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Vanos / Cam fault

55K views 41 replies 18 participants last post by  sploo 
#1 ·
Has anyone experienced any problems or faults related to the camshafts / vanos on the B38 3 cylinder engine? My car (a 2014 1.5 petrol Cooper) is currently at the dealers with what has been diagnosed as a failed bearing on the camshaft / vanos hub. The car has only done 33,000 miles so a bit worrying that it should have this fault, especially given that it’s been serviced at the recommended intervals.
 
#10 ·
Yes!

2014 F56 Cooper with 60k on the clock.

No warning, car went into limp mode with yellow drive train failure ⚠ warning.

Best news is a circlip is missing, if it can’t be found, new engine required ??

Quote is over 8k

Fingers crossed
My sons has a 2015 F56, with 19 codes, all cylinders misfiring, Exhaust Vanos jammed, Not controllable, Fully retarded position (like 70 degrees fully retarded according to the diagnostics), and a number of codes for damaging exhaust gasses. The garage was wanting $2k just to troubleshoot, but we decided to look at it ourselves. Noticed the Exhaust Vanos Actuator was missing the circlip and that allows the inner spool (Black Plastic piece) to push out a few millimeters and oil can then be directed to the incorrect ports. Diagnosed that by watching the cam position. it would be normal when the car started up, but as oil pressure built up it would go to the fully retarded position.
Called a few Mini Dealers, but they didn't know anything about it and said the whole Vanos Actuator would be replaced $480, plus 9 hours of labour. DIY looked like $600 in tooling and dismantling the top of the engine. I figured we would try replacing the clip first.
I did some research and found the part number - it's actually a K-clip (JK-16 or D2000-0160). There were none in Canada so i found a specialty fastener place that could order them in. I now have 98 spares.
We replaced it, got rid of most of the codes except Cylinder #1 has an occasional misfire under load - suspecting sparkplug, coil or injector. It also occasionally flashes Exhaust Vanos jammed, but it is in the 20 degrees position now and moves around a bit. The solenoid is also a failure point, but couldn't swap them around when the k-clip was missing.

I have 98 spare clips if anyone is interested.
 
#6 ·
Finally got car back. Problem solved by replacing VANOS Sensor. Took 9 days at main dealer. Cost £900 but better than a £9000 engine change.
very disappointed by mini customer service - They tried to scare/force me into new engine. All other garages and warranty company couldn’t believe what mini we’re insisting on.
 
#8 ·
Just thought that I would mention that I had a similar failure on my F56 Mini One with less than 35,000 miles on the clock. The diagnosis was that the gauze within the vanos gear has disintegrated, causing blockages and therefore preventing the vanos from correctly adjusting. The car was misfiring like mad and was practically undrivable. Would have cost me £2000+ however MINI payed 75% out of good will due to full MINI service history. I traded it in not long after for an LCI Cooper S, as I lost faith in the 3 cylinder engine. Shame to hear other people are having problems too :(
 
#9 ·
The 3 and 4 cylinder engines are pretty much the same apart from an extra cylinder in the 4 and a balance shaft in the 3 because of the odd number of pistons. There are a lot of shared components. Hopefully with LCI they have resolved the issue at source so I expect you would be OK.
 
#18 ·
Hi, same happened to me. I phoned them up and they had a few available, so I asked for a couple and they were posted 1st class. Give them a ring, I'm sure they'll have a few left. They said that the reason for showing out of stock was because they had less than 50. Good luck, it saved me hundreds.
 
#20 ·
Hi, my wife has a MINI ONE registered 2015, it has 30,000 miles on the clock. The car seems to be running fine, but recently a drive train fault came up. Took it to the local Mini dealership, a couple of faults showed up on the computor, but they couldn't find an actual fault, so the downloaded new software and sent me away £138 lighter. A couple of days later, the amber engine fault came on, I took it back to the dealership who have advised that it is a VANOS fault and that a circlip has fallen off and I need new crankshafts at a cost of £2,955.00. I have complained that the car has only done 30,000 miles and now it is virtually a write-off. MINI warranty have offered to fund 80% of the parts, but the repair still comes in at £1,328.00. I feel very agrieved at this.
 
