Originally Posted by MINIMI2

My 2010 S went with no indication at all, no rattle, no bang it just shut off and yellow check engine light came on. (after it died) Checked on board computer, came back CHECK OK. Ran code reader and got 3 or 4 temporary codes, relating to cam position and valve timing. Temporary, meaning these codes had not set as permanent`, they were pending, meaning they occurred when the timing chain sprocket separated from the cam. Simple terms , there were no prior codes before failure. How much trust do put in an on board computer that tells you your engine is OK when your looking at the timing chain and cam sprocket at the bottom of the timing cover! I can see your point about a bad oil filter or botched install being the instigator of so many VC failures. Mine was oem filter, with oil at top of stick. Mini had car for 5 days when we went back to dealer to get Answers. Warranty was 6K miles over, but 2 months under on duration. Service advisor and Lead shop tech took us out to car to tell us the bad news. They said they couldn't help us on a new motor due to low oil and lack of maintenance. I asked the shop tech. to pull the dip stick and show me where it was low. He looked at the service advisor and choked, he said oil level was good and appeared to have been changed recently. ( 2 weeks prior to failure). He also mentioned how clean the engine bay was. I showed them the maintenance schedule I used for the car. 5K miles or less on oil changes with Mini filters. Not their condition based changes at 15 to 18,000 miles. Long story but ended with mini putting in a factory rebuilt and I still payed $350.00 for their bad engineering. And no, they wouldn't replace the computer that couldn't self diagnose a dead car.

Originally Posted by lorenfb

"you will see that the vacuum pump, gets it's oil feed through the rear bearing journal in the cylinder head, from the exhaust camshaft bearing journal supply feed line"

This is not correct. The vacuum pump utilizes a double sealed bearing which DOESN'T
receive ANY lubrication and just relies on its initial bearing grease. To imply that
frequent oil changes will reduce the likelihood of the vacuum pump failing is totally
misleading. There is NO oil flow to lubricate bearing!

The only immediate and realistic solution is a redesigned vacuum pump where the
connection point from the cam shaft can shear easily if the bearing seizes.

Originally Posted by JaY mini

I just wanna say real quick... I bought my first Mini Cooper 2 weeks ago, it had a vacuum code so I went to take it off while watching a YouTube video telling me how, well I accidentally took it apart trying to take it off of the block. It had oil in it so I drained it thinking that was the problem... Turned out that it's supposed to have oil in. Mine is the 2008 Mini Cooper S N14.