I think I may have screwed the pooch when I was doing some maintenance on my wife's Mini. The wire connector on the exhaust Vanos valve had become quite deteriorated on my wife's 2008 Mini Cooper r56 n12 hatch base so I ordered a new connector and replaced it..... however bonehead move I think I crossed the wires and it became pretty obvious what I did. With a test start the motor began idling erratically. I quickly shut her down and corrected the wire cross. Installed the connector back and things appear to run fine however I now have an engine error code indicating a Vanos fault on this exhaust VANOS and it will not go away. Tonight I replaced the Vanos valve on the exhaust side and still the code persist. I'm wondering did I somehow screw up the timing or perhaps even the ECU when I crossed those wires?

 

Did the wires touch each other and did you notice a spark?

The vanos solenoid is just a coil and I'm not sure if it's polarity sensitive.

Usually with a more sophisticated software, you can test and read the value.

also, it might be worth checking the timing and chain.

 

I second the question if crossing the wires has an impact on the ECU that is permanent or repairable. In my struggles I can not seem to get the ECU to talk to the solenoid valve. 2012 Mini Cooper LCI N16 code 2842 Vanos Valve Exhaust Activation - North American Motoring