[Mr. 5]

Here is the DIY but I will be doing things a little different.
http://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=476419

-I'm going to take out the oil filter to drain as much oil from the housing as possible.
-I'm going to disconnect the water hose from the housing.
-I'll leave my oil lines going to the oil cooler connected to the housing.

[sneaks]

How do i know the engine is at tdc for a particular cylinder? Is it a certain number of degrees after the intake valves close?
Can i turn the motor by hand if the tx is in neutral?

[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by sneaks

How do i know the engine is at tdc for a particular cylinder? Is it a certain number of degrees after the intake valves close?
Can i turn the motor by hand if the tx is in neutral?

Good question.
I'd like to know if it could be turned by hand.

[///M3THOD]

Sub'd

I'm really interested to see what our valves look like. I am about to hit 40k..

[vasillalov]

Originally Posted by Mr. 5

Good question.
I'd like to know if it could be turned by hand.

Of course it can. It is just a normal engine. Disengage your transmission into neutral. Rotate slowly via the crank pulley, allowing compression to slowly fade away.

[99three]

FWIW-The Porsche community swears that Techron is a great aid in removing carbon buildup. This would be the solution I would use if and when the cover comes off my car.
I wonder if re-routing the EGR (or eliminating it completely) is an option for our cars. If so, someone please come up with this fix soon!

[Transport3r]

Originally Posted by vasillalov

Rotate slowly via the crank pulley, allowing compression to slowly fade away.

Remove spark plugs >> no compression

[mycoupe]

Originally Posted by 99three

FWIW-The Porsche community swears that Techron is a great aid in removing carbon buildup. This would be the solution I would use if and when the cover comes off my car.
I wonder if re-routing the EGR (or eliminating it completely) is an option for our cars. If so, someone please come up with this fix soon!

Please tell me you are referring to pouring it in the intake once you have the manifold off...if not, , these cars are DI and fuel NEVER sees the back of the intake valves.

[Mr. 5]

I'm ready for tomorrow morning.
Tomorrow, I'll focus on cleaning the intake and valves and replace the seal of the oil filter housing.
The coolant and oil was too hot to do tonight.

[WilliamE92]

Carbon deposits are carbon deposits. Location doesn't change the chemical composition.

Perhaps the heat makes a slight difference, but I'm pretty sure if a reaction was going to take place it would at least be somewhat noticable after an entire week of contact regardless of temperature.

Coming into contact with your warm intake valves for a few seconds vs soaking in the substance for a week and all...

Just sayin

[BrianMN]

Originally Posted by 99three

I wonder if re-routing the EGR (or eliminating it completely) is an option for our cars. If so, someone please come up with this fix soon!

That would certainly help...but our cars don't have any form EGR, besides the valve overlap. No secondary air injection either. Pretty simple in terms of EGR/warm up tools compared to previous and other BMWs and other Euros'.

[dzenno]

Mr. 5 great work, can't wait to see before/after...also interested in how long it took to get everything removed and how u went about replacing that oil filter housing gasket

[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by dzenno

Mr. 5 great work, can't wait to see before/after...also interested in how long it took to get everything removed and how u went about replacing that oil filter housing gasket

It wasn't that bad and to be honest, the deposits on the valves aren't rock hard either but maybe it's because I've been using meth.
It can easily be scraped off.

[99three]

Originally Posted by mycoupe

Please tell me you are referring to pouring it in the intake once you have the manifold off...if not, , these cars are DI and fuel NEVER sees the back of the intake valves.

Sorry, I didn't elaborate in my description of using the stuff. Yes, I would remove the manifold and let the chemical soak in the ports a day or so. This would help dissolve the caked on crud.
Looking forward to Mr. 5's before and after shots as well as how the car feels afterwords.

[boom]

Originally Posted by BrianMN

That would certainly help...but our cars don't have any form EGR, besides the valve overlap. No secondary air injection either. Pretty simple in terms of EGR/warm up tools compared to previous and other BMWs and other Euros'.

How do you know this. I can't find anything definitive on egr for the n54. I'd really appreciate the reference.
Tia

[Mr. 5]

I just started it up and everything went fine.
I was a little worried about all of the crap that went into the cylinders and if I dried out anything but everything worked great.
pics will come soon.

[Mr. 5]

OK guys,
Here are the pictures.
I could have done a better job but I had to stop because I have other things to do today.
I think I got a good amount of gunk off the valves but after seeing the pictures, I could have done better.
What's amazing is the amount of crap thatwas on the ports.
I think that the thing I'll notice the most is gas mileage.

I lowered the boost setting of the methanol as well so I can do some more cleaning.
I set the meth to come on spraying 100% at 2 psi.

[99three]

Please provide details on what you used to remove the gunk. Chemical, tools, how did you gather the shit that came off the valves and around the ports? Any difference in your 'seat of the pants' gauge? Good job in getting done so quickly but give us details dude!

[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by 99three

Please provide details on what you used to remove the gunk. Chemical, tools, how did you gather the shit that came off the valves and around the ports? Any difference in your 'seat of the pants' gauge? Good job in getting done so quickly but give us details dude!

I used a crap load of brake cleaner, a long screwdriver to scrape way down in there and a SS wire brush to scrub the ports. If the valves were open, I let most of it fall in the cylinder. I used a shop vac on each port though to get as much out of there.

[99three]

You have a lot of patience dude! I appreciate the time you took in being one of the first in trying this out for our 335 community. I'm sure there's some take away from this example.

Of course, the results vary for everyone depending on the severity of the carbon build up. Perhaps soaking the valves in a superior chemical cleaner beforehand (ie. Techron) would make the task of removing the carbon less daunting. I'm wondering if a wider, bristly and flexible wire brush would be able to get around the valves and fill the ports better. Maybe someone can potentially fabricate one? This would allow more port perimeter contact and ultimately a thorough clean around the valve stem. I'm worried that using a screw driver in the attempts of scrapping the crud off could score the valves not to mention your hand could easily slip denting the seats.
I'm afraid my way of attacking this project would take much longer than a few hours to do for the simple fact that the valves would need to seat closed in order to hold the chemical solution.

In any event, kudos to you for inspiring us to do the same and preventing our cars from prematurely becoming affordable ricemobiles.

[Transport3r]

Nice work!

Wasn't it possible to rotate the crank between each cylinder?

[Mr. 5]

Originally Posted by joshuo

Nice work!

Wasn't it possible to rotate the crank between each cylinder?

Probably but I would have had to jack up the car and do it from the bottom and I didn't want to mess with it.
I think I did a pretty good job with doing the job with the valves as is.


Oh and BTW, I was doing the test drive and pushed it up to 15 psi, and POP! It was a loud sound and it sounded metallic. Oh no!
I totlly thought I popped a valve.
Then I kept driving and my engine was running fine but when I hit boost is sounded really funny and I had no power.

I got home and looked all around the engine bay.
The elbow from the IC was off.
I forgot to tighten the clamp Whoops!