As the title says. The new issue arose the day I picked the car up, I had a service engine light. I scanned the trouble code and it showed p0012a, cam timing "a" retarded bank 1. within a day or so I started getting a battery light. I took the car back to the shop and they think a bad alternator is causing both issues. Does this sound reasonable?

 

No, it does not. They need to go back in and double check the cam timing using the correct locking tool. Then you can look into the battery issue... if it persists. Retarded timing has nothing to do with the condition of your battery, however it could reflect the condition of your timing chain which can cause retarded timing when worn (elongated). Maybe time for a chain replacement (if you are at all handy with a spanner/torque wrench, this is not the hardest job in the world and could save you massive amounts of money)

 

Gut instinct said they were fishing for more money, they lost my business forever and they gained a bad review at the very least maybe more...

 

Is this an independent shop that has history of successfully fixing MINI's? if not, I'm wondering how do they align the cams to the crank. By God I hope they do have a set of quality alignment tool to set your timing before they latch on the sprocket and timing chain. Also, the bolts to bolt down the sprockets has to be replaced with new ones, and above that, these are "Torque to Yield Bolts". I hope they did torque it in correctly then followed the 90 degree, 180 degree turn afterwards. There's a special procedure for this. If they missed it or didn't use the alignment tool, I can't imagine what "little offset" might do to your timing assembly as a whole.

When they put everything back together, Try not to use the old timing chain assembly, try to aim for new set.

 

Yea it is an independent shop that has been in business for close to 50 years, they specialize in german cars. They had good reviews and seemed to do pretty good customerwise. If the engine light wasn't on you wouldn't notiice much of a difference in performance. I'd called the nearest mini dealer to get the chain replaced under the service campaign, they looked up the vin and seen that it had been done already. The shop claimed to have found some pieces broke off of the chain guides so they dropped the oil pan to get them out. The guides were supposedly replaced if they were even broken to begin with. Since I'm having these new issues I am beginning to wonder the same thing about their reassembly procedure.