Carbon build up and injector cleaning

[Dodge2Dub]

My dealer recommended that I do the carbon build up and fuel injection cleaning. What surprised me, at least related to the carbon cleaning, was that it's not covered under warranty. Just curious, have you guys had both of these services performed at 30k miles? Separately, if you did have these services performed, did you pay for them or were they covered under warranty?

[Locksmythe]

They didn't sell you an alignment and tires, too?

[JJM335]

I have wondered if there is any value in this. Both BMW and VW have offered an similar service for my wife's Z4 and my GTI (respectively). The pitch for them is that direct injected engines don't pass fuel over the intake valves so they don't get cleaned by additives. So, not sure what good it would do in my M3.

[Grail05]

Hahha the dealer tried to sell me and i said NO!!!! Hahaha

Originally Posted by Locksmythe

They didn't sell you an alignment and tires, too?

[Dodge2Dub]

Originally Posted by JJM335

I have wondered if there is any value in this. Both BMW and VW have offered an similar service for my wife's Z4 and my GTI (respectively). The pitch for them is that direct injected engines don't pass fuel over the intake valves so they don't get cleaned by additives. So, not sure what good it would do in my M3.

Will a meth/water system help with this or will it completely bypass the intake valves similar to the fuel?

In the VW and Audi crowd, this is a hotly debated topic with many owners of the RS4 opting to have this service completed even before the dealers started realizing that this was a money making venture (vs. Warranty concern).

Have any of you noticed an increased carbon build up in your own engines (maybe when installing the supercharger)?

Btw, they did offer a $300 alignment - made me laugh!

[Dodge2Dub]

ttt

[Dodge2Dub]

Better question...does carbon build-up plague the S65 like it does with the VW/Audi FSI engines?

[lve2xlr8]

It plagued the s62 in the e39 m5 to the point of secondary air injection failure, only fix was to remove the heads and drill out the carbon only for it to occur again. It was a design error which I would hope bmw would have fixed for the s65.

[JAJ]

There's a lot of room for confusion on this point:

- BMW doesn't use direct injection on the M3 engine, so it's not prone to the same carbon buildup problems that plague the Audi and VW engines.

- BMW does use direct injection on the 335i as well as most of the newest generation 6's, V8's and V12's. It is subject to the same problem that Audi has, but BMW seems to have largely dodged the bullet on it. The BMW DI engines are not prone to carbon buildup on the same scale as Audi.

- BMW does have a carbon buildup problem on some of its older engines, but it was carbon forming a blockage in the auxiliary air system that lights off the catalytic converters on a cold start. These air passages in the cylinder head can get blocked, causing the ECU to throw a code and requiring an expensive cleaning. It usually doesn't manifest itself until a number of years have gone by. The S62 engine in the E39 M5 was prone to this issue but I imagine by now that BMW has it solved on a go-forward basis.

[Dodge2Dub]

Originally Posted by JAJ

There's a lot of room for confusion on this point:

- BMW doesn't use direct injection on the M3 engine, so it's not prone to the same carbon buildup problems that plague the Audi and VW engines.

Ah, I was misinformed. I thought that the S65 was direct injected. Problem solved...thanks!

[1MORELAP]

Originally Posted by JAJ

There's a lot of room for confusion on this point:

- BMW doesn't use direct injection on the M3 engine, so it's not prone to the same carbon buildup problems that plague the Audi and VW engines.

- BMW does use direct injection on the 335i as well as most of the newest generation 6's, V8's and V12's. It is subject to the same problem that Audi has, but BMW seems to have largely dodged the bullet on it. The BMW DI engines are not prone to carbon buildup on the same scale as Audi.

- BMW does have a carbon buildup problem on some of its older engines, but it was carbon forming a blockage in the auxiliary air system that lights off the catalytic converters on a cold start. These air passages in the cylinder head can get blocked, causing the ECU to throw a code and requiring an expensive cleaning. It usually doesn't manifest itself until a number of years have gone by. The S62 engine in the E39 M5 was prone to this issue but I imagine by now that BMW has it solved on a go-forward basis.

Thank you!

[Rshane]

Originally Posted by JAJ

There's a lot of room for confusion on this point:

- BMW doesn't use direct injection on the M3 engine, so it's not prone to the same carbon buildup problems that plague the Audi and VW engines.

- BMW does use direct injection on the 335i as well as most of the newest generation 6's, V8's and V12's. It is subject to the same problem that Audi has, but BMW seems to have largely dodged the bullet on it. The BMW DI engines are not prone to carbon buildup on the same scale as Audi.

- BMW does have a carbon buildup problem on some of its older engines, but it was carbon forming a blockage in the auxiliary air system that lights off the catalytic converters on a cold start. These air passages in the cylinder head can get blocked, causing the ECU to throw a code and requiring an expensive cleaning. It usually doesn't manifest itself until a number of years have gone by. The S62 engine in the E39 M5 was prone to this issue but I imagine by now that BMW has it solved on a go-forward basis.

Great info...thanks! I had a 2009 A5 3.2 with DI and folks on the Audi forums were worried about this, and it always stuck in the back of my mind. Glad to hear the M3 doesn't use DI.

[1sikbmr]

I have the same question but it is about a 08 550... The dealer is telling me to have the fuel injector cleaned. Is this necessary? They want to charge around $250
Thanks