Hi ya'll,

So I just got home from picking my car up at Mountain View Mini. In addition to periodic maintenance they did the timing change tensioner fix. Unfortunately on the way home I noticed the check engine light was lit.

Two problems:

* My OBD2 reader says the CEL code is P1497. Any guesses to what this is? Searching the forums only list it as 'BMW specific.' I'm not super excited about having to go all they way back there after three days sans car.

* I can't remember if the R56 has a removable plastic fascia on top of the engine. My memory says yes, but I might be mixing that up with my old car. Should my R56 have a plastic MINI branded cover over the spark plugs?

 

The engine bay looks about right.

 

Thanks! - I had strange car deja vu.

If anyone has any ideas about the CEL then that is also welcome.

 

 

Since you just picked it up from them, why not at least call the dealer and ask them about the CEL?

 

Yes, that's on the list as soon as they open on _Monday_.

 

Any update on this? Mine just threw P1497 on the way home today/

 

Yah. I wasn't excited about going (a long distance) back to the dealer, so I used by OBD reader to clear the code and it never came back. I suspect they forgot to clear the codes that were generated while they were doing the service (which included an ECU software update, timing chain and tensioner)

A couple of days of driving and the code hasn't come back. I never had any fault codes until they did the service, so I think all is well now.

 

As posted above, I had the check engine light come on. My scanner reported P1497, a BMW-specific code.

Took it in to the dealer -- the service guy asked, "any other issues?"

Yeah, runs like a POS Camry -- no power, very rough idle...

He laughed and nodded.

The oil filler cap was loose! When you don't have a good, tight seal, the engine gets very upset! The engine had thrown a bunch of other fault codes as well -- misfires and such, but the P1497 was the one that showed up on the scanner.

They also replaced the front and rear brakes under warranty, and did some other things.

The good news -- total charge, $00.00

The bad news -- front brakes last 12k miles and rears last 24k miles?

 

That sounds like it could have ended much worse. Glad it worked out.

About brakes - I'm about 2,000 miles from my second scheduled service and I'm about to hit 28,000. Brakes have never been done and they squeak slightly for split second when applied. I should really have no problem telling them my brakes need to be changed, right? I'm assuming it will just need pads... Based on k6rtm, I'm DUE!

 

An update. The code came back. Took it in and the dealer said they made a mistake setting the timing when doing the fix (I presume off by one tooth). They fixed the problem and I'm now happy.