how can i remove carbon build up on my 325i intake valves without doing any damage to my engine? can i use a product called restore and will this work effectively?
Dunno. How do you know there's carbon build up? Bavauto (www.bavauto.com) sells a product called Lubro-Moly Jectron, might be an option: http://www.bavauto.com/fland.asp?part=LMERK&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=googlebase&utm_source=LMERK I'm no expert, have never used this stuff; be curious what the more knowledgeable folks thought about this as well. Part of me thinks this stuff is mostly snake oil.
I think "Restore" is designed more for cars with low compression... if I remember the commercials from Speed channel. You may want to look for a product called "Seafoam" I know dealers can also do a carbon build up removal that is more thorough (but also more quite a bit more expensive)
If you are just refering to all the gunk that can attach itself to the valves, modern "Top Tier" gasolines have detergents to remove that stuff. "Top Tier" gasolines are discussed extensively in other threads in this forum plus at: http://www.toptiergas.com/
carbon build up i came to the conclusion about carbon build up from an online website ( ask a mechanic ). my question to him was, why did my bmw have what seemed to be a split second misfire while sitting at idle ? i put it in the shop and they did not find any codes out of sinc.
koshbmw I came to the conclusion that i had carbon build up from a website(ask a mechanic).My question was why did my bmw seem to have a split second miss every 20 to 30 seconds while sitting at idle,his answer was carbon build up.
Lubro Moly's "Jectron" is an injector cleaner while "Ventil Sauber" is the valve cleaner. These are available at BMP, DasAutoSport or BavAuto, and used like SeaFoam. You "feed" it to the car via the vacuum hose on the fuel pressure regulator. I used Ventil Sauber to clean things up on my E28 before an emissions test. The car smoked like it was on fire when the build-up was being removed, but it worked great!
I don't think you can be sure that you have carbon buildup on your intake valves until you actually pull the valve cover. I'd take what people say on the internet with a grain of salt. (except for mooseheadm5 aka Paul... )
koshbmw Thank you for the insite however,still have the problem with the split second miss at idle otherwise the car performs well.
If it does it consistently, did you try taking it to your nearest independant mechanic? If it does it consistently and it's easily reproduced, then I'm sure it wouldn't take them long to figure it out.
to check your carbon buildup, you can check your spark plugs. (dependign on when you changed them), however if chemicals you mixed in don really work out, you'll notice it there initially. If you pull the valvecover, youll see the average dirt inside, hoever to see the valves emself you'll need to pull the head OR: pull one of the manifolds. (Exhaust/intake). where these ports sit, behind it, youll find the valves/stems there you can check with a keyring flashlight;-) Im maybe able to run some pictures by later on
As an owner of two M54 engines, I highly recommend using Techron Concentrate Plus ( 20 oz., big bottle ) with the next full tank of Shell V-Power 93 octane, if you have access. You will feel the difference with a consistent regimen, especially at startup. Zero hiccups on my engine at 112k miles ! Then proceed to drive the hell out of it for the entire tank. "shampoo, rinse, repeat"
