[mike1967]

Hi mini started to stall intermittently when stopping. Ran codes using autocom CDP + this is what came up. 2845 Vanos exhaust camshaft tight or jammed intermittent 2B68 Mass air flow sensor, plausibility fault intermittent 2891 Crankshaft / inlet camshaft , synchronisation permant Vanos inlet, flank adaptation permanent. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

timing chain/vanos/top chain guide snapped off. the 2B68 Mass air flow sensor, plausibility caused by seafoam entering the maf sensor, guess you used spray seafoam and did not just start pouring it in breather pipe i hope, i use spray in to air intake, and in crankcase ie add a can to the oil and run for a few miles,
would do a compression test
oil pressure test
remove rocker cover have a lot at length of chain adjuster and see if top guide is ok, maybe worth buying a locking kit see where its timed.
its done well if on factory chain , but would think more likely needing its second one,

 

[mike1967]

Hi Unfortunately poured in slowly about 125 mil read it on North American motering.com! Changed cylinder head gasket cover a month ago and checked top guide rail looked ok and had a new one to compare it to. Seemed fine!

you find that most of it will be at the bottom of the inlet box hopefully until you floor it then it will get sucked through the motor, i know on seafoams web page its says can do that and chances are it's fine,, me i always use the inlet spray engine running around 3000 revs and spray into the inlet pipe with air filter removed, or on turbo direct injection engines i will use the red long straw and poke it in to the inlet manifold and spray and slowly remove the pipe at same time then shut engine off mid flow leave to stand for over night allows it to soa in to the carbon dirt. i also remove spark plugs and spray with red tube the tops of pistons leave over night then next day crank engine with no plugs in first to clear any liquid to avoid stress the head gasket by engine trying to compress it,
this all said oil pressure test needs doing, just in case the jammed vanos codes is a lack of oil pressure to camshafts causing drag,
also chances are with 90k on it the oil control rings in the end camshaft journals have worn out and losing oil pressure causing the problem,, i believe there is a update parts from metal to carbon plastic main agent only parts,, will also need new camshaft stretch bolts can leave the bottom one where its too and just set timing off the cam shafts as such,

 

[mike1967]

Hi Mike thanks for that, this sound above my capability! If I took your description to a desent mechanic would they understand and wroughly what would this cost me to sort out? I realised I missed off one code 2870 Vanos inlet flank adaptation Permanent. Many Thanks for you help.

only things you can try easy is changing the oil solenoids for vanos,
with autocom you can with the live data function make a list up of controllers etc and include vanos prescribed and actual positions this might give a glue to what is doing what on them, its a complicated system and to work on it need to start off with basics good oil new filter and clean vanos solenoid valves, at worst it might need chain kit with new vvt sprockets, FAI on ebay do good value kits for £225, the camshaft oil rings main dealer parts not that expensive £10-£30 i believe, sprocket bolts £3.29 each the last time i bought some, its the labour thats going to hurt i would guess, yep any garage would see what i have said and get the idea, this said if were me and sending to a garage let them diagnose it from start to finish,, then you always have a comeback with them,, rather than after they do half a job thinking the customer as ask us just to do xyz they then could blame you in some way by saying we only done what you told us to,, not a good way to deal with any garage

 

[mike1967]

Update: l looked more closely at live reading I have from my autocom and found when moving along the graph of both the specified and actual positions of the inlet and exhaust Vanos I found both to be similar but there were spikes for example inlet specified 106 actual 120 or exhaust actual 68 specified 98 all were within max/mini range. Could this indicate The solenoid need replacing stil have slight wrought idel after reving the engines?

inlet specified 106 actual 120 that would indicate to me that the engine is running out of time by 14 degrees, need to pull the rocker cover off and have a look at chain tensioner plunger anything over 100m showing is worn chain, might even be vanos sprocket faulty or the oil control rings within the camshaft front journal,
on autocom you can change the view from graphs to numbers numbers are better to read off,
exhaust actual 68 specified 98 is 30 degrees off and thats a lot, need t remove rocker cover gone south in there below is picks of screen shot on a 2008 1.4 mini with 55k on it and just had new chain kit i had fitted , notice the vanos settings

 

[mike1967]

the chances of both solenoids failing at same time very slim, as both exhaust and inlet vanos are off by those readings

 

[mike1967]

