Walnut Shell Blasting Results - 49k miles

[Johnny_M]

My car has 49k miles on it and I decided it was time to get rid of the carbon buildup. There is a local board member, Rob, that I found on the e90post boards (N54tech link) that does this at a reasonable price and lives right down the street from me. He has done work on quite a few cars on the boards and everyone has spoke highly about him. I had him replace the Oil Filter Housing Gasket as well that I was told was leaking at my last oil change and would cost $600 to replace.





Here are the videos Rob took of the job:
before showing all the carbon buildup -

middle comparing the dirty and clean -

last video showing the all clean -

Here are a few pictures he took of the install:

View post on imgur.com

I drove the car about 20 miles tonight, and the acceleration feels a lot smoother and when doing a pull, the top end feels stronger. Those were my initial impressions at least. As far as Rob's work, in my opinion I think he did a top notch job and he has great communication skills. Unfortunately for us (or me,) and fortunately for him, he starts school again soon, so his availability is limited. Anyways, I feel walnut shell blasting is a necessity for these engines and I hope everyone is able to get it done at least once during the ownership of their cars just to feel the difference.

[mike@x-ph.com]

I did mine at 98 000 miles... big difference !!

[A_Squared]

Nice man...it's a must do maintenance. The difference is amazing

[kprocivic]

Thanks for the review. I been holding off getting it done. I will give him a chance as well.

[lleff]

Is this required maintenance on the N55 or just the N54 engine?

[Silenus]

Originally Posted by lleff

Is this required maintenance on the N55 or just the N54 engine?

The buildup is not nearly as bad on the N55, but it still occurs. I'm curious to see what the N55s will start to look like when they hit 100k miles.

[A_Squared]

Has anybody with a n55 ever checked to see what their intake valves look like? I'd imagine there's got to be some there since the n55 is also direct injection.

[wobbles1]

Oops.