2013 Mini Cooper S Intake Valve cleaning

(This is only for educational purposes. You assume any and all risk of damage or injury by doing this job yourself.)
Summary of my experience cleaning the intake valves on my 2013 Mini Cooper S R56 N18 6 speed manual.
I mention part of this data throughout the video, but to be thorough: this, and many cars like it, have a direct inject engine. Since no fuel is injected into the intake manifold, there's nothing to clean the carbon, leading to nasty buildups on the valves...like the video shows (I've seen valves 3x this bad...where they were essentially stuck shut. Mine were bad, but yours may very well be worse.
No matter how good modern engines are at being "sealed" everywhere, a tiny bit of oil still makes its way past critical seal points and runs onto those intake valve stems. Without the gasoline of a non-direct inject engine washing them clean, that oil can bake onto the valve and accumulate into carbon buildup.
Naturally, oil isn’t partial to just the intake valves. It also runs down the exhaust valves but in small amounts. The heat of the exhaust gases exiting the combustion chamber burns the exhaust valves clean.
However, on the cooler intake valve side, carbon can build up so much that it interferes with airflow through the intake port or even enough to prevent the intake valve from sealing properly when it closes.
Direct injection is a fairly new technology designed to make environmentalists and data nerds happy to squeeze every milliliter of fuel efficiency out...at your expense. I hate it, full disclosure. It's this "efficiency" which causes carbon buildup and makes your car underperform...and creates a new service interval. Nice job tree-hugging engineers.
Alas, with the help of this video - for Mini Coopers at least - YOU don't need to go to an expensive mechanic to fix your intake valves. Good luck and take it slow, repeating the walnut shell blast as many times as you want.
Here is the link to the PDF I used. It was a long time ago, and I think there were other printouts I used, which you'll see in the video. At the end of the day, THIS video will get you there, and the PDF will help you construct the parts you need. My video is thorough.
file:///C:/Users/Durkovich/Desktop/DYI%20Walnut%20Shell%20Blasting%20SS%203-27-13%20(1).pdf
Link to the actual website, leading you to have to click on the PDF (try the link above first. If that doesn't work, this one should):
www.northameri...
These forums can lead you down the rabbit hole pretty quick. I think this is a good place to start:
www.northameri...
Images used in video:
Direct inject:
www.aa1car.com...
4 stroke:
www.researchga...
Port vs Direct:
www.carsguide....
Full disclosure: we sold this car. I do NOT recommend you buy a Mini Cooper. I get it: light vehicle, turbo, wide wheel base, yep - sounds like a lot of fun. The best one I've heard and agree with is "Mini's are awesome when they're working". SO TRUE! After this, I had to pay someone for the infamous timing belt change because the tools to complete are ridiculously expensive, unique, and it's a hard job. I had to concede my DIY skills. Got it working - really well - then sold it. Couldn't take the stress anymore. You've been warned! lol
Good luck!
MUSIC from Soundcloud and UA-cam "to use commercially" tracks
- Wellington_Coffee_Shop