[Sethism]

The N54 is direct injection. Techron will do exactly nothing for the intake valves, as the fuel and any additives never contact them. In the VW/Audi world, many owners will simply DIY: pull the intake manifold and manually clean the valves. It costs almost nothing, but the time investment is 4-6 hours.

Running high Nitrogen fuels such as Shell V-Power is known to reduce carbon build up, but at some point, all direct injection engines will require valve cleaning.

[StealYourFace]

I know the di motors are different, but my car had a similar issue and I cleaned the MAF and did a plug change (at 98,000 miles, not klics) and my issue went away.

Just for shits I dump a bottle of techron in my car every oil change.

I wonder if that shitty ethenol treated gas effs up our cars- I think most filling stations sell 90/10 gas/ethenol.

[Blackhawk36]

Originally Posted by DarkNemesis

800 USD?
I am pay 4 hours labour at 143.88 per hour.
Plus
1 hour diagnostic.
So 5 hours + HST which is 12%.
Total 805.

Could not find any shop local that would do it cheaper.

DN

USD = US Dollars. The price is about the same. Let us know if it fixes your problem. I'll bet it does. Group buys are the way to go if you can find them or even start one. Folks will find a tech willing to do it for $200-400 and line up 4-6 cars to go through on a Saturday or Sunday when the shop is closed. Search around and you will find examples. Just not sure if you will find them in Vancouver. They are pretty common in California and on the East Coast.

[Blubaron79]

Originally Posted by 335BBS

This is BRUTAL. A car with so few miles on it needing an $800 service?

The dealer opened a PUMA case. They covered it for free!!!

It was however partially my fault. I was running garbage gas through my car. It was octane 93, but I never knew about top tier fuels. Now I only run Shell or Exxon/Mobil if Shell isn't around.

[BashShah]

Walnut blasting complete today.
Just got the car back.
Didn't see any hesitation.
But, will drive it for the next 2 days and provide my feed back.

DN

[BMWNTHZST]

my wife's 335i has 51,000km and suffers from carbon build up too Direct Injection is a crappy design

I'm scheduled for the walnut blast on Monday. My question is...moving forward what steps can I take to prevent this from happening again? Should I be using a product such as ZMAX every 5,000K ?

By the way I've always changed the oil in my car every 5,000K and I only put in Shell 91 gas.

[cmyk]

Originally Posted by BMWNTHZST

my wife's 335i has 51,000km and suffers from carbon build up too Direct Injection is a crappy design

I'm scheduled for the walnut blast on Monday. My question is...moving forward what steps can I take to prevent this from happening again? Should I be using a product such as ZMAX every 5,000K ?

By the way I've always changed the oil in my car every 5,000K and I only put in Shell 91 gas.

There's not really anything you can do to prevent it. It's just something that happens in DI cars. Some people have said that they reduced the frequency of needing an intake valve cleaning after installing an oil catchcan, and running meth injection seems to help as well (but I doubt your wife would want to go that route )

Gas or any fuel additives don't touch the intake valves in a DI engine, so adding anything to the gas tank does not do anything at all for carbon buildup.

[BashShah]

Originally Posted by BMWNTHZST

my wife's 335i has 51,000km and suffers from carbon build up too Direct Injection is a crappy design

I'm scheduled for the walnut blast on Monday. My question is...moving forward what steps can I take to prevent this from happening again? Should I be using a product such as ZMAX every 5,000K ?

By the way I've always changed the oil in my car every 5,000K and I only put in Shell 91 gas.

After reading as much as I have.
I have come to the conclusion;
Carbon build up on intake ports is a common issue, and nothing to be overly worried about.

Every 40-50km get it done.
I have heard of this being done as low as $300. And as high as $1100.

I could have done it myself, but was just busy, and no local Indy shop to do it.... There are none around me.
Lol

Carbon build up is a devil, we have to live with owning a twin turbo car.

DN

[BashShah]

Ok, so after 3-4 days of driving after a dealer walnut blasting.
I say the hesitation has reduced by about 95%.

Let me explain all that they did.
1. Dme emmision recall... This may be part of the solution.
2. Showed me a borscope pic of 3 ports, man it was baked on there.
Never been cleaned before.
Dealer did the walnut blasting.

So, day 4.5 driving.
I have seen approx 90% of jerking issue fixed.
When shutting car off for 5min or more then driving.
I can feel it still felt it jerking.

I think the current jerking is very minimal.

Fuel economy is better by from 13.8 to 11.7-9 l/100 km.

