Hello All,
So my daughter buys a 2008 JCW (R56 N14 I have learned), this summer as an intern. On the way home, to end of August, it dies going up to a stop sign. AAA hauls it home and this is where it remains occupying one bay of my garage. Luckily I hauled her back to college and the wheels have not been necessary but, summer is coming.

I have learned that the exhaust cam has jumped timing. I was guided to this by really low cranking compression numbers. Leakdown tests indicate that I probably don't have bent valves as the leakdown rate was never substantial and all exhaust valves are still up against the round part of the cam 'off lobe'. Installing my crank locating pin (it's a manual and so according to online it doesn't go on as far as an automatic) I can install the intake cam fixing brace but the exhaust cam is probably 135° off (ya that's not a typo). Tonight I pulled off the timing chain (started many days ago) and do not have any 'smoking guns' as to why or how this may have happened. With the timing chain off I've rotated the exhaust cam to get the flat side up and other sides vertical with round down. Again, this was less than 1/2 a full rotation but certainly more than 90°. In this position both intake and exhaust cams have their 'text' upward so it all seems 'legit'.

The old chain tensioner that I removed is a bit longer than the new one I got in the kit from ECS Tuning. This concerns me a bit as I was hoping that maybe the new one might be longer and that the old one 'collapsed' or something. I'll probably call ECS to see if I received the wrong thing.

Any insight and/or opinions are valued here as prior to this fall had never touched a Mini and my technical experiences is more based on two stroke cycle single cylinder motorcycles.

I would feel a lot better if I could find something bent, twisted, or broken that I could replace. Below is a pic of the cams. Intake braced, crank pined, and exhaust ????

Please help

 

Classic tensioner failure caused by low oil level. The Gen 2 turbo engines are notorious for this. They tend to consume oil. As the level drops, the tensioner stops getting steady pressure, and the timing chain goes slack. Over time, that slackening lets the chain both stretch a bit, and break off the chain guides over the cam timing gears. Make sure you have a full set of guards; it's common for bits of them to end up falling down into the engine after they break.

So, it's a huge bummer to experience this, but once you fix it, it ought to stay fixed. Just tell your kid to be religious about checking the oil level at least once a month, or expect this to happen again.

Re the tensioner, there have been several (9!) revisions to that part over the years. ECS does a good job of keeping their kits up to date with the latest parts from MINI. I assume you bought this: (edit: removed incorrect link, see the one posted by ECS below) The tensioner should be 82mm long.

 

Yep, should be one of these kits, i think he linked the n12, n16 above.

N14 engine https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2008-...Engine/Timing/ yep should be 82mm.

The 2008 N14 did not have a JCW until 2009, yours might be a JCW tuning Kit 2008 R56 MINI Cooper S. The engine is the same, just has a intake, exhaust, tune , and some fancy badges. https://www.realoem.com/bmw/enUS/sho...diagId=03_0027

 

Wow, good insight Bratling! That's a very likely scenario and it would fit the evidence. I didn't think to measure the oil I drained when I started this project.

Also, I cannot believe that ECS tuning is also on here. Another reason to 'not buy Amazon' when you care about something. FWIW, based on the response above ECS is looking into what was in the kit. The part number that I received matched what you recommended but I received 77mm and removed 82mm from the car.

My Coworkers are suggesting I just go ahead and pull the head and reseat the valves since I'm already this far. It's got ~120k miles. Thoughts?

 

ooof, that’s above my skill level to comment on. I do a lot of my own work, including the tensioner on my old N14 (2009 Clubman S), but when the head comes off (or transmission comes out) I leave it to people much more experienced than I!

And, I agree on ECS. They are active and helpful community members. They’ve earned my business and I gladly refer others to them too.

 

I think our team is going to send you that correct longer tensioner, it was a mistake in that kit from the vendor. Sorry about that.