Hello everybody! Ok so I just bought my 2nd mini cooper, 2008 Clubman with around 80k miles and just recently my check engine light has been going on/off on its own. SIDE NOTE: if it makes any difference to you Ive been a service manager and SA for the past 5 years so I know my way around cars. anyway...pulled the code and it had a p0015 bank 1 over retarded. Veh ran a little rough for a 20-30 sec in the morning but runs great after that! well this morning its getting a little worse. RPMs started fluctuating from about 600-1000 while sitting at a light this morning (engine plenty warm) and I thought it was going to die but it didnt.

I've only found one other post on this site about just replacing the sensor but never heard anything on whether or not that actually fixed the porblem or not...

Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Since retarding has to do with the cams, I would check out the timing. The EP6 engine has known timing issues whereby the chain slips and the intake cam loses its proper position. as a result timing is out.

you can check the timing yourself. remove the valve cover, then turn the crank until the 2 pistons closest to the timing chain is at the very top. then attach a digital angle gauge to the intake cam, and then to the exhaust cam. the difference between the 2 should be less than 0.1 degrees