Next think I try is BG 44K.
Then spark plugs, oil change.
And maybe all 6 coils.

Let you know.
DN

[Blackhawk36]

Originally Posted by BMWNTHZST

my wife's 335i has 51,000km and suffers from carbon build up too Direct Injection is a crappy design

I'm scheduled for the walnut blast on Monday. My question is...moving forward what steps can I take to prevent this from happening again? Should I be using a product such as ZMAX every 5,000K ?

By the way I've always changed the oil in my car every 5,000K and I only put in Shell 91 gas.

Direct injection is what makes a fuel efficient, high compression turbo-charged motor even possible. Hardly a crappy design. Most people will never need to do a walnut blasting in the life of their lease. I will only effect long-term and used car buyers. I would classify it as growing pains. Even so, it is a small price to pay for perfomance IMO.

[BMWNTHZST]

The Walnut blast is complete. I'm picking the car up from the dealer after work today.

Since I plan on keeping this car for another 4 years I guess I better think about having the carbon removed after another 25K.

Here's hoping she's as good as new again.

[fun2drive]

Reports on this forum and others have noted less carbon build up with higher flash point oils compared to the synthetic 5W30 Castrol BMW uses.
I plan to bore scope my 335 when I start to get symptoms but at 55K miles I don't have these symptoms. I also have a Rob PCV valve which is supposed to reduce blowby under boost. As far as I know there isn't anything that does that under vacuum.

Direct injection intake valve build up will be solved, GM uses DI and does not have this problem. Go visit Audi and VW turbo sites if you want even worse issues that the 335 has.
I am guessing that a solution will happen be it a different oil or changes in the intake or other. BMW goes for performance and if the price is walnut blasting your intake valves every 50-70K miles so what.

There is a member on here who has over 180K miles on his 335 and he did get his turbos replaced and had walnut blasting done around 50K miles. He changed oil and his last report was no carbon build up on the intake valves so maybe there is something to the higher flash point. This member beats on his ride pretty hard and it is modded as well so he has found something that works...

[galahad05]

Originally Posted by DarkNemesis

Ok, so after 3-4 days of driving after a dealer walnut blasting.
I say the hesitation has reduced by about 95%.

Let me explain all that they did.
1. Dme emmision recall... This may be part of the solution.
2. Showed me a borscope pic of 3 ports, man it was baked on there.
Never been cleaned before.
Dealer did the walnut blasting.

So, day 4.5 driving.
I have seen approx 90% of jerking issue fixed.
When shutting car off for 5min or more then driving.
I can feel it still felt it jerking.

I think the current jerking is very minimal.

Fuel economy is better by from 13.8 to 11.7-9 l/100 km.

Next think I try is BG 44K.
Then spark plugs, oil change.
And maybe all 6 coils.

Let you know.
DN

Can almost guarantee you it's the plugs that are the remainder of your problem.
Those things probably got fouled or burned by the improper air/fuel mixtures over time.

[BashShah]

Galad05, I agree with you.
Plugs for sure.
But just for investigative purposes.
I plan on a BG 44k twice over 6 tanks fills.

See what that does.
Can only help.

Then the plugs, and maybe the coils.
Last before I tackle the last component, injectors.

Keep you posted, hope this thread helps other that are in my situation.

DN

[Sethism]

Originally Posted by DarkNemesis

Galad05, I agree with you.
Plugs for sure.
But just for investigative purposes.
I plan on a BG 44k twice over 6 tanks fills.

See what that does.
Can only help.

Then the plugs, and maybe the coils.
Last before I tackle the last component, injectors.

Keep you posted, hope this thread helps other that are in my situation.

DN

BG 44K will do absolutely nothing to keep the intake valves clean. By definition, DI engine valves will never come in direct contact with fuel or fuel system cleaners. The only way to clean DI intake valves is manually.

[BashShah]

Sethism, I am agreement with you also.
The purpose of BG 44k is to clean the injectors, just in case they are not spraying properly.

[phillip@bmpdesign]

Originally Posted by DarkNemesis

Galad05, I agree with you.
Plugs for sure.
But just for investigative purposes.
I plan on a BG 44k twice over 6 tanks fills.

See what that does.
Can only help.

Then the plugs, and maybe the coils.
Last before I tackle the last component, injectors.

Keep you posted, hope this thread helps other that are in my situation.

DN

Just to hopefully save you some time and money. Coils are not like spark plug wires, they will either work or they won't. If they are working, they do not need to be replaced. If they are not working, you will only need to replace the one. This is true for all makes and manufacturers of vehicles (Ford, GM, BMW, VW, etc).

