"Walnut Shell Blasting"

[Anonymous]

Has anybody had this done? If so who have you used?

I have had various issues with the rough running at idle, plenty of exhaust smoke and on three occasions the EML coming on. I have had new plugs, coils, electric pump and on the last occasion the Peugeot dealer said it is likely that the valves are “coked” and it would require shot blasting. I have owned the car since September 2014 covered 12,000 miles (yes that’s right 12K) mainly motorway and I like to see the spoiler at the second stage so I think the last owner may have been dawdling about around town in it. I have noticed on various forums this seems to be common problems with this particular engine but to be honest have just about had enough of this lovely looking car which is spoilt by a crap engine.
I have been quoted between £800 - £1500 to have this fixed by Peugeot dealers and have contacted an independent who says he will do it for £400 and provide pictures of before and after. If it can be done for £400 and that cures the problem all well and good but my confidence is low that these are just rubbish engines and having already spent £800 on repairs perhaps I should get rid before it empties my wallet.

For information its:
2010 RCZ GT 156 with 56K on the clock

 

[Anonymous]

Just to update left work last night got in a queue of traffic, revs drop before I can get my foot on the accelerator the EML is on and I just about manage to keep it going, I carry on the 60 miles home with the light on and the car seems to run okay.
It looks like a week-end is going to be spent getting a replacement as I need something that I can get at least another 50,000 miles on the clock and I will be lucky to manage another 5000 miles in this!

 

[Anonymous]

Traffic is the killer.

Direct Injection engines hate stagnating in traffic even for relatively short periods.

Could be the Coke issue and if thats true then most BMW garages will be able to do the wallnut blast for about £300 as most of their petrol 4's and 6's suffer the same.

It could also be the timing issues that are fairly prevalent in the 1.6THP engines.

In America BMW actually did an official recall to rectify the issues but in Europe none of the partners (or BMW for that matter) that use the BMW / PSA engine have officially recognized it.

You will have warranty surely and even if it is worse case scenario then its no more than a day in the garage to have the timing assembly replaced.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for your response Figo, unfortunately I have been in contact with 3 BMW garages and none of them will touch any other car except BM’s, I have also tried a couple of Mini garages with the same result.

I didn’t buy the car from a Peugeot dealer as previous Peugeots, 405’s, 406 3L coupe that I had owned in the distant past had been reliable and covered over 140k miles before being sold and were still going strong. Perhaps foolishly I thought a modern low mileage Peugeot would give trouble free motoring so with the guarantee only being 3 months or 3k miles (that didn’t take long) I took the risk!

I don’t mind spending the money if it will cure the problem once and for all as I love the look of the car, it’s comfortable but I can’t afford to have it off the road for repairs on a regular basis.

 

[the big blue]

Hi Oxman :greetings-wavingblue:

..sorry to hear of your woes AND fully appreciate your predicament of being happy ,,NO 'willing' to pay the bill if you know that the fault will be cured! ,,maybe only the shot blasting and TIME will tell. However, I wouldn't have thought that your engine should be suffering to the degree it is and be in need of the latter as yet as I'm sure if it was the case then there would be hundreds of the PSA engines (in Mini's) suffering and in need of the same. I say the latter as I'm sure there are hundreds/thousands of the same engine that spend far more miles than yours Z' has been involved in stop start in town driving and are not suffering as you are. Maybe it is a timing issue and that could be explored and hopefully end up giving you the trust and peace of mind you have in the Z' that you love externally.

.the big blue (..wishing you well & good luck from the Forum back benches AND keep us all updated) :thumbup:

 

[stagger321]

Hi Oxman.
Sorry to hear that you are suffering like this.
I've only come across Walnut blasting as a paint stripper, not for this. Nevertheless it is supposed to be less aggressive than standard sand blasting.
Couple of questions for you.
What fuel are you using - Regular or something like Shell V-Power.
Secondly, before you go to the expense of blasting the valve areas- which obviously requires head removal, has anyone used a Borescope camera to assess whether you have coked valves or not. You may end up paying much cash for something which won't fix the problem.
Cheers.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Big Blue and Stagger

Thanks for your comments, sympathy and help.

Big Blue – I have been on the mini forum and they have a thread with garages that carry out “Walnut Shell Blasting” but the only one local said they would not do it on the RCZ and the Citroën forums also has threads relating to this subject. I realise it’s possibly only the minority of cars with the BMW / PSA engine that suffer and I have just been unfortunate.

