over 50k miles 1M maintenance thread.

[IEDEI]

Originally Posted by champignon

It is very simple. At 30K miles you can do preventative PECAN blasting. If you wait until 45,000 miles, ALMOND blasting is required. And yes, at 60,000, especially if you have foregone the PECAN and the ALMOND blastings, then by all means move on to the WALNUT blasting.

Hope I cleared all of this up for you.

lol!

I've told them to add pistachios into the mix for a more delightful outcome! thanks for your input!

[1mm2]

Originally Posted by champignon

No, but it may raise your car's oil pressure

Not to mention increasing your insurance premiums...

[champignon]

Originally Posted by vocan

Not to mention increasing your insurance premiums...

It's a pre-existing condition covered by Obamacare. The best part is that you can keep your plan and your technician if you want to.

[eeghie]

Originally Posted by champignon

It is very simple. At 30K miles you can do preventative PECAN blasting. If you wait until 45,000 miles, ALMOND blasting is required. And yes, at 60,000, especially if you have foregone the PECAN and the ALMOND blastings, then by all means move on to the WALNUT blasting.

Hope I cleared all of this up for you.

you sir, are nuts

[champignon]

Originally Posted by eeghie

you sir, are nuts

Mushrooms, actually :-)

[bdaddylo]

Originally Posted by MDORPHN

60,000 miles is too long to wait for walnut shell-blasting to clean the intake valves.

I'd suggest halving that interval.

It makes an enormous difference.

Neil

+1

The only way to extend that interval is to use an oil catch can.

[IEDEI]

Originally Posted by bdaddylo

+1

The only way to extend that interval is to use an oil catch can.

do you guys have an oil catch can?

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

do you guys have an oil catch can?

Yes, I run a BMS occ.

Neil

[IEDEI]

Originally Posted by MDORPHN

Yes, I run a BMS occ.

Neil

Neil: your car is properly modified....mine is totally stock. do you really think stock cars could still benefit off a CC?

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

Neil: your car is properly modified....mine is totally stock. do you really think stock cars could still benefit off a CC?

Yes, I do.

Neil

[1mm2]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

I guess i will see how the intake valves look on my car when they're done compared to before-----wasn't done today...probably tomorrow.

Please keep us posted as I am also interested.

[champignon]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

I guess i will see how the intake valves look on my car when they're done compared to before-----wasn't done today...probably tomorrow.

Juan would have had it done yesterday, as promised

[IEDEI]

here is the worst intake valve....totally cleaned now. Not as bad as I was expecting but still pretty bad! 1st cleaning at 67k miles.

The car pulls even harder and better now! yey!

$630 at my BMW dealer. I will probably do it every 40-50k miles. I think 30k is too often considering how much I drive.

[135TX]

I wouldn't push that past 40k next time, that is really dirty! I bet it feels better?

[champignon]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

here is the worst intake valve....totally cleaned now. Not as bad as I was expecting but still pretty bad! 1st cleaning at 67k miles.

The car pulls even harder and better now! yey!

$630 at my BMW dealer. I will probably do it every 40-50k miles. I think 30k is too often considering how much I drive.

Let's split this down the middle, say every 45,000 miles.

At your current rate of usage, I'd estimate you will hit 247,000 miles within several years.

This servicing will cost you $1920 at current prices after hitting this mileage.

I do think it would not be unreasonable to assume some inflation along the way, plus pecans (and their shells) are becoming more expensive, in part due to their recent high demand for cleaning intake valves, global warming (oh, I meant climate change), and other factors beyond our control . . . . so it would be best to build some inflation pressures into our model.

I am going to estimate that this is going to inflate your costs going forward to approximately $2500 by the end of this mileage period.

Hope this helps.

[IEDEI]

Originally Posted by 135TX

I wouldn't push that past 40k next time, that is really dirty! I bet it feels better?

a bit better not hugely better though....it's dirty but as compared to some of the worse cases they see at the dealer it wasn't that bad....I saw a few other examples in photos.

I think I felt more of a change because I was in a 328 loaner for 2 days....otherwise I'd say 10% improvement maybe?

[MDORPHN]

Originally Posted by champignon

Let's split this down the middle, say every 45,000 miles.

At your current rate of usage, I'd estimate you will hit 247,000 miles within several years.

This servicing will cost you $1920 at current prices after hitting this mileage.

I do think it would not be unreasonable to assume some inflation along the way, plus pecans (and their shells) are becoming more expensive, in part due to their recent high demand for cleaning intake valves, global warming (oh, I meant climate change), and other factors beyond our control . . . . so it would be best to build some inflation pressures into our model.

I am going to estimate that this is going to inflate your costs going forward to approximately $2500 by the end of this mileage period.

Hope this helps.

If you look around, you can find independent shops/techs who will do a walnut blasting in the $350-$500 ballpark.

Neil

[champignon]

Originally Posted by MDORPHN

If you look around, you can find independent shops/techs who will do a walnut blasting in the $350-$500 ballpark.

Neil

Would you like me to do an updated calculation using these figures?

[champignon]

Originally Posted by IEDEI

a bit better not hugely better though....it's dirty but as compared to some of the worse cases they see at the dealer it wasn't that bad....I saw a few other examples in photos.

