2009 mini cooper clubman, timing chain and valve seals

It's been sometime, since i've done it on a peugeot 207, but camshaft locking tool is locking them on the squares, my tool fit very loosely. Also that was a dot and a groove on the intake sprocket at the vvt camshaft. I had the loose end with vice grips turn the camshafts to get them centered in the timing tool because they want to turn from the valve spring pressure. then i tighten all three bolts by hand, unlock the engine, put my own marks, thengion the chain then turn the engine over by had two revolution and it has moved. I loosen the bolts and made correction then tighten them and checked it again, it had moved again, made one more correction on the crank bolt, checked it and was good, then i tighten to spec all the bolts.
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GoceKU said:
It's been sometime, since i've done it on a peugeot 207, but camshaft locking tool is locking them on the squares, my tool fit very loosely. Also that was a dot and a groove on the intake sprocket at the vvt camshaft. I had the loose end with vice grips turn the camshafts to get them centered in the timing tool because they want to turn from the valve spring pressure. then i tighten all three bolts by hand, unlock the engine, put my own marks, thengion the chain then turn the engine over by had two revolution and it has moved. I loosen the bolts and made correction then tighten them and checked it again, it had moved again, made one more correction on the crank bolt, checked it and was good, then i tighten to spec all the bolts.
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No marks like that on the n12, at least not this one.. Its all down to the locking cams.

As you noted, the lock does have some “play” in it. I plan to square it up with some slip in feeler gauges and then not rely on the locking cam to hold things in place while putting the angle torque on it.

In this case, I’ll use a nice big 27mm wrench to hold the cam instead of relying only on the locking tool. Might be a bit overkill, but I’d prefer NOT to go through this kerfuffle again….
 
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OK, didn't work on the car today (had to take truck in for a service) but I did try a little troubleshooting trick.

Started the car up with the scanner attached. Went to live data and misfires. Reved it up to where it misfires and sure enough, lots of #1 misfire counts and eventually it sets the check engine light.

Clear the codes and then, unplug the intake cam sensor. Disconnecting the cam sensor disables the VVT so it can't change the timing. The engine runs on it's fixed base cam timing.

Set up the scanner for live data again. Rev the engine up to the misfire zone and....nothing. No misfires, no codes. It just revs up and down. Try it four more times and once again, no misfires, no codes.

Yep, it's a timing issue.

That jives with me not setting the cam chain tension correctly or perhaps the locking tool allowing the cam to rotate too much when I torqued the cam gear bolts down. Shimming and a 27 mm wrench will take care of the second potential issue and me not being a "dough head" will take care of the first.

;)

I'm back on it tomorrow, we'll see what comes out of it.......
 
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I did not have an open wrench to hold the cams so i used a big set of vice grips, the looking squares in my case has round corners and are hard to keep them straight. Keep us updated.
 
Yup, its official: I’m a dough head.

before removing the tensioner, I set up a dial guge on the chain to see if the vvt cam gear was negatively affected by the increased preload over the pretensioner.

backed the tensioner out and then:

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that started at “0”. So the vvt gear was 0.3mm out of rotation. For timing, thats huge!

It will turn again when the tensioner is reinstalled, but this isn’t about where it goes once assembled, its about getting it in the right initial position.

Such a dough head! One small (but critical) adjustment in the whole procedure and I mess it up!

Sheesh, I must be getting old…thank goodness I’m not working on supersonic aircraft anymore!

I never would have made an error like this when I was younger and my brain was at the top of its game….

On a more “plus” note: the cam locking tool pretty much has “0” clearance where I though it was sloppy. At least that was done right.

I also noted that the 27mm wrench won’t fit past the cam locking tool. I’m not so sure thats a bad thing as the 27mm hex on the camshaft isn’t a part of the casting. You can move it seperately from the camshaft as it appears to be part of the vvt system. So not a good choice to hold the cam against the tightening torque for the cam gear bolts…
 
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As a mechanic for some time I have enjoyed following this thread. Having made my share of mistakes in the past I can feel your frustration. The one that sticks out in my mind was a twin cam V6 in a Nissan that somehow I didn't get the cam gear bolts tight. Ran for about 5 seconds before things moved and bent all the valves. That was a hard thing to go tell the boss. Lucky the heads were ok but what a mess.
 
Well, set to right and its better, but will still throw misfire #1 codes when under load above 4500rpm. Has a funny little rattle as well.

Plan tomorrow is to pull the VANOS solenoids off and make sure their screens are clean.
The scan tool pulls up the vanos info and all the numbers are all in spec, but its basically a hydraulic system using engine oil and just because the ecm is commanding a valve doesn’t mean its getting it. Unlikely, but possible.

After that, I may have to throw in the towel and flatbed it to the dealer…getting too okd for this constant chasing of faults.
 
Here’s an interesting bit of trivia about how silly the engineering is in this thing.

Most gas engines use a throttle body to control engine speed. It’s tried, true and stone axe reliable.

This N12 engine has a throttle body and it looks like a regular one. But the operation leaves you with you sctaching your head and thinking “why the F did they do that?”

When you start the car, the ecm commands the throttle body to go wide open. WTF? So how does it control the throttle if its WOT all the time?

The ecm uses the vanos system to increase or decrease the valve lift to give you throttle response.

What?!?!?

When I read that my thoughts went back to the comments I have about most european engineering:

”just because you can doesn’t mean you should”.

As if thats not weird enough, unplugging a cam sensor disables the vanos system and defaults the valve lift to a fixed value, like a conventional cam sustem. How does it control throttle? Well, it goes back to using the blade in the throttle body like a”normal” engine.

French engine in a German designed car assembled by the British….what a cluster-F- this thing is! Proof the the sum is often more than the parts….
 
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