So...I have owned BMW's for a while and have slowly warmed up to purchasing a Mini. I ended up buying a clubman at a very low price, and I need help diagnosing some problems from you friendly Mini people out here.

History of the Car: My budget was low, and I found a clubman behind a dealership that had been repossessed about a week before I asked about it. I was told the engine was completely shot. However, the dealer had never tried to start the car, and did not speak much english. They had no idea where the battery was, and thus I purchased it from them for a price way below my budget with more than enough cash left to buy an engine if it came to such. Nonetheless, I bought the car, which had just over 100k on it (it is not the S model, but has the manual transmission in it) After trailering it home I put a battery in it, and it fired right up, although it had a very distinct miss. I put on my OBD II reader, and seen several codes come up. One of the codes was for a missfire on one of the cylinders. I have some BMW parts around, I had a few good coil packs setting around from an x3. Much to my surprise, it fit perfectly and the miss went away completely with the x3's coil pack. However, there are still other mechanical problems... I know the car has been sitting for a while, but want to get on top of everything with it.

Problems with the car: The car idles well and is not rattling, yet, it seems to be hesitant when the accelerator is pressed. I used a stethoscope, and cannot hear anything unusual on the timing chain. All of the problems one notices while driving can be summed up in two items: it wants to cut out and be hesitant when you give it gas, and has less power than the other r55's and r56's I have drove.
I am getting several codes connected to timing as well as an O2 sensor, I drove the car kindly for about 20 miles, and it was getting in the 30's mpg, but I don't know how well the consumption measurement was calibrated. With the new battery and with everything reset the fuel economy was going all over the place, but averaging in the 30's.

Here are the CODES:
P0015 (camshaft position- timing over retarded)
P2187 (system too lean at idle)
P2178 (system too rich off idle)
P0137 (O2 sensor circuit low voltage (sensor 2))
P2096 (Post catalyst fuel system too lean)



From all of this I am thinking it may simply be a bad O2 sensor, as well as a timing issue with either the camshaft position sensors or the timing chain itself. I do not hear the timing chain rattling, at any RPM, so I am not sure. I am not opposed to replacing the timing chain, and can do it myself, but I know it would be much easier to deal with those two sensors on the valve cover.

Any advice is greatly appreciated. The car is a 2008 Clubman, and here are some pics of it (I realize these pictures have nothing to do with the problems its having, but I also know people like to see pics of cars):

 

Ok, so here is an update on the car after replacing the O2 sensor and fixing a vacuum leak. After replacing the O2 sensor I cleared the codes, and none popped back up after starting the car. I drove it for a while and still no codes came back. At this point the car runs fine when you lightly press the accelerator, however, it shudders a bit when you push the pedal moderately to heavily. The car always runs fine above 3k RPMS, but at lower RPMs it is hesitant/shuddering when the accelerator is pressed more than a hair. It idles fine, and will rev fine at idle. No rattling anywhere.

One more thing, this is an intermittent problem. Sometimes it runs great, and sometimes it behaves this way.

Can anyone help with this? Is this a timing chain/timing chain tensioner issue? Any ideas at all are greatly appreciated.


Edit: Code P2178 came up telling me the system is too rich.

 

Does your OBD reader show fuel trims?
This is what I would do:
1)Run a bottle of Techron fuel system cleaner through a full tank of quality premium gas.
2)Replace your spark plugs with NGK plugs (OEM)
3)Check your air filter and replace if dirty.
4)Clean your MAF with MAF cleaner

Your N12 engine does not have a history of timing chain/guide issues, so I doubt you have a problem with it.

 

Thanks so much for the reply, grussel!

I am almost 100% certain I have found the problem, but have also embarrassed myself in the process.

From time to time, I have heard a hissing sound from the engine bay, and yesterday I caught the culprit. The n12 engines have two solenoids for the VANOS, one on each side of the head. They are easy to get to, and it was the VANOS solenoid on the intake side that was making the noise. It was making light hiss, and I used a stethoscope to confirm that the subject did indeed have some culpability in the offense. I removed the intake VANOS solenoid and found that there was some old oil below it, and notably there was oil all on the bottom of it. The O-ring was also quite flat, and rather oily. I cleaned the solenoid and put a new O-ring on it (it was not a good fitting O-ring, and it came from a box of metric O-rings from Harbor Freight Tools).