#21 ·
Crankshaft or Camshaft? Seems a bit of a stretch that the circlip from the Cam shaft would affect the Crankshaft. I mean it could have fallen and gotten caught in the timing chain perhaps but highly unlikely. I would ask them to explain how the Crankshaft could be affected by that.'
Cam shaft... now that is possible.
On my sons car and my subsequent troubleshooting, because it was so carbonned up and running rough, it ended up running on 1 cylinder. That ultimately ended up spinning the camshaft position lobe out by 2mm. We ended up taking it to the dealer, and after explaining to the mechanic what we had done so far and now the code we were getting, he immediately felt it was the position lobe as he had seen it twice before. He had actually made up a jig to measure it as Mini didn't have one. Sure enough, after tearing the top of the engine apart to get at it, he found it was out,(those lobes are only pressed on to the end of the Camshaft so under severe rough running conditions will spin slightly on the cam)
$900Can for a new Cam, $3000 for the whole job and the Mini was back running.
 
#22 ·
Hi, My mistake, it's the two camshafts that have to be changed. apparently BMW recomend this as the fitting of the circlip has changed, I guess because they keep falling off! Unlike your son's car, ours seems to be running perfectly. No power loss , no noises, running smooth as ever. wouldn't know anything was wrong if it wasn't for the warning lamp.What uspsets me is that if the shafts have to be changed because they have made a design change, then they should cover under warranty especially as we have only 30,000 miles on the clock.
 
#23 ·
Mes fils ont un F56 2015, avec 19 codes, tous les cylindres ratés, Les Vanos d’échappement coincés, Non contrôlable, Position complètement retardée (comme 70 degrés complètement retardée selon les diagnostics), et un certain nombre de codes pour endommager les gaz d’échappement. Le garage voulait 2 000 $ juste pour dépanner, mais nous avons décidé de l’examiner nous-mêmes. J’ai remarqué que l’actionneur d’échappement Vanos manquait le circlip et cela permet à la bobine interne (pièce en plastique noir) de pousser quelques millimètres et l’huile peut ensuite être dirigée vers les ports incorrects. Diagnostiqué cela en regardant la position de la caméra. ce serait normal lorsque la voiture démarrerait, mais à mesure que la pression d’huile s’accumulerait, elle passerait à la position complètement retardée.
J’ai appelé quelques concessionnaires Mini, mais ils n’en savaient rien et ont dit que l’ensemble de l’actionneur Vanos serait remplacé à 480 $, plus 9 heures de travail. Le bricolage ressemblait à 600 $ en outillage et démontage du haut du moteur. J’ai pensé que nous allions d’abord essayer de remplacer le clip.
J’ai fait quelques recherches et j’ai trouvé le numéro de pièce - c’est en fait un K-clip (JK-16 ou D2000-0160). Il n’y en avait pas au Canada, alors j’ai trouvé un endroit spécialisé pour les commander. J’ai maintenant 98 pièces de rechange.
Nous l’avons remplacé, nous nous sommes débarrassés de la plupart des codes, à l’exception de Cylinder #1 a un raté occasionnel sous charge - soupçonnant une bougie d’allumage, une bobine ou un injecteur. Il clignote aussi occasionnellement Exhaust Vanos coincé, mais il est dans la position 20 degrés maintenant et se déplace un peu. Le solénoïde est également un point de défaillance, mais ne pouvait pas les échanger lorsque le k-clip était manquant.

