Walnut blasting. Good idea?

[tbourner]

Apparently it costs £500! Jeepers!!

Is there a way to tell if it's required or not? I am getting a bit of misfire every so often which clears itself after a few seconds, it's also pretty lumpy running generally. However; the plugs were changed by BMW at the service a few months back, so they could have fudged something - or would that be a more disastrous misfire?

It's an n54 on 83k, and we do quite a lot of short journeys since we've had the car (2 years). What's my percentage likelihood of needing a deep clean?

[robinessex]

Italian tune up might work !! It's free, a bit of fun as long as Mr. Plod isn't in the vicinity!!

[tbourner]

robinessex said:

Italian tune up might work !! It's free, a bit of fun as long as Mr. Plod isn't in the vicinity!!

Yah but from what I understand it's the direct injection which causes the build up, so even with fuel cleaner additives it doesn't touch the valves and inlet ports so it never cleans it off.

[Dannbodge]

Italian tune up will do nothing for a direct injection engine.

If you've been quoted £500 for it, then you're getting ripped off. Most places are £250/300.
I paid £335 for mine to be done, along with brake fluid and a courtesy car for 2 days.

At 83k you will need it done. It's advised that you have it done every 50k miles.

This was mine at 55k
Before

After:

[tbourner]

I could cope with £300 or less. I'll have to email around to see who else does it, it's not very well advertised as a service. Need somewhere nearish to Portsmouth.

[motco]

Phil Crouch at CPC said he'd do my son's Audi RS4 if he wanted. Don't recall the price though. Not a lot of good to anyone in Hampshire though, sorry, CPC is in Amersham.

[Dannbodge]

tbourner said:

I could cope with £300 or less. I'll have to email around to see who else does it, it's not very well advertised as a service. Need somewhere nearish to Portsmouth.

That's where I'm based

I had mine done at TWG automotive (Camberly) but Iridium Engineering (Southampton) also do it now (and is a bit closer)

[iSore]

I had a Cooper S done - the ports were about 2/3 their normal bore due to massive build up at 60'000 miles. I had mine cleaned out the normal way - valves closed, loads of carb cleaner and an old spoon with the end sharpened and dug out before a final clean with carb cleaner and a toothbrush. Made a massive difference.

[tbourner]

Dannbodge said:

tbourner said:

I could cope with £300 or less. I'll have to email around to see who else does it, it's not very well advertised as a service. Need somewhere nearish to Portsmouth.

That's where I'm based

I had mine done at TWG automotive (Camberly) but Iridium Engineering (Southampton) also do it now (and is a bit closer)

It was Brystone in Totton who quoted £522. Barons Hindhead said it would likely be £600-£700 depending on how long it actually takes!! He also suggested looking at other things first, and was confused as to why I was considering walnuts as the first port of call for poor running. TBH I was expecting it to be cheaper was the reason to consider it first.

[XMT]

Some BMW dealerships do it too, Couple years ago now but as others said the quotes hovered around 300-400 range. thanks

[Silverbullet767]

An old list with old proces here, but still helpful.

http://www.minitorque.com/forum/f15/walnut-shell-d...

[Fore Left]

Failing coil packs can cause a random misfire with no codes esp at low revs. Car just jerks rather than pulling smoothly. Just changed all 6 on my N53. Has transformed the running. Less than £100 for 6 Bosch ones from CarParts4Less (ECP's cheaper brand).

You could buy one and swap it around but it's a bit tedious.

[tbourner]

TWG want £280, so that's better.

What about Terraclean? They claim to clean direct injection vehicles with a pressurised solution in the inlet as well as the special fuel they run through the engine.

[Mr Tidy]

I can't help much with the topic as my BMWs have been too old to have Direct Injection engines, but I've been using TWG Automotive for all of my BMWs for the last 4 years and would definitely recommend them!

[ManOpener]

tbourner said:

TWG want £280, so that's better.What about Terraclean? They claim to clean direct injection vehicles with a pressurised solution in the inlet as well as the special fuel they run through the engine.

Apparently there's a specialist attachment for direct injection engines but I have yet to find anywhere that actually has it. The rest of the time, a waste of money.

[CoolHands]

+1 for TWG. I had my mini walnut blasting done there (they have same problem).

[Mike335i]

ManOpener said:

Apparently there's a specialist attachment for direct injection engines but I have yet to find anywhere that actually has it. The rest of the time, a waste of money.

I'm not convinced that a chemical can shift all that burned on carbon, even with the attachment for the intake. I think it needs some form of media blasting like walnut to shift it. Worked for me and I got a decent price (around £300 at a dealer, but with other work at the same time).