I have noticed that Minis must have been made for repair shops and not average joes. The dealerships must make an absolute fortune just on their $200 diagnostic charge to then tell someone a battery replacement has to be done with a special tool for $500 or oil filter housing seals cost $1300. I don't think I would purchase one again in the future but I won't ever want to let the one I have go now that I'm committed to it. There are probably so many small fixes that are just made so complex that you would just want to give up and take it in for something as simple as a footwell module reset. Thank got for YouTube and forums nowadays!

 

Oh, and when I called the dealership to ask what a few torque specs were they literally told me they could not give out that information.

 

Well........lol code came back today. I spoke too soon!!!

 

Intermittent problems are the worse. Seems like some connection issue in the wiring/connector. It fixed itself when you moved connections around and then decided to unfix itself.

 

They are the worse!!!!! I'm going to replace the Vanos solenoids and while I'm waiting for them to come in I'm going to test the wiring with a volt meter.

 

BMW TIS system will give you torque specs. But it's like $30/day for access.

Bummer on the intermittent electrical issue, I don't envy you. Good luck.

 

Hope you're seeing the signal 5V at the connector to the sensor?

 

I'm seeing the 5v for two of the wires which I'm assuming are the power and signal. The ground wire is matching the voltage on the battery which was like 12.3v or something like that. I can't remember off the top of my head what it was but I know it was low because my battery is dying. Probably dying from sitting for the 3 months while I was working on it. I charged it to about 75% when I started the car after I was done working on it, thinking it just needed to be charged with the alternator which started the car and it sounded fine, no sputtering or anything but the code and limp light came on immediately. Then I figured I would just take it to Napa and have it tested when I bought the new cam sensor. They said it needed to be replaced. Then I brought it home, and put it back in to test the new cam sensor which gave the same code. Then I charged it to fully charged overnight and switched the Vanos solenoids the next morning. When I started the car then, the code was gone. Thought it was because I switched the Vanos but the code came back the next day. I ordered two new Vanos solenoids(which will be here tomorrow) but as I thought about it, I'm wondering if the fact that the battery needs to be replaced may be why the code keeps coming up since the code disappeared when I charged the battery to 100% and then reappeared the following day when the battery may have lost charge. So I'm waiting until Black Friday to buy a battery in hopes I can get a deal from Napa or O'Reilly's or AutoZone.

 

Honestly, I don't think it has anything to do with the cam sensor or the wiring. I'm hoping it's not because the timing is off even though everything lines up and all tools lock in correctly. I figured if the timing was off I would get a different code saying it's retarded or advanced or the cam angle was off or something but I'm not a mechanic. Sooo hopefully it's just the battery.

 

It would be great if it was just the battery. You'll need to tell the computer if you put in a new one and "register" it.

I'm not an expert and just thinking here.

Perhaps everything is good that you've done and checked out, and it is the actual cam phaser gear on the shaft giving the issue and the sensor are picking this up? That's the only other thing I can think of. The electrical circuits and sensors as well as your static timing of the system are all good. The vanos are what hydraulically controls the cams on what to phase, but the gear on the shafts are the actuators of the phasing which are the issue?.

 

That's an interesting thought, I hope that wouldn't be the case. I was thinking it's possible it's the Vanos non return valve or the oil rings on the end of the camshaft are worn maybe. If the battery and new Vanos solenoids don't fix it, then I will pull the valve cover and check the cam with a spanner and see if there is more play than should be within the cam and the phaser, if that's good, then I'll probably replace the cam oil rings and Vanos non return valve and then try again. If that fails then I'll take the phaser off and take it apart to see if any oil pathways are clogged and if the spring inside is still functional. If I need to I'll replace that. I'm also thinking that if there's a problem with the phaser it may be because of poor oil pressure which can then lead to something with the oil pump or oil pump solenoid, which would really suck. With these cars you can be low on windshield wipers fluid and that will cause the dam thing not to start.

 

Did you end up installing new VANOS on both intake and exhaust? Do the rest of the work you talked about above? Oil pressure, I know there was another thread about that and I had posted some link I don't know if accurate. Anyway, if you're getting this good at doing the timing, doing the oil sump won't be that bad. Unless it's an ALL4 then a little harder.

Did you end up disassembling the VANOS phasers? Just curious, I don't know how. In a couple of videos when researching for myself, at least one person said to always replace the VANOS...but others don't, and I didn't.

 

Lol, I'm responding to you on both threads. I did replace the Vanos solenoids, no luck. Did not replace the Vanos phasers. They seem to be fine. I saw a video where he takes the Vanos phasers apart I don't know how to link videos but maybe theres a title I can find. I'm going to test the oil pressure this week. It's the (BMW Vanos fault explained) by diagnose dan. Completely takes apart the phasers. Awesome video to understand how they work. I didn't take mine apart.

 

Yeah sorry about that. I didn't want to respond to things from this thread in the other thread about the top tensioner.