I drove the car for a day, and it ran great. No problems. The Check Engine light went off and came back on, but the car ran fantastic. I have new VANOS solenoids ordered and they should come in this Wednesday. Where I embarrassed myself, is I wanted to swap the solenoids to see if doing so would change the engine behavior. While swapping the solenoids, The Harbor Freight O-ring must have snapped. Because once installed, the solenoid (from the intake side, but now on the exhaust side) blew oil everywhere, making a mess down my driveway and for about half a mile down the street. When I got the car back home, I pulled the VANOS solenoid back out, and the O-ring was broke. Therefore, I installed a new O-ring (again) and the leak stopped. The car drove great, but I still aim to replace the solenoids due to the fact they were dirty and required a cleaning. I don't really trust this replacement O-ring, and do not want oil going everywhere again. Thus, I think I am going to wait till I get the new ones in later this week before driving the car more. All the same I am very happy with my clubman.

The VANOS variable timing solenoids appear to be the culprit for throwing codes related to timing, codes related to running rich and lean, and hesitant driving behavior.

 

I love, love, love stories of bringing cars like this back to life. It's too bad the previous owner couldn't find a dedicated mechanic to spend a few hours tracking down what sound like a few pretty simple problems. But, the car looks great and I'm glad you got a screaming deal on it and you can keep most of that 'new engine' money in your pocket...

Dirk

 

Welcome to the world of making mistakes working on cars, you are in great company! I put pads in flipped once (metal to disk) as I was distracted when installing. Caught it immediately when brakes firs applied. Rotors were fine. Stuff happen lol.

 

After installing the new variable timing solenoids, the engine light has gone away and not returned (as of now). I have drove the car over a hundred miles, and for the most part it is driving great. There have been a few times that it seems to have lost power for just a moment or so, but it seems to be working itself out (hopefully). As per advice of those in this forum, I have used a bottle of techron, which should help with cleaning the engine.

Is carbon buildup a notable concern with the n12 engine? With one that has around 120k miles?

 

Congrats on the great progress you have made!

The N12 and N16 (non-turbo) motors don't face the carbon on the back of the intake valves problem. Basically, the turbo motors have direct fuel injection in the the piston chamber, past the intake valve backs so no fuel washes the back of the valves. The non-turbos have injectors before the intake valves, so the fuel/air mixture washes/cleans the accumulation of carbon.

The N18 motor is used in the 2011 and later MINI (except JCS and convertible, those changed over in 2012) and had an improved way of venting the engine gas to the intake manifold. Previously, the N14 air/crud mixture would be sucked from the valve cover (top cover on the motor) to the intake manifold to be burned. The crud would turn to carbon on the back of intake valves. With the new valve cover and piping the crud was greatly reduced.

Disclaimer: I am not an expert. But this summarizes what I have read on these forums.

 

w00t! My Best friend is a Chihuahua, the fabulous Ms. Annie, that looks a lot like your pup as best I can tell from the pic.
welcome to the mini world!

 

Ok, so I still need some help with diagnosing, as the car is still not running correctly. For the most part, it is not throwing any codes after the new O2 sensor and the new VANOS solenoids. There was one occasion (maybe two) when it threw a code saying the it was too rich off idle (if I remember correctly, but may have said too rich going into the catalyst). The code did not stay, and I have drove the car a lot after it went away.


What the car is doing now:
The car feels like it is missing and/or hesitant during acceleration in the lower RPM range. Sometimes it is a very slight miss, sometimes more severe. It only does it on occasion, and once it starts doing it, the missing will occur for about 30 seconds or so. There may be several 30 second episodes close together, or only one in a 50 mile trip. It does not seem to have any relation to how warm or cold the engine is. It may be in my head, but when it is missing, it seems to run better if I shut the car off and restart it. Every now and then, the idle is poor on start up, but it is usually fine after initial starting. The car does not run hot or anything, and has been getting good fuel milage. It has never run so poorly that it dies, even when idling rough it does not kill itself.

