Hey guys, I am brand new to this site and need your help. My dad and I just did a huge overhaul on my 2010 R56 Mini Base Hatchback. Recently I just started to hear the faint sounds of a rattle idling rough (Balancer was toast) so I knew it was time to dive in and give the ole girl some love. I got it a year ago cheap from a friend who was moving and no longer needed a car. anyway, last week we tore her down and replaced the entire suspension + Silvers Neo Max Coilovers along with a full timing over haul and a bunch of other items... the car ran fine before but signs where there something was brewing so i wanted to stay ahead of the problem.

when we tore it down we locked the crank with the pin and put the cam hold tools on the intake and exhaust cams. The tools went right on perfectly the first try, cam writing was facing straight up with the pin in the crank and cam tool went on with zero effort as it should. We tore it down following step by step watching the known videos from FCP & reading many articles from Pelican and BMW repair guide ( even got a mini subscription to the TIS site). when I put the chain assembly in I used the pre tensioner tool and bought a digital torque wrench that would allow me to torque the pre tensioner to .06 NM while the crank and both vanos gear we're lose to pre tension the chain. Once we had that done we torqued the cams and then the crank lightly and spun the motor over. missed the crank lock pin hole so went around 2 more times and "pop" she was back locked on the crank, cam writing facing straight up again too. Thinking all is well we went ahead and torqued the stretch bolts in per the BWM process + 180 on both vanos sprockets and spec + 180 on the crank hub stretch bolt. we put the whole car back together and I used the Schwaben Foxwell Scan tool to reset the adaptations. I think i did it correctly but must have tried clearing both the adaptations as well as the Vanos adaptations 10 times now. I drove the car and it felt like crap. I figured she needed time to learn. so i drove to work on monday and bam check engine light is on and power is reduced.

I got home and scanned it to find several codes: P0011, P0014, P0017 & P0136 (have had this last code off and on a while ( it needs a rear downstream O2).

I put straws in the spark plug hole and checked the timing, with the cams writing straight up and the pin in the crank to find that number 1 and number 2 are not even, they are close but not perfectly flat. I assume this means the timing is off and the reason for my codes? but how could that be if the tools locked properly on the crank and the cam tools went right on. does this mean it has to be in time ? anyway I am at a loss and worried about hurting the car so i have not driven it since. I am down to tear into it again (really hope i don't need to after 7 days of wrenching on the entire project) but will if you guys can tell me what to do from here or if i am missing something in the process that will fix this via software.

Side Note:
old timing guides were all 100% in tact no broken pieces at all, nothing in the pan either... old tensioner was very soft and shorter than the new upgraded unit they use now (82mm)

List Of All the Engine Specific Parts We Installed: ( as you can see i didn't skimp I did the whole job, anything we touched that came off was replaced with brand new, except valve cover lol)
New Oil Pan OE Supplier
Vanos Solenoids: Febi Bilstein 11368610388 x 2
Cam Position Sensors: Bosch 0232103064 x2
Febi Bilstein Crank Sensor: 31088 (have not installed this yet)
Pierburg Vacuum Pump: PB-11667570813 (installed a year ago as proactive measure)
Mini Timing Crankshaft Sprocket: BMW-11217588996
Mini Timing Chain Sprocket OES-11217588996
Mini Cooper Oil Pump Sprocket BMW-11417548872
ISA Screw (M8x35) BMW-11417553143
Mini Radiator Coolant Hose Upper (Cooper) BMW-17122754203
Mini Radiator Coolant Hose Upper (Cooper) BMW-17122754221
Mini Cooper Engine Coolant Recovery Tank Hose BMW-17122754573
Mini Radiator Coolant Hose Lower (Cooper) CRP-CHR0418
Mini Engine Oil Pump Chain IWI-50046748
BMW Engine Oil Pump BMW-11417614358
Mini Timing Chain Guide Bolt BMW-11317534768
Hex Bolt (M6x20) BMW-11317542856
BMW Timing Chain Guide Bolt Seal BMW-11317550461
Mini VANOS Camshaft Sprocket OES-0011022145
Mini VANOS Camshaft Sprocket OES-0011022144
Mini Timing Guide Rail BMW-11317533879
BMW Engine Timing Chain Guide BMW-11317577301
Mini Timing Chain Guide Bolt BMW-11317534768
Mini Timing Chain Guide Rail Bearing Bolt BMW-11317534771
Mini Camshaft Sprocket Bolt M10x1x52 BMW-11367536087
Mini Crankshaft Hub Bolt BMW-11217616164
BMW Engine Timing Chain Guide BMW-11317577631
Mini Timing Chain Tensioner IWI-40304
Mini Engine Harmonic Balancer CTO-80001196
Mini Crankshaft Seal CTO-19035976B
Mini Timing Chain IWI-50045982
Mini Belt Tensioner INA-5340318100
Mini Valve Cover Gasket Set CTO-440507P
Mini Engine Coolant Thermostat Housing Gasket ELR-893720
Mini Water Pump Pulley FEB-102466
New Salari Water Pump
Febi Water Pipe