J’ai 98 clips de rechange si quelqu’un est intéressé.
[/CITATION]
Bonjour
je suis a la recherche d’un clips pour la mini de ma femme ,le même problème que vous code P13C9 ET LE CLIPS MANQUE.
pouvez vous m’en vendre?
Merci d’avance
 
#28 ·
Hi,
My wife has a similar issue (2015 - 3 cylinder- F56) showing VANOS solenoid error codes.
I have looked at the engine but unable to find the Vanos solenoid. Do you have a guide or diagrams on how to access the VANOS solenoid. Having read your post, I have ordered the circlip in anticipation.
However, I will be grateful if you can forward me some helpful tips on accessing the Vanos and reseting the Vanos actuator.
 
#29 ·
Sorry, wasn't online for a few days and missed your question. I'll have to dig back thru my pictures, but I didn't know when I started and basically had to google it. I'll send you a message with some pictures. One advantage i had was Newtis (BMW online shop manual) was still working back then so i had spent hours going thru that.
 
#34 ·
Hi dmrolo,

Excuse my ignorance here. But my understanding is that there is only one solenoid behind the actuator as shown in the diagram.(no.6). Just to clarify the details of my wife's car are:
Model- Cooper Auto (5door hatchback) - 3 cylinder, Twin Power Turbo
Type - UKL-L
Variant: XS52.
I have also searched behind the engine and can not find any VANOS solenoid anywhere. One of the paperwork given to her states the car is F55. Just need to confirm exhaust solenoid location before pulling the the engine apart :)
So confused.com right now.
Any light on the location of the exhaust solenoid will be gratefully appreciated.

Product Automotive tire Engineering Auto part Font
 
#35 ·
Depending on the year and model of car, it will be one of those 3 shown in the diagram. The list of parts has a date range listed for each of the 3 options so you can determine which one applies to you. Although the diagram only shows the solenoids for the rear gear, the same components (actuator and solenoid) are part of the front gear.

You can narrow this down for your particular year and model at the Mini parts website... Shop MINI Original Parts in Canada. for CDN pricing.

The actuators are on the side of the engine adjacent to the airbox. There should be one towards the front, and one towards the rear in the arrangement shown in the parts diagram.
 
#36 ·
Hi All.
I've been reading this thread with interest as my wifes F56 Mini Clubman 2016 has shown vanos issues. No issues other than a warning light, so i thought I'd investigate the missing circlip scenario.
Sure enough it is missing.
Has anyone in the UK over ordered their clips and have a couple spare please?
I have tried the suggested company but they can't find their stock even though they are sure they have them.
Thanks
Paul
 
#38 ·
Update on my missing clip.
I bought some in the UK and fitted 1.
It's too slack. I thought maybe they sent the wrong size but it measures correctly.
I left it fitted. Test drove about 20 miles.
Checked it an it had come off, but fortunately hadn't dropped down the oil way.
But even when it was fitted, my exhaust vanos value measured zero. So i think perhaps the clip is a red herring and i have a jammed exhaust vanos.
 
#41 ·
I'd also be interested in any info on this. My wife's Cooper (mid 2015) has just died with a "broken solenoid valve circlip". I assume this is related to the VANOS system? The Mini dealer has found most of the bits of the circlip, but not all, and are telling us it's an £11k bill for a new engine!

The gist I get is this is not because it's definitely destroyed the engine, but because the cost to strip it down completely to find any remaining debris means they advise a new engine, but I don't know if that's our only route?

If it is the VANOS system, is that in any way related to the spark plugs? I ask the (possibly dumb) question because Mini are refusing to honour her extended warranty because an independent garage changed the spark plugs at 35k miles in 2020, rather than 28k miles in 2019!
 
#42 ·
Update: I've now seen the car (at the dealer) and it is indeed the exhaust VANOS solenoid valve. The dealer admitted there's a revised part that can be fitted to this engine; indicating to me that it's a known design fault (certainly backed up by the number of reports I've seen of circlips "going south"). I guess the advice to any B38 owners might be to check if you can get that part replaced, as it's likely just a few hundreds of £/$, vs a potentially massive engine bill.

The problems have previously caused the engine to stutter and misfire; which was pretty unsettling (and unsafe) when travelling at motorway speeds whilst surrounded by other traffic.
 
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