When I say a mild miss, I am trying to articulate that the engine is still fairly smooth, but it feels as if half of the car's power just vanished. When I say a more serious miss, the engine feels like it is shaking (although there is no sound of a knock, hiss, or anything outstanding sound at all).

Being in the higher RPM range will almost always counter the missing/hesitation. Most of the time you can feel the car's power restored, almost as if it is turbo lag. When holding the throttle at a constant, the power usually kicks back in at around 3,000 rpm. Yet, this is not always the case; moreover, on rare occasions it feels like the higher rpm range is simply masking the miss, because the power still feels lacking even with the smooth engine operation.

What I have done so far:
I know that one of the coil packs did not function properly. I have put it back in the car a few times, and each time I do that it throws codes instantly and the engine shakes violently. By replacing it with a used one from a BMW x3, the codes go away on their own and the engine runs better. It should be mentioned that the 5 used coil packs I have came out of a BMW with 250k miles; they are the remaining old ones taken out after one of the six coil packs failed completely. When the one went out, I went ahead and replaced them all. I knew the bmw x3 was having ignition issues for while, but it took it a while to give me a code telling which one was failing significantly. With this in mind, the rest of the x3 coil packs may be trash as well, just not so bad to throw a code.

In short, I am thinking I may just have bad coil packs, but I have played with swapping them around and nothing changes. I have 8 coil packs of questionable functionality (5 from the bmw x3, and 3 from the mini). I have ordered new Bosch coil packs, and they should be in this week. But I am not totally convinced this is the issue, simply because no combination of coil packs seems to correct the issue. Which means, either 5 or more of my 8 questionable coil packs are malfunctioning slightly, or I am deficient in my capacity to write numbers down and record how I arrange them. I've yet to find a combination of 4 that works right.

I was getting the codes mentioned in an earlier post, but they went away after I replaced the lower O2 sensor and the VANOS solenoids. I put a bottle of Techron in the car, but it doesn't seem to have done anything extremely noticeable. I also replaced the spark plugs with NGK plugs, and it doesn't seem to make much of a difference.

Advice?
Does anyone have any idea what could be causing this? I don't want to jus throw money at the car, and I know it has to be something that is just tricky to isolate.

I know people discuss vacuum leaks, but are there specific areas to check for this? I don't see many places on this N12 engine for a vacuum leak.

Are their any other sensors to check? If the car actually is running too rich, as the one code may have indicated, I am thinking ignition issues if the car is running rich. It is not a constant problem, and only pops up randomly. I have not yet found a formula for getting the car to expose what causes it to throw a tantrum. Any advice is greatly appreciated!


On a side note
The chihuahua dog is Charlie, and he loves to ride in the car. It is his favorite thing. Haha, I was wondering if anyone would spot him in the picture.

 

Could something like a MAP sensor cause this? Again, this is a non S car.

Also the Vacuum pump ticks, but I feel like that may be normal for one of those...

 

can you post a short video of the engine running? Also, recheck the vanos, might have some dirt on them!

 

I will post a video of the car running here shortly. Also, last night while I was tinkering with the car, two codes came up as "pending" and not "confirmed" with my OBD2 reader. The Check Engine Light on the dash never came on, but the code reader did list them as "pending."


"Pending" Codes were:
P2178 - System Too Rich Off Idle
P0420 - Catalyst System Efficiency Below Threshold

 

Ok, so here is a video of the car running:

 

what are the pending codes you have?

 

it doesnt sound bad, slightly louder! few things to check, the oil level and quality, the gas rating?
also, check the vanos, there is one in the front to the left and there is one in the back next the intake manifold to the left.

 

Both of the VANOS solenoids are brand new Bosch units, and were very carefully placed in the car. It is running on good 93 gas, and the oil is full and new. I went ahead and put new coils in the car, and the problem is now very easy to replicate. The car has not been missing to any substantial amount anymore, but you can tell it is thinking about it.

If you are below 2500 rpm, and press the throttle just a hair, the car thinks about running bad. However, if you press the throttle two hairs, it will not have any issues. With that in mind, I know the throttle body looked rather unclean the other day when I was inspecting different things. Therefore, I am thinking that the electronic throttle is having issues when asked to open up just a hair. We shall see. Lol.

