[Testercles]

Sunday the 23rd of April myself and another BMWDCSA club member are getting a chemical Carbon Clean done for around $130. The process takes around 30 minutes ad they said it should work well for direct injection but hey at the end of the day it's a small price for a clean. I'll try and get some pics but I believe they disconnect the fuel lines.
Anyone else in rAdelaide looking at getting it done the more we have the cheaper it'll be.
I've been meaning to get and walnut clean for and while so figured might as well have this done.

[vtl]

Sounds like snake oil to me. The fuel system injects directly into the cylinder so putting any cleaner will not touch the valves.

No substitute for physically taking off the intake manifold and physically cleaning out the valves. Theres no magic product that can clean off the carbon anyway, that stuff can be rock hard and solvents are not particularly effective in cleaning that mess off.

[Testercles]

That's exactly what I was thinking unfortunately. If they're injecting through the fuel lines they're bypassing the issue.

[Socket]

Yeh sounds like crapola as said above Chems though injectors won't clean valves. Only reliable way to do this is walnut blast or with a tiny brush and lots of elbow grease

[DR-JEKL]

I called my local BMW dealer back in 2013 to see what they do with carbon buildup on the valves, and they offered the same treatment.

They mentioned they dont normally see the issue on the 335i's but very common on the mini's and this treatment works sucessfully.

As mentioned it wont help a 335i and not only that you'll have no idea if its worked or not..

Steer clear and do the proper method, walnut blasting!

[EB89]

Sounds dodgy as hell, walnut blast it.

[Testercles]

Update:
Usually they run a clean for 30 minutes. For the club this weekend we'll all be run for an hour and they're pumping it through air intake not through fuel lines to do better for DI engines.
For a little over $100 I might as well. They're dedicating as full day to BMWDCSA and after 197 k km I've got nothing to lose.
I do still plan on having a walnut blast in the future, just not sure where to go in Adelaide.

[Digitalism]

Nothing to lose? I'd say a little over $100.
Would you be willing to inspect the valves after the clean?

[Wolf 335]

Originally Posted by Testercles

Update:
Usually they run a clean for 30 minutes. For the club this weekend we'll all be run for an hour and they're pumping it through air intake not through fuel lines to do better for DI engines.
For a little over $100 I might as well. They're dedicating as full day to BMWDCSA and after 197 k km I've got nothing to lose.
I do still plan on having a walnut blast in the future, just not sure where to go in Adelaide.

Does this process of going through the intake require removal of the intake manifold?

Just curious what happens to the carbon deposits once the chemical hits it and they dissolve or break off in the chamber. Will they suck it out somehow or just let it burn off in the cylinder?

[vtl]

Originally Posted by Wolf 335

Does this process of going through the intake require removal of the intake manifold?

Just curious what happens to the carbon deposits once the chemical hits it and they dissolve or break off in the chamber. Will they suck it out somehow or just let it burn off in the cylinder?

When the chemical hits it, it will dissolve a little bit of the greasy build up and not do much else. Any benefits felt will be due to the placebo effect.

Where would they even inject this? If its thru the air inlets, it would have to travel thru the turbos, thru the intercooler, thru the charge piping, thru a mostly closed throttle and thru an intake manifold. And youd have to hope it would get distributed thru each port evenly.

I have sprayed carburetor cleaner and degreaser with the manifold off directly into the intake ports. It barely does anything. The carbon buildup is a huge mess and quite thick, and will definitely require mechanical cleaning.

If there was anything strong enough to dissolve the carbon, youd think that stuff wouldn't be too good in the combustion chamber diluting your oil would you?

[T1M]

This sounds like the Seafoam stuff people buy in the US and feed it into the intake while the car is running. Problem is it doesn't tend to evenly distribute through each intake runner and valves and it's washing down the cylinder walls too. The smoke and crap generated fouls O2 sensors and has even taken out cats. I wouldn't do it if that's what they are going to do. Walnut blasting is the BMW procedure for valve cleaning - they even have a BMW special tool for that very procedure.

[mmmmQuattro]

I would be interested, but I would like to know a bit more about what it is and what could go wrong.
I don't like the idea of strong chemicals going into the intake and perhaps causing damage.

[Testercles]

Carbon Cleaning SA
On Facebook.

[Testercles]

I'm hoping by way of boroscope or something we're able to get before and after images. We'll have to wait and see I guess.

[Testercles]

So it was a poor turnout from the club but there was a noticeable improvement in the revs of an E39 M5 and my car now idles a could hundred rpm lower. I don't really drive my car hard often nor do I really pay attention to in gear revs so in the short term I'm not unhappy with the results. I'll monitor economy and see if there's a drop at all.
We went in through the air filter box and my car was run on the machine for about 80 minutes. They also did an OBD scan and to my surprise there weren't even any old codes stored. Win.

During my next service or the one after I'll get at least proper intake clean done. This was always the plan but this opportunity came up.

[Socket]

Originally Posted by Testercles

So it was a poor turnout from the club but there was a noticeable improvement in the revs of an E39 M5 and my car now idles a could hundred rpm lower. I don't really drive my car hard often nor do I really pay attention to in gear revs so in the short term I'm not unhappy with the results. I'll monitor economy and see if there's a drop at all.
We went in through the air filter box and my car was run on the machine for about 80 minutes. They also did an OBD scan and to my surprise there weren't even any old codes stored. Win.

During my next service or the one after I'll get at least proper intake clean done. This was always the plan but this opportunity came up.

Nice to see no codes

[Testercles]

Until yesterday morning when I got a Trans code. Restart and it went away so who knows.

[Socket]

Originally Posted by Testercles

Until yesterday morning when I got a Trans code. Restart and it went away so who knows.

Unrelated for sure

[Testercles]

Originally Posted by Socket

Unrelated for sure

Hopefully