Stagger – I use Premium fuel on the advice of the Peugeot dealer but obviously I don’t know what was used prior me purchasing the vehicle. In respect of the “borescope camera” this has not been carried out, the Peugeot mechanic who worked on the car last time it was in said he “thought” the problem was likely to be the valves clogged up with carbon and it would need sand blasting. The guy I have spoken to with regard to the “Walnut Shell Blasting” said that he would do a borescope prior to carrying out any work. It is an independent garage who service BM’s and he seemed to know what he was on about but we’ve all been to those in the past and had our finger burnt, but the Peugeot dealer quotes are bit on the high side to put it politely.

 

[stagger321]

Hi Oxman.
I'm with Figo on this one. It's likely to be a timing issue. This is a cause and effect problem. The de-Coking would address the effect, but before long you gonna be back to square one. So you need to address the cause. Whether it be timing slip, bad coil packs, plugs or a combination of all the above.
When it comes to independent service garages, well there are good and bad. Go on recommendations. My personal experience is that independents rate far better that the mainstream dealers, especially if you get a good specialist.
I have had more bad experiences at mainstream dealers than independents.
Good luck, and let us know how you get on.

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Oxman- I'm having the same issue, but was quoted £2500 by Peugeot dealer yesterday!! But I came across something called BG44K which gets mostly positive review. I placed another post on here to ask if anyone else has used it for fuel system cleaning as it states it get rid of the crap in both our engines!! :crazy:

Al

 

[Anonymous]

Hi AllanH, I have it booked into a place in Sheffield tomorrow, non Peugeot and they are charging around £400 which is nearer to what the BMW and Mini dealers charge. They will use a bore scope camera first to check it needs doing and also provide images of before and after so fingers crossed, I will let you know how it goes and if I recommend them or not!!

 

[Anonymous]

Hi Oxman- I'm having the same issue, but was quoted £2500 by Peugeot dealer yesterday!! But I came across something called BG44K which gets mostly positive review. I placed another post on here to ask if anyone else has used it for fuel system cleaning as it states it get rid of the crap in both our engines!! :crazy:

Al

The fuel additives used to be able to prevent build up on older cars - but couldn't really cure it.

When the fuel air mix was done in the manifold it was a Godsend - especially in my old ZS 180 where BMW incidently changed the lovely alloy inlet manifold with a plastic one that was pone to gunking :lol:

with direct injection engines like ours the spray spends so little time as a mist before ignition that it does very little.

Thats why the more extreme process of walnut shells is needed.

its the age old trade off.. the "techier" stuff gets the better the power and a economy but the worse the reliability.

 

[Anonymous]

Well it’s been done thanks to GT Autos Sheffield (0114 2446949) very professional and enthusiastic keeping me informed of progress, they have put a video and photo’s on their facebook page (GT AUTOS GT Tuning). It seems to have done the trick much more responsive and improved economy, although tick over is still slightly lumpy at times but I don’t think it would have been any different if the dealer had done the job for twice the price or in one case four times.
I would recommend these guys if you need it doing its around £400 and the price the quote is what they charge no “added extra’s” as always seems to be the case elsewhere.

 

[Anonymous]

This has been a good read for me because my wife's car (5 yr old car bought from new with just under 15K miles) has had similar issues with a misfire and it has been in with our local Peugeot Dealer for a month until they finally said that the next step recommended by Peugeot (After many other checks) would be to decoke the valves. The dealership couldn't guarantee that this was the fault and they wanted over £600 to clean it with a cleaning agent and if this didn't work, then I was told that it would be the engine :crazy: . This was after spending hundreds on the diagnosis up to that point, I obviously lost confidence then and got my car out of there and was fortunate enough to find a BMW/Mini/Saab specialist in Cardiff who would carryout the walnut blasting at a very reasonable cost.
I picked the car up today and all is well so far, so I am hoping it will stay this way.

To get on to the reason why I posted: If you need a garage in South Wales to perform the walnut shell blasting, I would thoroughly recommend SWSS Saab http://swss.co.uk/blog/ in Cardiff Telephone: 029 20473040. Genuinely nice chaps who carried out the work with no fuss at a very reasonable cost. I will definitely use them again.