What do I do now ? :(

 

also forgot to mention i did use the crank hold tool so we never pulled against the pin in the flywheel. I held the crank tool while he torqued the crank bolt

 

Your timing chain may be just slightly out of time.

I watched YouTube videos where this^ step was skipped and the tensioner was instead torqued to 48 ft-lbs. @TheMiniSpecialist says that this method ensures that the timing chain is correctly timed (watch 28:50 to 29:50 in video below):

​​​​​​​

 

checking it out now, thank you. will report back.

 

Interesting, so he doesnt pre tension it with the tool he just goes straight to the actual tensioner and torqued it in the back of the head. I was tempted to do that but afraid i was going to be too tight. Question for you. can i just pull the valve cover and break the navos sprockets loose but leave the crank bolt torqued ? ( assuming i lock the crank with the pin again of course) or do i need to break all 3 loose to re-time it ? I didnt think that would be a problem since both top gears could move and all slack could still be take up by the tensioner, but if you guys think other wise i will break the crank free as well. I just got a couple sets of extra bolts from the dealer ( in case a screw up again lol) so i can do it tonight...


LMK thanks again.

 

Install crank and cam timing tools. Leave crank bolt torqued. Loosen tensioner. Remove both VANOS bolts and replace with new bolts. Then follow Mini Specialist's procedure for tensioning chain.

 

OK guys, I got new bolt and re-did the crank lock first, pin was in straws perfectly lined up. Cams were off. I broken them loose and reset the cams, cam locks went on beautifully dropped straight on. put everything back together as mentioned above and per the mini specialist. reset adaptations with my schwaben Foxwell tool. Waited 10 min after completing this and then ran the delete vanos adaptations. it had me start the car and run it for 1 min and recorded the intake and exhaust values and guess what. they did not change at all. I got exactly the same numbers i had after the timing chain replacement.... What they heck is going on? I the intake is still at 133.80 (should be 140- 160) and the exhaust is still perfect dead in the middle of the range.


I have no idea what to do next. thoughts ???

 

Have you tried running the "Learn Valvetronic Limit Positions" command?

 

I will try that in the am and report back I hope it works.

 

OK guys latest update, I ran the valvetronic limits learning process. Reset adaptations for the vanos again. ran the car and no change. I let the car Idle for about 2-3 min and i got a check engine light. Now it says my cams are over retarded on the intake side. last night I also swapped the vanos solenoids front to back to see if that would change anything, I did clean them with some brake clean ( they were very clean already, they are only a year old)

One thing i noticed that i forgot to mention when I redid the cam timing... When i pulled the exhaust bolt out to swap it oil ran out of the bolt hole, when i pulled the intake bolt no oil came out of the bolt hole. not sure if that is relevant but wanted to share that. both sprockets are brand new as i mention in my original post.

I am desperate to get this thing running for work on monday i have not had a car in 2 weeks :( any help is greatly appreciated

 

Post the recent fault code(s).

The fact that a fault code follows the VANOS solenoid currently installed on the intake side strongly suggests that the latter VANOS solenoid is bad.

 

I dont have any vanos codes. swapping the solenoids didn't reveal anything did it? I am wondering if the reset is not actually happening on the schwaben foxwell tool? I still have the same values I had before retiming the engine. 133.8 intake (should be 140-160) and 51.70 exhaust (should be 40-60). i did have to move the cams to get them into the perfect spot now that i used the straws to know the crank was properly in position and locked. I guess it was not in all the way the first time or we just timed it back to the old spot from the worn chain and parts. but it's really running rough now and that code popped up in less than 2 min of idle in the driveway,with a strange surge at one point before the code was thrown.

i have pics of the codes and the cam positioning so you can see how its lining up. i have recorded some live data that i took pics of but not sure if its vaulable or not given the values move around as its running but happy to post.