So, you're code is 2DA1, correct? 2DA0 and 2DA2 say they are an angle out of tolerance error for cam position sensors. In contrast, your code just says implausible. Kinda leads me back to what 2014mc was saying, could be in the wiring. In fact, it seems like you're doing everything perfectly. Which also leads me electricity. Are there any known ECU failures that can result in this 2DA1 code?

Here's what I looked up for your code, this page is specific to an ECU revision level. So can type it in again on your end and look at the different variants of this page. Fault Information - BMWFaultCodes

So I know you're looking at doing the timing again. But I'm wondering if that wouldn't hep unless you had 2DA0 or 2DA2. If it was one of those, redoing the timing would make more sense to me.

 

We are on the same exact page. The link you sent is exactly all the stuff my Foxwell scanner says. I did replace the cam sensor, w no luck. Tested the wiring which came back within range. I did not have that code before I started the work. Did the initial work because of a blowoff valve jammed code. Then found a leaking valve steam seal and just decided to redo the valve seals and timing. I really do not want to redo the timing now because I too, think it is correct, but cannot think what else it could be unless the timing is fine but somehow I didn't tension the tensioner correctly. I personally don't think it has anything to do with the cam sensor, but maybe something more with oil pressure or something completely stupid that I am missing. I ordered new camshaft o-rings which I was going to replace and was thinking maybe the non return valve too, but I feel like I'm just throwing parts at it. Once I test the oil pressure I can at least narrow that out or replace the oil pump solenoid or just pay an extra $150 since I'm in there already and do the whole oil pump. It's just frustrating because that code was never there before which leads me to believe that I didnt do something correct on reinstall. My reasoning for the oil pressure possibility is because the code went off when I initially switched Vanos solenoids which have to do with the oil pressure, the timing because I didn't pretension the first time and according to others the top chain guide wasn't put on correct, or maybe even the fact that I put paper towel in this hole when cleaning everything and forgot to take it out when I put it back together and I can't get to it now. Don't know why that would matter but, who knows. I'm not even sure what this hole is for.

 

if you didn't pretension the chain at all, then I'd probably suggest going through the timing again. I know, it sucks, new bolts again. Pretensioning with a part instead of the tool has to be better than not pretensioning at all.

If it was the intake camshaft we'd have more things to point fingers at, assuming you removed all the valvetronic stuff to get to the valve seals. But it's exhaust. I don't think you could get intake and exhaust cam sensor plugs backwards because one has a big 90-deg housing.

It's not impossible the new cam pos sensor you installed is bad. But, like you said, this code didn't come until after doing timing... I think you could swap the cam sensors between cams if you wanted to check that the error doesn't jump to intake cam position.

The hole you're pointing to appears to me a female M6 or maybe M8 threaded hole, looks like a mounting point for something, surprised you could get paper towel in it. Maybe you meant a different hole. Under the boss with a tapped hole, there is another hole. That other hole looks like it might be a pipe plug or similar, it's within the circle you drew but less prominent. If that's to plug an oil galley, and it's not plugged with a paper towel in it, I'd say that is highly suspect.

Stupid question, but the vanos phasers are labelled intake and exhaust, could ensure those are where they need to be. I'm grasping at straws.

 

When I initially did the timing I didn't use the pretension tool but did pretension with the tensioner. I did try swapping cam sensors, nothing changed when doing that. The hole is the top one and it is threaded. It was more like half a paper towel that I rolled into a point with my fingers, so it went in but probably expanded. I attempted to pull it out when I realized I forgot it but trying to get to it with the turbo in the way was impossible, plus because it expanded the tweezers just kept taking little pieces of it off until I couldn't reach anything anymore, so now it's still in there. I was thinking that because that hole is kinda under the cam sensor location, maybe being clogged was blocking some kind of correlation with the cam. I did also initially though that it's probably a hole for some mount or something and didn't think much of it, which is probably what it is. I did make sure that I paid close attention to the EX and IN on the phasers when I put them in. I did remove all the inlet cam and intermediate shaft when I did the valve seals. In a way I'm happy it's the exhaust side and not the inlet. Seems like there's less that can go wrong with the exhaust side. I was disappointed that when I switched the Vanos solenoids before I replaced them that the code didn't transfer over. Same with the cam sensors. I appreciate your input with this.

 

Hmmm, I would think using the OEM tensioner for setting the timing chain would be risky because it could still move slightly when torqueing the cam bolt, whereas the tool won't...

 

I wanted to use the pretension tool when I did the timing but half my research pointed to not using it and half said to use it. I honestly wasn't sure how to really use it without a torque wrench that would go that low. I also didn't know how far in to screw the center before torquing it. I know a lot more now than I did two months ago. I also had mixed information about how much to torque the tensioner. I heard 55nm, 65nm, 70nm and 80nm. I went with 80 at the time. So my order was guide bolts 24nm, crank bolt torqued 50nm +180, phasers hand tight enough to keep from pulling off, tensioner 80nm, phasers 20nm +180, then top chain guide. I got lucky because I didn't crank it after the 20nm on the phaser and instead cranked it when everything was torqued and it all lined up with the tools. Never threw any codes related to advanced or retarded positioning. Only cam sensor code. If I have to redo the timing again I would probably do it differently.