 

for the base model it is recommended to use 89. just keep that in mind that the higher the octane, the faster it burns and more pressure it creates. so the engine isnt designed for that faster burn. perhaps that's where that hair line falls. going back to the vanos, i did not mean for you to replace them, but rather check if they have dirt from oil stuck onto them. and definitely yes check the throttle body. but get these goes here for use to better assist you ~_0

 

I think it is detailed somewhere in an earlier post, but the VANOS solenoids that were in the car were dirty and causing the car to throw codes, with the new ones in the codes went away and the car seems to behave much better.

 

Ok, so I am making some headway. Today I removed the throttle body, in response to the fact that all of the issues are not centered around lightly pressing the throttle. Upon removing the throttle body, there was a slight amount of oil on the throttle, which makes me think something is going on with the crank ventilation system. Also, there is fresh oil residue on top of the valve cover (see picture). What all does the crank ventilation entail on this engines? is it just the valve cover and hose, or is there a valve down at the bottom of the hose as well?

I imagine it to be somewhat normal for the PCV built into the intake to vent the oil, but I know in the past that oil in the intake is connected to a faulting crank ventilation system.

 

I took the PCV hose off yesterday, which is a nuisance because this required me to take the intake manifold off. The hose had a lot of oil in it, like a fairly steady stream going down it. Furthermore, the throttle body was also completely covered in a thin layer of oil again, and I had removed and thoroughly cleaned it last week. This is really causing me to think the PCV is the cause of my car's issues. It runs about 95% properly, and just has moments of power surging. Also, it is consuming a little bit of oil (no leaks, no smoke, no constant running property).

 

I really hope someone has advice on this issue, as it is somewhat getting the best of me. The car is now consistently giving me codes P0420 (Catalyst System Below Threshold) and P1278 (System Too Rich Off Idle).

Some times it starts and runs fine, and other times it has patches were it is hesitant and looses power, even missing occasionally. It is always from idle up to 3000 rpm, with the problems never manifesting above 3000rpm. It also tends to correlate with light throttle.These problems are not constant, which makes me think it can't be mechanical...

 

Uh, I'm not an expert, but I'm thinking some combo of an air leak and/or an O2 sensor (pre-cat) that's goofed up. Maybe Mass Air Flow sensor?

Good luck, I hope you crack the code!

Dirk

 

I have checked everything, cannot find an air leak anywhere. The MAF is very clean, the throttle body is oily, but I cleaned it and the car now has a completely new PCV system (yes I forked over the money for the valve cover..ugh). The tube from the MAF to the intake is good, the intake is sealing to the head. and the PCV hose is good on both ends. Is their anywhere else air could leak?

All I can think of now, is that either the top O2 sensor is bad or one of the following: MAP sensor, electric throttle, MAF, fuel injectors, camshaft position sensor, or????

I have a top O2 sensor ordered on account of the P0420 code (and the P2178), but in the past when i have had O2 sensors go out, they have never caused the car to have issues with light throttle in the lower rpm range. I have never experienced this behavior before. I do not think it is the catalytic converter itself, because the car runs so well in the high rpm range. I had a car in the past with stopped up cats, and it would not rev very high at all. the engine felt choked all of the time. However, this car's problem is inconsistent, and only at a low rpm with light throttle...

Still the only codes I am getting are P0420 (Catalyst System Below Threshold) and P1278 (System Too Rich Off Idle).

 

I think when i had the p0420 on my car, i did replace the cat and the light never came back. the car is 09 clubman S manual.
you can try to do process of elimination by unplugging sensors and see their effect on the car and what new codes come up.
I have an 08 clubman S manual with the P1278 code and it feels like a vacuum leak where the rpm goes up and down slightly and the car feels it wants to turn off. I will play with it and see what comes up. I also noticed that i have the old valve cover, so i will swap that and see.
on another note, i was told if you push on the throttle flaps, you make it loose calibration.
finally, i think you are down to the throttle body! replace it and see what happens. check ebay and car-part.com for parts.