no catch can during this time.





I'll clean them again and put the catch can back on it and see how it goes.

[Pseudo Nim]

So we still haven't discussed on whether anyone's ever got it covered by warranty? I'm guessing fat chance, but still.

[Tzu]

Yes, it can be covered under warrenty, mine was done about 40k ago. I've said this in a few threads. They scrubbed manually, and they said they were getting a walnut shell blasting machine specifically for this purpose.

I took the intake manifold off again 20k later, filthy again, so I re-did it on my own. The car really does feel great after its done.

I assume my valves are filthy again at the moment. Next year I'll borescope the intake valves then try some fuel cleaner in my meth tank, and borescope again. I'm not willing to spend 6 hours every 20k to clean these things, but the result is well worth it. Time to start really finding alternatives.

[Pseudo Nim]

Originally Posted by Tzu

Yes, it can be covered under warrenty, mine was done about 40k ago. I've said this in a few threads. They scrubbed manually, and they said they were getting a walnut shell blasting machine specifically for this purpose.

I took the intake manifold off again 20k later, filthy again, so I re-did it on my own. The car really does feel great after its done.

I assume my valves are filthy again at the moment. Next year I'll borescope the intake valves then try some fuel cleaner in my meth tank, and borescope again. I'm not willing to spend 6 hours every 20k to clean these things, but the result is well worth it. Time to start really finding alternatives.

How do you request it, though? Is this something that's part of regular maintenance, or do you have to be experiencing "difficulties" with the car?

[wrrush]

ok since this is an issue with these cars is there a way to put a filter in say past the FMIC to catch all of this so there is not as much build up? just seems like doing this every 10k miles is gonna be a pain in the ass

[Tzu]

Originally Posted by Pseudo Nim

How do you request it, though? Is this something that's part of regular maintenance, or do you have to be experiencing "difficulties" with the car?

I just told my SA about the underlying issue. He said he never heard of it, and I showed him the thread a while back with all the pics as well as my own pics. He made up the symptoms on the sheet trying to "push" a valve blockage issue. The techs were apparently previously informed about it and went straight to cleaning.

Symptoms were idle sputtering or inconsistant revs, lack of top end feel, general lack of power. Anything that can be stemmed from poor airflow anyway. One of my valves were so caked that even when open, the residue was blocking most of the flow area. That cylinder essentially had only one functioning valve at 50k.


edit: My SA is pretty cool with my working on my car. Most probably will give you a hard time if they knew you dismantled your intake system. Also, this was OEM warranty, not sure about CPO, though most things I ask for through CPO gets denied.

Originally Posted by wrrush

ok since this is an issue with these cars is there a way to put a filter in say past the FMIC to catch all of this so there is not as much build up? just seems like doing this every 10k miles is gonna be a pain in the ass

Block boosted airflow with a filter? Not going to work. Best options at the moment IMO is Big Tom's CC thread and meth. And of course manual cleaning.

[Jeff@TopGearSolutions]

Depending on the dealer they may or may not warranty this. The oil catch can is only a small part of the equation. Direct injection motors are "dirty". This will happen with or without a catch can.

I can tell you if your dealer says its because of low quality gas you can tell them to go scratch cause they obviously dont know how this engine works.


The only way to avoid this is to not drive or convert to port injection fuel

[OG Ryder]

That buildup again after 9-10K and with meth? Wow.

Is turbo DI dirtier than non-turbo DI generally speaking?

[Tzu]

Originally Posted by OG Ryder

That buildup again after 9-10K and with meth? Wow.

Is turbo DI dirtier than non-turbo DI generally speaking?

Me? That was between meth cycles. Even with meth as a preventative measure after cleaning requires u to be on boost all the time to be cleaning. That may or may not be a bad thing depending on how much u like gofastjuice.

[OG Ryder]

I was referring to Rotorocious's post above that showed buildup after 10k, I was pretty shocked since it was with meth.

[Tzu]

Originally Posted by OG Ryder

I was referring to Rotorocious's post above that showed buildup after 10k, I was pretty shocked since it was with meth.

Oops, cant see pics at work. My bad.

[805beemer]

Originally Posted by MDORPHN

Uhh.... you do realize that fuel never touches the stems of the intakes valves, don't you??

Neil

You do realize that nothing in my last post, that was not written by me, says if you put xyz cleaner in your tank that it will clean the back side of your valves or valve stems. Did you even read the post?

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by 805beemer

You do realize that nothing in my last post, that was not written by me, says if you put xyz cleaner in your tank that it will clean the back side of your valves or valve stems. Did you even read the post?

Well... you posted it in a thread about how to clean intake valves and said it was interesting.

It was all about what we used to call "Italian tune-ups" and use of fuel additives.

If you realized that it would do nothing to address build-up on intake valves, why did you post it?

Neil

[n54door]

PM's guys...

So, has anyone measured the power difference before and after? I'm sure it's minimal, but I'm curious on all the variables (boost, afr, peak RPMs & power differences, etc).

[805beemer]

Originally Posted by MDORPHN

Well... you posted it in a thread about how to clean intake valves and said it was interesting.

It was all about what we used to call "Italian tune-ups" and use of fuel additives.

If you realized that it would do nothing to address build-up on intake valves, why did you post it?

Neil

Actaully I posted in a thread titled "n54 carbon build up at 65k miles before/after pics" not "how to clean your valves."

Yes I do think it was an interesting post. So i thought I would share it here as it was from another forum. Never once did I say do this and it will clean your valves. This is more of a preventive care as to keep the build up from forming.

So once again you failed to read and understand the info I was just relaying. Had you read it, you would have seen the part where it says if your valves are already gummed up that this won't do anything.

There was a lot more info than just an "Italian tune up" You forgot about switching up gas, running bmw fuel cleaner every 5k miles, and 7500k miles oil changes.

While doing all of those things may not prevent carbon build up, it certainly wouldn't hurt to try.

have a nice day

[Pseudo Nim]

So does this mean that having meth on the car REDUCES build-up? I.e., it's a GOOD thing for longterm engine health to run meth? (forgive if a noob question)

[805beemer]

Originally Posted by n54door

PM's guys...

So, has anyone measured the power difference before and after? I'm sure it's minimal, but I'm curious on all the variables (boost, afr, peak RPMs & power differences, etc).

both mr. 5 and lost marine have dyno'd before and after intake valve cleaning. I wanna say they gained around 9hp and 11lbs of torque.

[n54door]

Originally Posted by 805beemer

both mr. 5 and lost marine have dyno'd before and after intake valve cleaning. I wanna say they gained around 9hp and 11lbs of torque.

wow.... With that kind of variance, it should be a warrantied service.

This is definitely a performance issue BMW should address as a maintenance item, such as an air filter.

[Pseudo Nim]

Originally Posted by n54door

wow.... With that kind of variance, it should be a warrantied service.

This is definitely a performance issue BMW should address as a maintenance item, such as an air filter.

ya, except air filter replacement takes 10 minutes, whereas a block cleaning would probably take a full day, and both are charged back to BMW - so while the DEALERSHIP might want to do it, I doubt BMW would.

[n54door]

Originally Posted by Pseudo Nim

ya, except air filter replacement takes 10 minutes, whereas a block cleaning would probably take a full day, and both are charged back to BMW - so while the DEALERSHIP might want to do it, I doubt BMW would.

Oh yea, I know... I wouldn't want to clean gunk out of 100k+ engines for free either!