As far as today's update, I took out the oil pressure sensor and ran the engine with an oil tester. Startup was 80psi, (car hasnt been started in a week) psi on the tester was shakey at first. Psi became steady as engine warmed and came down 10psi every 5 min or so. Once engine hit running temp at 105c psi was at a steady 28. When revved to 3000 rpm it went to 80psi then back to 28 at idle. To me this means the pressure is fine. So oil pump should be good for now. I did clear all codes before doing this procedure and I was also able to remove the small piece of paper towel I left in one of the threaded holes (pic below) strange thing is that the engine threw no codes (except the one saying there was basically no oil sensor) when I started and ran the car for 20min. My problem code always came up as soon as engine was started. Not sure if that paper towel had anything to do with blocking the cam signal. I wouldnt think so but who knows. I left the oil tester connected and will probably disconnect tomorrow and replace oil sensor. Gonna wait until all

oil settles overnight. I'm expecting the car to throw the problem code again when I start it after I put everything back, but maybe I'll get lucky.

 

You're procedure sounds good, 80NM is what I torqued mine to as well (tensioner part). If for some reason you do the timing again and use the tension tool... I backed the inner threaded piece back until the tip that will touch the timing guide was back flush with the large threads that thread into the head/block. I threaded the large thread into the tensioner hole until it stopped. I then turned the inner smaller thread of the tension tool in, at some point I could tell I was moving the tensioner and chain, I kept going finger tight until I could tell the guide and chain were taught, not tight, but no more springy-play to them either. I then grabbed a small wrench and turned that inner shaft a little further, again, just feeling that things are tight, probably 1/4 turn maybe less. 0.6NM would be the better way to do it, but who wants to buy that torque wrench.

The oil pressure sounds reasonable.

The camshaft position sensor goes through the pcv/valve cover down to the camshaft. That is 100% sealed from outside the pcv/valve cover. If the hole your paper towel was in, went inside that same cavity, that paper towel would be soaked in oil, and I'd imagine some oil leak would be coming out of that hole. Assuming the cam position sensor is proximity or hall effect based, the paper towel wouldn't/couldn't block that signal. Of course, I do hope your code doesn't come back.

Are you saying that whole 20 minutes of watching oil pressure, the 2DA0 code didn't come on?

 

Yes, the whole 20 min, the 2da1 code didn't register. The paper towel was in a hollow threaded hole that dead ends. Probably like a tad less than an inch deep. Like you said earlier, it's probably a mounting hole. It's directly under the cam sensor but pretty sure most likely had nothing to do with the code. I'll keep an update on what's going on with it.

 

Started the car today and the code came back, this time it didn't come back immediately, maybe like 2 min later. Cleared it restarted it and came back immediately. Guess I'm gonna have to pull the cover and redo the timing. I'm out of other options.

 

It's strange, the light didn't come on yesterday at all while I had the oil tester hooked up but now that I have the oil sensor( which is brand new OEM mini) back in the light comes back. Waited about 10 min cleared the code it started with no code drove it around the block a few times, parked it, turned it off. Restarted it and the code came back. Turned off, cleared code, turned on, no code for a out 3 seconds then the engine revved down for a split second code come on. I'm dumbfounded.

 

Dang.

While searching for your symptoms, in another forum, I did see a guy (mike1967 ?) say the oil control ring on the cam shaft can go bad at the 60 or maybe it was 100k mark, and how it effected the vanos. I know you had mentioned that part before. I had the link open on my work computer and can't find it now. What did that one diagnostics page say, that the code set when 60 revolutions of the camshaft went around but the cam* sensor didn't see a signal (assume crank sensor is what is keeping count)? If the car is doing a cold idle at say 800rpm, that's about 13.3 rev's per second of the cam. That's 4.5 seconds for 60 rev's, so the code should be coming on every 4.5 seconds. Why would it be intermittent like this? Electrical? What VANOS modules did you buy and install? Swap them again? Feed the Gremlins after midnight?

I hope someone smarter comes along to help you.

EDIT: Typos

 

I have gotten input from Mike, he's probably the most resourceful when it comes to minis. He seems to really know what he is talking about, problem is that I can't always get him to respond. He probably gets sick of answering questions lol. I usually post everything on that mini Cooper forum that I post on here to get more input and different suggestions. He's the one who I got the cam ring idea from.
I have no idea why it's becoming random with the code. That has only really happened in the past two days. Only once before after I switched Vanos solenoids did it stay off for one drive cycle. It usually comes on at the same exact time I turn on the engine. I don't think ite electrical since I tested the wiring.
I bought the pierburg solenoids. Good quality. I don't think swapping them would solve anything since they are both brand new. I think solving the gremlins eating after midnight problem would be easier than this. Actually surprised they haven't tried to remake that movie yet. You have been very helpful on possibilities and overall just responding. I think I'm just going to pull the cover, replace the cam rings, test the movement in the cams for any extensive play ( which may tell me if a phaser went out) pull the exhaust cam out, check everything then put it all back in with the pretension tool and see what happens then. Probably this weekend. I'll post what goes wrong after that lol.