I think I felt more of a change because I was in a 328 loaner for 2 days....otherwise I'd say 10% improvement maybe?

Thanks for your objective report.

Having participated in online forums on many different interests/hobbies over many years, I am never surprised by the herd mentality that exists in the population in general and forum participants in particular.

Very few people, on a percentage basis, appear to be capable of independent thought. Maybe this is why democracy is such a failed experiment in governance, even though there are no other good alternatives.

It's pretty easy to post online in a way that suggests competence and knowledge that are in fact not deserved by the person posting. A lot of people are seeking gurus to give them the answers to unanswerable questions, to make unclear things appear to be simple and straightforward.

As consumers of "free" material online, one has to be wary of accepting all-knowing statements as if they represent "facts." For example, the "before" picture you posted of your (now clean) pipe certainly looks "dirty" to me, however I have no clue whatsoever how this impacts on function. Lots of things in this life look filthy but in reality work just fine. How can the layman who doesn't do car repairs for a living have a clue?

I would take every bit of advice given on these online forums as being worth what it cost (zero; free) unless proven otherwise. A huge and healthy dose of skepticism will never harm you, only maybe protect you in the end.

[135TX]

Originally Posted by champignon

Thanks for your objective report.

Having participated in online forums on many different interests/hobbies over many years, I am never surprised by the herd mentality that exists in the population in general and forum participants in particular.

Very few people, on a percentage basis, appear to be capable of independent thought. Maybe this is why democracy is such a failed experiment in governance, even though there are no other good alternatives.

It's pretty easy to post online in a way that suggests competence and knowledge that are in fact not deserved by the person posting. A lot of people are seeking gurus to give them the answers to unanswerable questions, to make unclear things appear to be simple and straightforward.

As consumers of "free" material online, one has to be wary of accepting all-knowing statements as if they represent "facts." For example, the "before" picture you posted of your (now clean) pipe certainly looks "dirty" to me, however I have no clue whatsoever how this impacts on function. Lots of things in this life look filthy but in reality work just fine. How can the layman who doesn't do car repairs for a living have a clue?

I would take every bit of advice given on these online forums as being worth what it cost (zero; free) unless proven otherwise. A huge and healthy dose of skepticism will never harm you, only maybe protect you in the end.

Well sir it's been proven by dyno charts quantitatively and by many experienced owners qualitatively that the carbon/dirty burnt oil build up does in fact negatively affect performance. So despite your seemingly wise/ altruistic statement I'll heed your actual advice and take your opinion for what it cost me, zero/worthless. I'd suggest others viewing this thread to do the same. Bottom line is it does have an effect on throttle response and performance and the Op has done a service to that n54 by taking care of it whether 10%, 15% improvement or otherwise...

[champignon]

Originally Posted by 135TX

Well sir it's been proven by dyno charts quantitatively and by many experienced owners qualitatively that the carbon/dirty burnt oil build up does in fact negatively affect performance. So despite your seemingly wise/ altruistic statement I'll heed your actual advice and take your opinion for what it cost me, zero/worthless. I'd suggest others viewing this thread to do the same. Bottom line is it does have an effect on throttle response and performance and the Op has done a service to that n54 by taking care of it whether 10%, 15% improvement or otherwise...

I never said that this type of service is not worth doing. What I did say is that a lot of dogmatic statements made on the internet, which appear to the uncritical to be true, are in fact baseless or close to it.

And in reality, no one drives a dyno; they drive a car. There are all sorts of things that can be measured with sophisticated equipment that have very little if any real world importance.

[IEDEI]

Originally Posted by champignon

Thanks for your objective report.

Having participated in online forums on many different interests/hobbies over many years, I am never surprised by the herd mentality that exists in the population in general and forum participants in particular.

Very few people, on a percentage basis, appear to be capable of independent thought. Maybe this is why democracy is such a failed experiment in governance, even though there are no other good alternatives.

It's pretty easy to post online in a way that suggests competence and knowledge that are in fact not deserved by the person posting. A lot of people are seeking gurus to give them the answers to unanswerable questions, to make unclear things appear to be simple and straightforward.

As consumers of "free" material online, one has to be wary of accepting all-knowing statements as if they represent "facts." For example, the "before" picture you posted of your (now clean) pipe certainly looks "dirty" to me, however I have no clue whatsoever how this impacts on function. Lots of things in this life look filthy but in reality work just fine. How can the layman who doesn't do car repairs for a living have a clue?

I would take every bit of advice given on these online forums as being worth what it cost (zero; free) unless proven otherwise. A huge and healthy dose of skepticism will never harm you, only maybe protect you in the end.

this is true....but since I do drive my car a lot I am trying to reduce my risk factors for early aging. I would like to think I am on top of my maintenence but not 'too' aggressive as like others I also have financial budgeting to do and do not have unlimited funds to spend in maintaining this fantastic car.

I do agree with you that there is a herd mentality in the enthusiast community BUT it's also nice to know there are others speaking from experience and knowledge about certain matters so it is up to put own judgement after listening to others; independent thinking with understanding of others opinions is best, IMO