Man, it's never easy with these cars! I recently bought a 2009 base (non-turbo) Clubman with about 145K miles and a weird problem with the VANOS. It had the following three codes, which suggest a problem with the exhaust VANOS actuator (solenoid):

2842: VANOS Solenoid Valve, Exhaust Activation
283D: VANOS, Exhaust, Adaptation Stop
288D: Exhaust Camshaft to Crankshaft, Correlation

I replaced the exhaust VANOS solenoid with a known working unit from another car - also a 2009 but with about 110K miles. That one may have 99 problems, but VANOS ain't one of them! After swapping the solenoid, I know have this code:

2845: VANOS, Exhaust: Actuator Movement

The code popped up very quickly after I cleared the older codes and started the car. One thing I noticed is that the electrical connector to the solenoid was broken and the terminals were loose. Silly me actually thought I'd found the problem and it was an easy fix. I had a spare connector in my parts bin and soldered it on, but obviously there's still something wrong. It's possible (likely) that the two terminals made contact with each other due to the broken connector. I checked all the fuses and they are ok. Is there some other form of circuit protection that I can check to see if the shorted connectors caused a problem?

I've been working on Euro cars for over 20 years (mostly BMWs), but have never been as frustrated as I am with MINIs. Why do I keep buying them?! It seems like every single problem I run into is a mystery and things that would normally pinpoint a problem on other cars never seem to work. Anyway, enough of that rant.

 

I might try swapping the intake and exhaust vanos solenoids to see if anything changes. If the code goes away, then get a new solenoid.

 

I have already swapped the solenoid with a known good one, but I can swap the intake and exhaust and see what happens. Why not? It only takes a few minutes.

 

Have you reset adaptations?

288D: Exhaust Camshaft to Crankshaft, Correlation

That code concerns me. I would pull the valve cover and check cam timing.

It would be even obvious without timing tools

Pull the spark plugs and drop sticks into each cylinder, rotate the crankshaft until all are at equal height. Then look at the end lobes on the camshafts, they should be very close to flat. They can be ever so slightly off being there is no oil pressure in the VANOS units.


PS. It's because BMWs don't have random timing codes and the such as the MINIs.
Trust me, I daily drive an early N63.

 

I'm going to replace the timing chain guides and chain. I pulled the valve cover and the top guide is definitely broken, and from what I can see of the lower guides, they're also in pretty bad shape. I've seen VANOS faults in other MINIs with broken timing chain guides, so I'm going to take care of that before I dig too much deeper into other VANOS diagnostics.

The problem is usually two-fold - first, the timing may be slightly off due to the loose/slack chain and, second, the broken bits of plastic from the chain guides end up clogging the oil pump intake which reduces oil pressure. Which, in turn, has a tendency to cause VANOS problems.

Parts are on the way, so we'll see what happens...