Can someone explain this $140 service at BMW (carbon cleaning)

[grunyon]

Hey guys. Found this coupon the other day for a 140 dollar carbon cleaning service.

http://www.princetonbmw.com/specials/service.htm (scroll down a little)

I've called twice to try to get more details on what's involved. Neither time did the service advisers seem to really be able to explain to me what they are doing. I don't want to pay 140 dollars for my car to be professionally seafoamed... and I'm sure they're not walnut blasting for 140 dollars... but if they are accessing more areas than I could with a can of seafoam it might be worth it to me.

Any ideas?

[lowbudgethero]

Sounds like seafoam, or similar because it says combustion chamber. The fact that they don't know what's being done with this service seems like it's a farce. Also, a fellow Flemington 135 owner, nice.

[Experimental]

Originally Posted by grunyon

Hey guys. Found this coupon the other day for a 140 dollar carbon cleaning service.

http://www.princetonbmw.com/specials/service.htm (scroll down a little)

I've called twice to try to get more details on what's involved. Neither time did the service advisers seem to really be able to explain to me what they are doing. I don't want to pay 140 dollars for my car to be professionally seafoamed... and I'm sure they're not walnut blasting for 140 dollars... but if they are accessing more areas than I could with a can of seafoam it might be worth it to me.

Any ideas?

If they can't explain it, my rule is I don't do it.

[135Pats]

Waste of your time and money. The motor is DI so whatever they put into the fueling lines will just bypass the intake manifold, which is what you really want cleaned. There is no chemical means of cleaning out the intake manifold; you must tackle it manually with the manifold taken off.

[cheshirecat79]

Originally Posted by 135Pats

Waste of your time and money. The motor is DI so whatever they put into the fueling lines will just bypass the intake manifold, which is what you really want cleaned. There is no chemical means of cleaning out the intake manifold; you must tackle it manually with the manifold taken off.

Correct- basically they're offering an injector cleaning service where they may detach the fuel rail and push some cleaner through it. This has nothing to do with the DI carbon buildup in the intake manifold.

[ShocknAwe]

My dealership here does a "chemical manifold clean" where they inject like you would with walnuts, but it doesn't work worth a damn.

Walnut clean or bust.

I agree with never touching a service option if they cant even explain it. What useless tools.

[Allen@MOTIV]

They are essentially doing a seafoam treatment. It's BMW's special sauce that is injected through a vacuum port on the intake manifold. As a preventative measure it may help but it's definitely not a walnut blasting replacement.

[tmaroufi]

Originally Posted by Allen@PTF

They are essentially doing a seafoam treatment. It's BMW's special sauce that is injected through a vacuum port on the intake manifold. As a preventative measure it may help but it's definitely not a walnut blasting replacement.

Do you reccommend seafoam treatments on 135i / What are they useful for? If so, could you hook it up with a DIY? Thanks man

[Allen@MOTIV]

Originally Posted by tmaroufi

Do you reccommend seafoam treatments on 135i / What are they useful for? If so, could you hook it up with a DIY? Thanks man

I don't really recommend seafoam. Seafoam is supposed to clean and remove carbon deposits in the intake manifold and cylinder head, however there has never been any solid evidence that it does anything other than make the car smoke like a freight train for 10 minutes.

In my opinion the only way to clean the ports like they should be cleaned is with walnut blasting.

[mb135is]

Stay away from the Princeton BMW service department. Completely incompetent in my varied experiences.

[BEAR-AvHistory]

Only way to decarbonize the engine is walnut blasting or about a million hours of hand scraping.

[Andrewcoja]

Originally Posted by tmaroufi

Do you reccommend seafoam treatments on 135i / What are they useful for? If so, could you hook it up with a DIY? Thanks man

In a car without direct injection, it's supposed to remove carbon like Allen said. Key word supposed to. I haven't seen any proof that it works. With detergent minimums in gasoline these days (for instance, techron from Chevron or Texaso) you shouldn't have to use seafoam. The gasoline will spray over the valves just like the seafoam would and clean off carbon deposits.

In a car with direct injection (135i), it won't do anything. The fuel is sprayed directly into the cylinder completely bypassing the valves. This means carbon is free to build up on the valves and the manifold and nothing is going to clean it off. Recommended action is walnut blasting.

[kobeballer96]

just do it man. it will clean out some, if not most of your build up. as for DIY its really not that hard. just unhose one of your vacuum lines from your bov going into the intake manifold and suck the seafoam away. have friend with you to give is some gas while your doing that part. honestly i havent see under the hood of a N54 or n55 but it couldnt be much different then any other DI turbo car.

[n2djazz]

My SA says valve cleaning is about $1000.00. So I doubt whatever they do for $140 will make a noticeable difference.