Hi Mike Update: Took cover off. Guides looked ok and chain was tight along the top and down by the tensioner. Ran Scan again this time start up to idel for 10 minuted then increased revs to 2000 for a couple of minutes then raised to 3000 as above then rev from idel to 3000 a couple of times. Looking at the numbers spot on until rev from idel to 3000 then 10/15 off specification. Is this the chain slipping or vanos solenoids not reacting quickly enough? Checked both of them front original part which was stopped in 2009 exhaust solendion first produced 2015.
Also now found oil at bottom of bell housing just by the hole. No visible route from above could that be the rear main seal leaking? Many thanks M

how much of the tensioner can you see ie the plunger inner part, measure from the body of tensioner to tip of its plunger

 

[mike1967]

I have pics of that helps?

if you have pics of tensioer from the top looking down i can tell you

 

[mike1967]

Hi Mike
Please find attached pic of timing chain.
Thanks
M

going by the chain and colour of guides its a factory chain, the vvt sprocket have slight wear on their pulling edge inline with around 100k,, but the pics dont show the tensioner travel thats at rear behind under the inlet vanos sprocket,, that all said going by the guides colour and mileage of car and wear on vanos sprockets its well in the realms of doing, add the difference in where the cams sit with writing at the top all would make me if were my car replace it, that said i go my mileage for piece of mind, ie 60k seems to be the best mileage based point to replace it, as running on with out of time engine will start killing off other things ie cat and 02 sensors and make engine run hot as retarded and cause over heating of things like piston rings and valve stem seals etc,
added point here so when you see people do drag racing with 3000bhp and running NOS just 2 degrees retarded or advanced timing will melt it down. normal high performance car over time has a same effect but as they are not running on the limits of whats possible the engines take it for a while but does lead to damage. low emission cars run on the limits of only just enough fuel and air mixtures to run correctly upset this things start destroying them selves

 

[mike1967]

below link best value for money complete kit with vanos sprockets,, for N18 and 1.4 and 1.6 non turbo engines
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/FAI-TIMI...311280&hash=item2f241348e3:g:tIkAAOSwT0pbwcP4
below link for turbo n14 with single vanos inlet only
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/TCK118VV...223599&hash=item5b46369c48:g:TS0AAOSwzrNa0oeQ

YOURS IS THE FIRST KIT WITH TWIN VANOS, I JUST INCLUDED BOTH FOR ANYONE ELSE READING IT AND HAS THE N14

 

[mike1967]

Hi Mike
Many thanks again will look at change as signs are appearing! Also I have a leak at the bottom of the bell housing please photo provided. What could be causing this no visible sign from above or around housing just at the bottom.
Many thanks for keeping this mini on the road!
M

rear end oil seal by looks of that, hmm gearbox out job flywheel out,,
i would check above that point on side of cylinder head for any leaks from the vac pump and oil pressure switch or the inlet camshaft vvt sensor ie 3x10mm bolts flat plastic looking thing with a strange black 90 degree plug on it. worth check all these first,,
then after this oil pressure test the car make sure its not very low due to crankshaft main bearings worn out, its poss to check this by putting a axle stand to lever against on front pulley if can get it to move up and down then chances are it something big,
first job oil pressure test it need to know how many psi or bar it has got, 3bar is perfect 1 bar at revs is broken when hot,, the whole engine needs clean good oil to run at its best, as vanos needs a stable oil pressure and flow rate dirty old oil effects them a lot,, 9k oil changes and seafoam oil flush every other service is a good thing, 5/30 fully synthetic low saps oil is also a good thing

 

[mike1967]

Hi Mike many thanks no leaks from above so not looking too good. With timing chain as well I think it’s time to let the car go. You’ve been a great help and have enjoyed working on the car but just becoming too expensive if I can’t do it myself. Great cars shame they didn’t build them to last. Thanks M

its like all cars these days they build them to last past the warranty then its on borrowed time. trouble is a lot of people think that a 7 year old car with just under 100k is their new car but its someones old car really. i've lost count the amount of times i see cars 3 years old just out of warranty with big faults and a very angry owners saying it should last 200.000 miles before engine failed say, 200k yep most engines will. but not without wearing components needing changing ie timing chains and oil seals water pumps and dpf filter and turbo's they all are consumable items, that no one out side of the trade tends to agree with, its not just mini its all car makers even the very expensive ones,, Mercedes make top end cars, take the v12 twin turbo 500 engines they do turbo,s and when they do its engine out to repair, £1000 in parts and 2k in labour. its just wide spread these days as cars are made of plastics and cheap lighter metals etc produced in a country where labour is cheap, i'm dreading when all these battery powered cars start failing as parts will be so expensive it might be the end of DIY mechanics after a few of these cars get battery runaways ie the cells over heat and catch fire,, i would think laws will be put in place to stop people form touching the power packs i bit like the gas system and electric system in any house...