Hey all!
Just been watching wheeler dealers and they've been working on a jag and Ed did some carbon cleaning. Does this actually do anything and is it worth doing to the 2? Has anyone done it and noticed a difference?
Ps88
Check out last years ding day thread.
Same chap at ding day this year as well.
from memory, people did report possitive comments.
Do check for yourself though.
Cheers ardent! Always good to hear from you!
Back in the day, it was common practice to 'de-coke' the engine if you had the head off for any reason, a thoroughly satisfying task wire brush in an electric drill and various scrapers but trying to leave a margin of carbon build up around the edges of the pistons. Worth lapping in the valves at the same time. It should smooth out the gas flow a bit but may slightly lower the compression ratio depending upon the degree of carbon build up; you will be lucky to notice any performance difference.
With modern engines and fuels nobody is likely to bother during the life cycle of the car so chemical de-carbonising may appeal to some but you can argue that regular use of a premium fuel (Shell V-power for example) with its cleansing additives would have a similar effect.
If you've got a 'keeper' and really want to look after it then an annual or whatever chemical fix would give peace of mind and should help keep the rings sludge free but I can offer no hard evidence of that.
My gut verdict is it probably isn't worth it, go for say a one tank in four premium fuel option.
Made a significant difference to my X-Trail.
I had mine done at a local terraclean franchise when first opened and were offering a 50% off deal
The chap emissions tested it before and after and there was a difference so it does work
On the road it felt a little perkier and there was an increase in MPG (before averaging 30Mpg after 33Mpg)
Before I owned the car it was used for school runs and local drives only so was probably a bit bunged up
Hello Pandasuit
Will you be attending our national day? Ding day.
Do not see you listed on the attendees list.
Down now! see you then. Will have to get all my parts fitted asap!
I've had my Cooper S Countryman done, if you search for 'walnut shell blasting' you'll get lots of results on the Mini forums.
Something to do with direct injection meaning things don't get cleaned properly these days, hence it's needed.
Makes a massive difference to the N14 engined ones, not so much the N18. A few folk in American tried the seafoam method and apparently it was nowhere near as good as the walnut shell blast.
Quote from: Bossworld on January 30, 2017, 13:10
I've had my Cooper S Countryman done, if you search for 'walnut shell blasting' you'll get lots of results on the Mini forums.
Something to do with direct injection meaning things don't get cleaned properly these days, hence it's needed.
Makes a massive difference to the N14 engined ones, not so much the N18. A few folk in American tried the seafoam method and apparently it was nowhere near as good as the walnut shell blast.
Nearly 2 years on from the last post -anyone had any genuine positive experience of this working?
Quote from: H1GRM on April 15, 2019, 12:42
Quote from: Bossworld on January 30, 2017, 13:10
I've had my Cooper S Countryman done, if you search for 'walnut shell blasting' you'll get lots of results on the Mini forums.
Something to do with direct injection meaning things don't get cleaned properly these days, hence it's needed.
Makes a massive difference to the N14 engined ones, not so much the N18. A few folk in American tried the seafoam method and apparently it was nowhere near as good as the walnut shell blast.
Nearly 2 years on from the last post -anyone had any genuine positive experience of this working?
Well if it's any use, updating my post as you've tagged me, I've just had to replace my high pressure fuel pump which is a common failure point. I still get an occasional 'booming' startup where the revs run high for about a minute, probably 1 in 5 cold starts. Assumed changing the HPFP would fix that but clearly not.
Engine is still running fine otherwise, but no better or worse than before. The BMW dealer said it didn't seem as coked up as the other N14 engines.
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There have been 2 or 3 people who have rebuilt their 1ZZs since my last post, who can possibly shed some more light on what the innards of the engine looked like and whether either the seafoam or the media blasting could be effective.
@jvanzyl (https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=22834) @Call the midlife! (https://www.mr2roc.org/forum/index.php?action=profile;u=24360)
My own experience was that every part of the intake from the TB onwards was caked in greasy, carbon deposits with no clean, smooth surfaces anywhere.
Similarly the valves and cylinder head looked like it had been running on 2 stroke and had a lot of carbon build up.
I don't how much damage any of the chunks of carbon would do if they were broken free and left to their own devices but knowing what I know now I wouldn't want to take the chance.
Theoretically anything dislodged from the valves/expansion chamber you'd expect to be expelled via the exhaust. So which is the lesser of two evils, bits of crap bouncing around in the expansion chamber and possibly scoring the bores or the same bits of crap accumulating in your nice, hot catalytic converter?
I would say that the removal and cleaning of the TB and intake manifold would be high on my list of things to do should I ever buy another 2.
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My recollection from rebuilding my Silver car's engine was that the TB was quite clean, whereas on the blue car's engine the TB was indeed coated in greasy black gunk.
The silver car had a standard induction setup with a paper air filter whereas the blue car had a wikid cone filter.
Both were oil burners so loads of carbon inside the combustion chambers.
Based on my sample of 2 (!) I'd say a good condition one that's always had an oem paper filter and working o2 sensors and not burning oil isn't going to be improved much by a carbon clean.