hi, new to this forum. just bought an R53 park lane edition hatch for my GF from an auction and it's having a few little issues. nothing major i hope, but niggling problems.

from my investigations i think at some point the head was taken off, probably head gasket, and then put back together.

but the car is still running a bit weird.

other than taking off the head cover and the lower engine cover/oil pump thing, is there a way to confirm the timing has been done right?

when i put the engine at all cylinders even (so halfway between TDC and BDC) i can get the single copper link in the chain to be at the arrow on the cam gear. i think that's correct but can anyone confirm? thanks!

 

TDC:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...enter-tdc.html

 

i know how to find tdc - i'm wanting to confirm the timing is correct. as waymotorworks says in that thread, "FYI, MINI doesn't use TDC to time the motor. When all the timing marks are lined up all 4 pistons will be even."

so i'm to confirm the engine is lined up correctly from what i described

 

If the arrow on the cam gear is at 12'oclock relative to the head and the spark plugs are out, you can put straws in to the spark plug tubes and they all should be level. The cooper link is just for installing a new timing chain.

 

There is also marks on crank gear/ timing chain link that have to be lined up when the cam mark/ timing chain link is lined up.

 

rupnok - that's what i thought. i have the arrow straight up (also on the single copper coloured chain link) when the engine is between TDC and BDC. basically the top half of the cam gear (line you could say) is even with the head

cjjca - i was aware of that way of checking, but i was hoping not to take the timing cover off to check that