Hi, first time posting here and I can really use any help from you before I tow the car to the Mini Service.

I have R56 Justa 2011 since new and now it has 60K miles on it. There has been oil residue in the spark plug wells for a while so I decided to replace the valve cover gasket. It all went well except that the car did not start after assembly.
It cranked but did not start and I could smell gas after cranks. The battery was fully charged using a trickle charge. Tachometer needle slightly moved when cranked - I guess this is a sign that DME is communicating? Now I regret not disconnecting the battery negative terminal before replacement work ;(

I triple-checked all electrical connections including ground wire at the center. I checked fuses and did not see any burnt one. I switched K6326 relay with another R3 relay but it did not work. I ran out of my wits now.

As attached, I got three error codes P240B, P2401, P2419 and they all have something to do with EVAP System. Does anyone have an idea of what they mean and what triggered them after replacing the valve cover gasket? Did I burn ECM?

I would much appreciate any input!

.

 

I might have damaged cables attached at the back of the valve cover. I am planning to take apart the wire harnesses to find any exposed or disconnected wires. But I am curious to know if it is possible that a single snapped or open(?) wire can cause this 'cranking but no start' symptom. Any thoughts?

 

Removing the ground wire on the valve cover can potentially kill your ecu. I have done few of those on the pre LCI minis but the concept is the same. If you want to send your ecu for checking, I'll be happy to do that. If it requires repair or cloning most likely, then we could go over the options and pricing.

 

Thanks for the response. Is there a way to check if ECU is dead? I would like to make sure it is dead before I send it out for fix.

 

One more question. As shown in the first post, I got lots of messages regarding possible open wire harnesses, etc. Does it give any indication other than dead ECU? I believe DME is same as ECU. Is it possible that error can be reported while DME is dead? Confusing ;(

 

The ecu may not be dead like there is no communication. It may have hard code that won't clear specially after you clear the codes.

The test is to place it in a know working engine and see what happens. If it turned out to be bad, will move to the next step. No pressure or obligation.

 

Can confirm, i suspect this is how i killed my DME (ECU).

R56 - Code U115E displayed after timing chain replacement - North American Motoring
^ That was my experience and everything I went through to figure it out, and get it fixed. Took a few months to get it all figured out.