If you kept the chain on the sprocket the whole time then you should be properly timed. The only way I know how to check this is to pull the timing chain cover and count the links or just reset he chain to the marks on the sprocket.
whoa you are hardcore! so far so good with the thumb, swollen but not enough to get me to reach for the drill just yet...
I'm going to take it apart to visually inspect and be sure. The lack of power under throttle is significant, something is definitely wrong. The car wouldn't even start yesterday - no crank at all from the starter - until I unplugged the negative battery wire and re-attached it. So something is off somewhere, I'm digging my hole even deeper now.
I'm second guessing just about everything now. I'm starting to think (from the additional research I've been doing about timing) that I may have bent a valve. If I didn't get the new camshaft and rocker arm installed correctly, the car is acting the way it would if it bent a valve after the first startup the other night. I don't really know, because I can't think of anything I did wrong with the camshaft and rocker arms - there's just not that much to it. They all went into place easily, I didn't need to force anything. Same feeling on the timing chain - I did not remove the chain from the sprocket, and I never dropped any of it down into the timing case. Nothing should be out of sync. What advice does anyone have for me on the following two options (or, would you point me in a different direction entirely): If it were you, and you wanted to keep trying to get this car running well, would you now: 1. Re-do the timing completely - timing case cover off to confirm the chain marks are aligned on the crank sprocket, and then re-time from there as I did when I put in the new chain or 2. Re-do almost everything - pull the cylinder head again to inspect the valves to confirm if I bent one or more of them. Or, am I missing that there is a way to diagnose the valve from the top without pulling the head again? I'm willing to do the work, the problem I'm having is getting the parts - can't get anything delivered until next week and I'm trying my damndest to get this done this weekend. Maybe I just need to suck it up and wait for the new parts (meaning all the new gaskets I'll have to replace, along with new cylinder head bolts and new head gasket if I pull the head) thanks everyone. I've come too far to give up but maybe I need to throw in the towel and just get it to a pro. Feeling defeated.
I would pull the timing chain cover and check/reset the timing. Since the motor has been run the timing marks on the chain will not line up with those on the sprockets. You can count the links of chain between the crankshaft marks and the cam marks, see picture below for reference, but you might as well pull the chain and realign it with the marks. If you have to rotate anything to get them aligned, then your timing was probably off. If that's the case, a leak down test will tell you if you bent a valve.
Everything @myles2go said. Sometimes you can tell if a valve is bent by looking at the top of the valve spring. Set the cam lobe point away from the valve. If it is the spring/top of the valve is shorter then the other valve springs it is bent. Some cars the rocker will be looser than the other rockers if the valve is bent. Do not run the car till you do what @myles2go said and you know the valve is not bent, you don’t want it to brake, that would be new motor time. If someone tells you, you can straighten the valve don’t! That’s a good way to buy a new motor. Also if the valve is bent their will be very little compression on that cylinder. I wouldn’t order parts till you check everything. If it is a bent valve you can replace that one valve. don’t give up. We have all learned the hard way.
Thanks guys, that helps a lot. Last night I was feeling like any effort in chasing the timing was maybe a wasted effort, but this is all great perspective. I will dig into the timing chain this weekend and just reset it as if it were new. I'll go from there at least knowing for certain that the timing is correct. thinking ahead to worst case scenario... if I find out that I bent a valve, is that ONLY solved with a new engine, or is a valve replaceable? would that simply entail another valve job at the machine shop only this time a new valve would go in to replace the bent one? If it's another valve job I can live with that - that was $350 so it would be that plus the valve replacement, and I at least know what goes into pulling the head for that work to be done. Edit: Duh, I just noticed that Lee said "If it is a bent valve you can replace that one valve" so that answers my question! And is good news, if that is in fact the worst case scenario I'm dealing with now.
On the thumb: I hold a needle w/ a pair of needle nose pliers, heat it to red-hot in the flame of the stove and then burn through the nail in the middle of the blister that's trapped underneath. It only takes a few seconds and I've never felt any heat through the nail (the nail is dead material but there are nerves under it usually... padded away by the blister). Be prepared... the blister is under pressure (the pain you are feeling) and it might squirt a bit when you first break through. No need to reseal... just let it breathe and grow out. And now back to your normal non-gross MINI content!
I learned that trick many many moons ago from my mother in law when building our house. I then learned how to keep my extremities out of harms way.
Thankfully the thumb is calming down and healing nicely! No drills or needles or hot pokers. Swelling is way down and pain is mild now. mini is going back to my mechanic this week. I think I am done with solving it myself. I’m convinced I bent a valve. After all this work it’s crushing that I might have ruined it when putting it back together after finally solving the actual problem. But the plan is to get it running again. I will report back when I know if that will happen!