[335BBS]

Originally Posted by Blubaron79

The dealer opened a PUMA case. They covered it for free!!!

It was however partially my fault. I was running garbage gas through my car. It was octane 93, but I never knew about top tier fuels. Now I only run Shell or Exxon/Mobil if Shell isn't around.

Another Kool aid drinker. Most fuels come from same place. That would have nothing to do with your problem. ENDLESS threads on this.

[Blubaron79]

Fuel all does come from the same places, however certain companies add more additives to their.. 'Captain countless' threads on that too.

[Evan70]

I just had mine blasted at 45K miles. Car is stock, and has always had dealer service. While not horrible, there was significant buildup.

[BashShah]

Originally Posted by Evan70

I just had mine blasted at 45K miles. Car is stock, and has always had dealer service. While not horrible, there was significant buildup.

Evan, did you have any symptoms, or dealer just told you that it time to take of it?

[freshwater]

I read about DI, Carbon buildup, Misfiring, hesitation on higher RPM and seems like the issue is worst for DI Engines build by BMW/VW/Audi/MB, GM and Toyota not having that much problem not sure about volvo..

Mine 335i 97k on it start having issues around 85k with Misfiring and codes thrown, Still a CPO car took to Dealer cause was Spark plugs, they change all 6 and Car was fine. now around 92K i start seeing slight hesitation on higher gears and RPM, problem got worst every 1k I put on the car. Took it again and they finally figure out its the Famous Carbon build up on the Intake Valves, Remedy was Walnut Blasting, so Car still in garage for that procedure to be completed. Hopefully it will be 95% better.

So now come to the cause why this happening to the DI engines Design by the Brightest Auto Engineering minds in the entire Universe..

1) Cant be the Fuel since Fuel never touches the Intake Valves and adding BG44 or TEchron will not Help much may be help with Fuel injectors..

2) How about the Synthetic Oil we used, I had read that 1 person change the Oil from Mobil 1 SAE 0W-40 to Castrol Syntec European Formula SAE 0W-30. And never saw any Carbon build up on the intake valves after driving for many many miles..So is the Oil causing it and we should start using the correct oil. and what is the correct Oil to use. ???

We cant afford to keep getting Walnut Blasting every 25k from these State of the Art Engineering Machines..

My Indi shop used, Motul Full Synthetic 0w-30, Lubro Moly 0W-30 or FUCHS 5w-30, and after 50k I been using this every 10k miles. Before that it was BMW Dealer Oil. not sure what he was using.
My Mileage from the Display which i never reset is 25.2mpg so that from almost 50k miles of driving, 60% Hwy and 40% City.


Normally people using these Oils:
--------------------------------
Castrol Syntec European Formula SAE 0W-30
Mobil 1 SAE 0W-40
Pennzoil Platinum European Formula Ultra SAE 5W-30
Valvoline SynPower SAE 5W-30
Motul FULL Synthetic
Lubro Moly 0W 30
FUCHS 5W 30


Link to Liqui Moly which is same as Lubri Moly.

http://forums.vwvortex.com/showthrea...Moly-Oil-Forum

Nice article about Moly, it did mention it helps in reducing Carbon. "Moly reducing friction which reduces heat, this helps keep rings free from carbon buildup, prevents blow-by, decreases emission, and extends oil life." " By filling in the craters and pores Moly improves this seal allowing for more efficient combustion and engine performance."

http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/moly-basics/




Another additive they been using is ceratic see below to increase Engine Life.


CERA TEC
Motor oil additive
With high-tech ceramic anti-wear protection

How does CERA TEC work?
The graphite-like structure of the ceramic particles enables them to fill in the roughness present in the metal, thereby preventing direct metal-on-metal contact. An active chemical (friction modifier) utilizes the existing friction energy to ensure flowing i.e. non-abrasive – smoothing, annealing the friction and bearing points.

CERA TEC is a suspension based on a microceramic solid lubricant and chemical active agents in mineral oil. This combination reduces friction and protects the engine and transmission against wear. This in turn prevents expensive repairs and prolongs the life of the assemblies.

CERA TEC offers high mechanical and thermal stability, ensuring outstanding lubrication even under the toughest conditions. Engine and transmission noise are reduced.
It saves energy, reduces fuel consumption and thus also pollutant emissions.

CERA TEC reacts directly with the surface of the metal and protects your engine for up to 50,000 kilometers - even with the oil being changed during that period.