This is the new Cam Timing Code that popped up after starting the car. after cams were re-timed

top down of both cam positions

Cam Position Intake after retime

Exhaust cam position after retime

 

Have a look at this video (rectangle rings):

 

I watched the video on the rectangular rings and realized I’ve seen that video somewhere before. I’m hoping I don’t need to pull the cams out of the car to replace them, but I will if I have to. I’d like to explore all other possible options before tackling that job—it’s a bit intimidating unless I can find clear instructions and know exactly what supporting parts should be replaced at the same time.

As you can tell from my initial post, I don’t just fix the one part I’m targeting; I prefer to replace everything I touch along the way to avoid revisiting the same area later (unless it would be a total waste of money). So, if I do end up pulling the cams, what else can or should I replace? Cam bearings? Bearing caps? Hardware? Other components?


I DO HAVE NEW INFORMATION FOR YOU:



Here’s what I’ve done so far:

• Pulled the VANOS solenoids, cleaned them, and swapped them front to back.

• Pulled the cam position sensors and swapped those as well.

• Removed and cleaned the oil check valve in the head (I’ve ordered a new one just to be safe).

• Performed the “power latch reset” I read about. I was skeptical, but I was desperate.



For the power latch reset, I unhooked the positive battery terminal, touched it to the car’s ground (ran a wire from the engine mount ground to the positive terminal while it was unhooked), waited a moment, reconnected the terminal, and let the module under the hood run its cycle. Then I started the car. It idled perfectly for 30 minutes, and when the fan kicked on, I followed the instructions to let it cycle After that, I drove the car as instructed: gradually revving up to 4,000 RPM through the gears. The result was amazing. The car performed beautifully—smooth idle, more power than ever before. I drove about 13 miles and then headed home, thrilled with how it was running.



The Next Morning:

When I started the car the next morning, it was chilly here in Scottsdale (but nowhere near freezing). Before I could even back out of the driveway, the idle surged, dropped, and became rough again. And just like that, the check engine light came on.

Now the car is throwing codes for the intake cam being both advanced and retarded at the same time (P0012 and P0011). How is that even possible? I feel like my car either misses its old parts or just hates me!

At this point, I’m thinking this isn’t a timing issue—it must be related to an electronic component or something similar. maybe?

 

so I am at a loss. i have tried everything i can think of. I even took the car to a shop that is a BMW / Mini specialists. they retimed the car just for good measure and same result. I went ahead and replaced all the vanos solenoids (again) with OE and the cam sensors, and the valvetronic motor, and the valvetronic sensor on the side of the head. Cleaned the check valve to be sure it was open and working. still getting p0012 also had 2780 and 278D after the valve tronic motor install. but that seems to have resolved. I will scan it again in the am to be sure. no matter what we try the intake came is still reporting 133.8 which the shop told me is the default timing.

I dont have a bunch of oil leaking out of the cap at the end of the cam where the oil rings sit and never had codes before the chain job. I read mike1967 on mini2 forum say this is a way to tell if they are leaking and resulting in the loss of pressure. but i dont see that when cranking it with the cover off on the starter motor.

as soon as you run the car the cam code comes back in a few moments.

I will say this, after doing the power latch reset, let it fully heat up and the fan kicked in. I drove it and it was like a whole new car. I was thrilled thinking it was better than ever. next morning cold start boom codes. what is going on here? why did the first run after power latch run like it has never run before, only to return to this mess?


Please HELP !

anyone know how i can check the wiring or the DME to be sure the problem is not something there? I feel like this must be electrical at this point? what should i do. I need my car back. its a month now i am getting rides and people are like "what the **** bro" lol

 

This has to be the most unusual car I’ve ever worked on. Yesterday, as I was leaving work, I decided to plug in the scan tool to capture some live data. I noticed pending codes and deleted only the two camshaft-related codes without performing a full system clear. After that, I started the car.

To my surprise, the VANOS system immediately came off the stuck value of 120 and began operating as expected, dynamically adjusting with respect to RPM, load, and other parameters. Since then, the issue has not returned

I have no idea what suddenly resolved the problem—perhaps one of the countless parts I’ve installed recently—but for now, everything seems to be functioning correctly. While I still plan to replace the rectangrings eventually, I’ll hold off for now since the vehicle is finally operating as it should. How long this will last remains the big mystery.

Thanks for your help!

 

Good luck!