Great video! I didn't know it was just 12 seconds. Just to make clear to people, the carbon build up is so bad because it's DIRECT INJECTION and fuel doesn't go over the tops of the intake valves, it is injected directly into the cylinder. Non-DI engines have the fuel injected into the intake and it "washes" over the intake valves. The N54 is especially bad at carbon build up. The N55 has a recirculation which is supposed to help some but not sure how effective it is. Some manufacturers are adding some injection before the valves to help with this I believe. I use CRC DI cleaner every few oil changes to help, but it won't take off serious build up like this. You can buy the little vacuum attachment for about $25 and get a walnut set up (if you already have a compressor) for around $50-$150 depending on how fancy you want (if you're in the US, they sell at Harbor Freight for cheap). You just have to take off the intake though of course.
Did similar to an OHC Mazda engine that was drastically failing the smog checks. All I removed were the spark plugs. Fastened a soft copper tube to a harbor freight blaster air gun and curved it, inserted through spark plug hole at TDC, and blasted away the combustion chamber with fine walnut shells. Blew out with clean air. Engine's exhaust emissions were then 1/4 of limit! Seemed to have more power as well.
I think I need this on my Z4 35iS. It's been running rough idle lately, has 75k miles and never has been walnut blasted before. Couldn't be the injectors because they were all replaced less than 3 months ago.
Part of me wishes you did before and after borescope shots, but the other part knows just how sticky and horrible that stuff is and what a pain it would be to clean off from a borescope shaft let alone a camera lens.
That is absolutely incredible. I cannot believe that that little bit of mileage that the valves look like that. You would think BMW would have some sort of service bulletin out. I'm not sure on European cars but American manufacturers put out service bulletins one things they have found out that should be addressed sooner not later. I would think with these valves on the BMW that's something that should be done at least every 30,000 miles. I just think it's great that you have tools that stop you from having to pull the whole entire head off. As you know when you do that you are opening up a possibility for a failure point I must definitely hit the like and subscribe button on your video. I enjoyed the video I am looking forward to watching more of them. Thank you for sharing your knowledge on how to resolve this problem. I don't believe in the chemical method. I have never seen a single product that dissolves deposits like this in the real world.
Did anyone else notice the irony that the intake manifold that is supposed to last the life of the car is plastic whereas the tool you use to clean the valves is aluminum?
Just curious.... I have a BMW F30 335D X Drive with the N57 engine which of course has 6 cylinders. If this is relatively quick process, why is the cost as high as it is? The cheapest quote I have seen for my vehicle is £469.50 for 4 hours of labour, new seals and the walnut shells. Next cheapest was £500 then followed by a whopping £695. They estimate it will take 3-4 hours.... I appreciate that to conduct this process the inlet manifold has to be removed, but if the process of cleaning each cylinder only takes perhaps up to a few minutes (you specified 12 seconds in the video), why does the whole process take 3-4 hours? I'm going to be having this process done within the next 2 weeks, my vehicle has covered 89,500 miles (67 reg) and the previous owner was a right cheapskate and hardly maintained the vehicle at all, so I doubt it's ever been done.
Hi, was any difference noted? If so, in what way? I have one with a nervous idle and LOTS of carbon sludge on the valves... but seems to run just fine when its warmed up... Thank you...
What an absolutely crap design! I'll never buy a new one ever again. I'll stick to my 18 year old E46 and its near bulletproof reliability. BMW lost their way after the E46's I'm afraid... Please keep the video's coming!
What on earth are volves??!!! 😂😂😂😂😂 A little concerning that the finished inlet tracts still had evidence of walnut shells . . . they need blowing clear after each cylinder has been blasted or they will be drawn into the cylinders . . . . A lot of trouble to go to only to not bother with an important finishing touch!!
not all engines need this type of cleaning. only those with direct injection (diesel or GDI) get bad carbon build up. normal port-injected cars get a little carbon, but the valves are generally pretty clean. this process, however, is for cleaning the ports, not the manifold. that said, a walnut blast setup like this should work on an intake manifold. the hard part is containing the mess. the aluminum under that he connects the vacuum to is a bmw part, specific to the port opening, and pretty specific to the engine. the diesels, for example have two port openings per cylinder, and they are different shapes, so it requires two of those special shop-vac adapters. there are a wide variety of 3D printed port adapters being sold on ebay, the ones i've purchased or have experienced personally have been low quality - nothing like the aluminum bmw pieces.
