Hi All, I have a 2011 MCS with no mods. Recently had a bunch of issues. Long story short it turned out my timing chain and oil pump chain had stretched out of spec.

My mechanic (who specializes in Mini) ended up changing the timing chain but after the change my car is now throwing a P1338 code and goes into limp mode. I can reset the ECU and the car comes out of limp mode and drives normally. If I've started the car from cold I can drive about 20km on the highway (no hard acceleration, keeping it below 3500rpm on average) the ECU throws the same code as before, if I reset within the same drive, it comes back much quicker so it seems related to engine temp.

My mechanic checked the cam shaft sensors by swapping them and the error remains so the sensors seems fine. He cleaned out my VANOS solenoid (as it was gunked up) and still the error remains. He came to the conclusion that the VANOS sprocket is faulty. Since the car is drivable at the moment I'm just doing some research before I drop another 800$ on a replacement VANOS sprocket.

Just wanted to check out there if what I've described is a possible symptom of a faulty VANOS Sprocket or could it just be an intermittent problem with the VANOS solenoid?

Want to be sure as I've already spent over 2500$ the last 2 weeks on repairs :S....

Thanks!
Fabio

 

Did you find out what the problem was and fix it. I'm having the exact same issue and can not find the problem and your the only post iv found with the identical problem. Iv replaced all sensors and vanos with genuine parts. It seems to be a mystery. 🙏🙏

 

Did you find out what the issue was. I'm having exactly the same issues with mine and can not find the answer and neither can the garage. hooe you managed to fix it?
Lindsey

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...on-causes.html

 

So he has rechecked the timing several times then right?


See Post #6: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...on-causes.html

Especially since he touched the VANOS solenoids.