I might be closing in on a happy conclusion. The car is back at the shop that I've referred to a few times in this thread (going on five months now!), and yesterday they confirmed that it is mistimed, and that's causing the P03041 camshaft sensor error. They said it's off by five or six teeth, which they said is about 30 degrees. No concern about a bent valve for now. So I'm going to have them re-time it. Their mechanic said he thought it still sounded like it had a misfire, but that could be the bad timing. If it does, it is significantly less pronounced than the misfire I've tried to solve all this time. I was so close... I took off the wheel on Saturday morning to open up the timing cover and re-time it myself to see if that was the problem, and then it hit me that I don't have the rented pulley puller to remove the crankshaft pulley I put on there. That's when I decided I just need to stop! By the time I wrote my last post above, on Saturday night, I was just worn out by the whole thing. Now it feels good to know that I was a pulley removal tool away from solving it myself if I had re-done the timing this weekend. But the shop will do it correctly for sure, and they're also going to give me a sense of how serious my leaks are (oil and power steering). I'll update again when they're done, possibly today but more likely tomorrow. For reference for anyone now or in the future who understands these graphs (I do not), the shop shared these images of their timing check that shows the mistiming. Maybe someone familiar with these readings will get some use out of it as reference at some point.
I hope you get on the road soon. If you still have the factory clamps on the power steering hoses that may be the problem with the leek. Also you may want to check with Mini on the power steering recall it may cover your car.
Part of the battle is knowing when to call in the experts! Good work! Hope that the car is up and running well soon!
I did have the power steering recall work performed years and years ago, I don't even remember when. Long ago enough that I'm not surprised the "new" system is leaking. Clamps would be nice if that's all it is. That power steering recall nearly killed me twice. The first time it bit me, the power steering went out as I merged onto an exit ramp, at highway speed. With a split-lane barrier fast approaching at that speed, the immediate feeling was as if I had no steering at all. Took all of one second or less to realize I had control, it was just heavy all of a sudden. This was before BMW had admitted the problem, and the dealership was in zero hurry to address it as anything more than a freak occurrence when I called about it. It was normal for months, then happened again mid-turn on a thankfully low-speed curve near my house. More phone calls, car went in, "nothing wrong" reported. Thankfully the recall (which actually wasn't technically a true recall for sneaky legal reasons on BMW's part I seem to remember) was announced shortly after that, pump was replaced and it's been fine ever since. I haven't thought about that in years. The me of today probably have told them to shove their little car up their rear. Guess I've always been a glutton for punishment from this car. It's like an old pet or family member with questionable habits that are willing to be overlooked out of love and familiarity at this point.
it seems like I've had PS line leakage / replacement for every 4-5 years or so of MINI ownership. I had the work done more than once on my first R53 and had to do it almost immediately upon acquisition of my current R53.
Drum roll please... the R53 is back and mechanically sound! Or at least operational. The engine is in time, although it took the shop two attempts. On the first try it was out of time after one revolution of hand cranking. No idea why. They did it again and cranked by hand a few dozen times and it remained in time. the misfire seems to be gone. Now that the engine is properly timed, the power band is back to normal. No error codes, no engine light, no misfire to hear or feel, smooth idle... we think this six-month-plus ordeal is finally over. Now, we do have oil leaks to address but not as serious as I feared. Mechanic confirmed the oil pan is not leaking and the rear main seal is not leaking - great news. It’s all coming from the oil filter housing and the oil cooler connected to it. I had the filter housing out to put in a new gasket so that may be the whole problem. The oil is getting out from there and wicking it’s way across the back of the block and then up into the gaps at all the seals, so it looked much worse to me. Also I will need to deal with the power steering leaks as mentioned. At least it’s good to know that is common. Last detail is the front axles aren’t sealing correctly and they’re leaking. Those were installed at a different shop just before I started this project so I need to talk to them and see about getting them to check their work. I think I can finally close this insane thread. Never in a million years did I expect to be adding to this story in June... it was winter here when I started this! But I also didn’t expect all the helpfulness and incredible generosity of time, ideas, thoughtfulness and talents of the members of this forum that followed along and offered advice and help along the way. Everything I’ve done has been trial by fire, learning as I go, and you all served as my primary resource throughout the process. So, thank you! I’ll start a new thread for whatever I get into next. For the time being we’re just going to enjoy the car and a little free time while it leaks a bit, and I’ll plan my attack for those fixes soon. Meanwhile I haven’t even driven it yet - my son picked it up with me, he drove it home and went back out for the night. He’s been without his car for a month, the final month of his senior year of high school, so he’s extremely happy to have it back. Hopefully I can steal some seat time in it this weekend.