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N12 Timing Questions

6K views 8 replies 2 participants last post by  mike1967 
#1 ·
Hi guys,

I bought a 2008 mini 1.4 with a misfire, it turned out to be a burnt out exhaust valve on cylinder 3. I stripped the head off and replaced all 8 exhaust valves and checked the inlets for straightness everything appears fine. I reassembled everything put the head upside down and filled each cylinder level with the gasket face with paraffin and none of it leaked past the valves so I'm happy the heads fixed.

A friend lent me a locking tool kit that appears to be a cheap ebay special, before refitting the head I wound the crank round so all 4 pistons are level with 1 & 4 on there upward stroke and inserted the flywheel tool, i'm happy that's correct as I can't turn the crank in either direction.

I then refitted the head to the block with a new head gasket and fitted a new timing chain assembley (crank sprocket, guides & chain with new bolts, cam sprockets left loose on the cams.). I then wound the cams round to fit the locking tools, I had issues fitting the exhaust tool first time due to the cam wanting to constantly rotate from the valve spring pressure. I managed to get it on and would the inlet cam into place, what concerns me is I've had to tap the locking tools into place with a rubber mallet to get the the bolt holes to line up.

I then fitted the pre tension tool to the head and wound it up finger tight as I don't have a small enough torque wrench for the tis setting. I then nipped the crank bolt up to 40nm and the cams to 20nm, with the locking tools all removed I've turned it over 4 times and with the flywheel locking tool in the hole the cam tools now just drop into place so the timing appears right.

My concern and the point of this whole post is regarding the accuracy of the chinese locking tools? is there another way of confirming I've got the timing in the correct position? the writing on both cams is nicely at the top and the locking tools fit in easily but i'm concerned that I originally had to knock the cam tools into place to get them to line up with the bolt holes in the head.

Another question is do I need to get another bolt for the crank pulley as the timing chain kit didn't come with one so I don't know if it's reuseable or not?

Thanks
Chris
 
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#3 ·
the cheap locking kits are hit and miss i have one thats 1 degree out but i use feeler gauge to pack out the square part of cam locks so cam cant move,, you also must use a 27mm open ended spanner to hold the cams while doing up the stretch bolts,, NEVER USE THE CAM LOCKS TO HOLD CAM WHILE DOING STRETCH PART OF BOLTS,, as timing will always be out, there is no way of telling without diagnostics scan live data on vanos will show actual position and prescribed positions,
before doing up stretch part would also insert the spring tensioner and just check all locks fall in place again if do then the preload you used was correct, you should always replace all stretch bolts on any job
 
#4 ·
Thanks Mike,

I've a 27mm spanner so that bits fine, I've ordered a new crank bolt from bmw so I'll fit that.

So with the timing its basically suck it and see? I've got a copy of ista d so that should be as to show me the vanos readings, do you know what there supposed to be for reference?

The cam locks I have are a decent fit to the cam cutouts theres no slack in them I just don't know if they've been machined correctly compared to an OEM tool.

Thanks
Chris
 
#5 ·
i use autocom for diagnostics live data to read vanos positions, and basically yep set the timing and drive it, will say needs a good 3-5 cold to hot runs so get the adaptation to come back in line.. or what i do is to engine off ignition on remove positive battery terminal and touch to earth ie chassis of car, reconnect battery and you will ear loads of clicks etc ie car is ressiting hard set adaptations this drops the static build up as well from the chips,, worked on rolling road tuners for a number of years its a common place reset on bosch ecu's, when i done a seminar years and years a go for psa the guy on that also told us about this he called it power latch.. someone people on here have made comments about it being something else and would never do that etc,,
below is a link for how it works from another psa tech, i was having a laugh with a mapper at black magic tuning the other day he also swears by it,,, it totally different from some idiot putting jump leads on a totally dead car and trying to start it, or leaving the ignition on when connecting jump leads,,, or shorting the battery while engine is running,, ie this adds big amps, removing static and reset has no power,, think of a ecu like thousands of little two way valves that get mixed up, and by palling in reverse the static out of the system it resets it all back to the beginning,,, i've seen people replace ecu's before to find all it needed was a hard reset/power latch call it what ever,

Ecu Reset Procedure - C4 - Technical - Citroen Owners Club. The citroen cars forums
 
#6 ·
thought i'd update this, cars been back together since yesterday, I did the touching positive lead to earth with the ignition on and figured out how to reset the adaptations in ista. Car seems to drive fine, idles hunting a bit but i'm assuming this is the car relearnign everything. there are no unexpected codes in ista d although I've yet to find how to read the vanos positions.

Car passed it's mot this afternoon with decent emissions figures so I'm fairly happy my cheap timing tools have done the job properly, I'll be doing a decent journey in it tomorrow with lots of different types of roads so hopefully that won't throw up any issues.

Thanks for the help,
Chris
 
#7 ·
ideal all sounds where it needs to be from sounds of it, they do take a few good runs to settle in to what they are going to be if that makes sense, vag dsg gearboxes are also learning ecu'd etc i've seen them have ecu flashed ie mapped and from the start are flat and dont change gear nicely, but after a good 20 miles of kicking it after it turns in to nutters cars again, everything is ecu and learning to save fuel basically and to allow a car to be a fast car depending on the driver after a 20 miles
 
#9 ·
ideal i'm sure some would appreciate a write up on insta and how to as some have it and its not easiest to play with
 
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