Hi I have a Mini Cooper (2006) with 80k miles on it. I've always looked after the car although not owning it from new. I have worked as a mechanic in the past so I know what it means to keep a car maintained.

Recently whilst driving home from work the engine management light come up. So I got home (apx 1 mile away from work) done a code reader on the CAN system and received two codes. P0014 and P0457.

P0457 related to my thermostat not functioning and remaining open. So I replaced the entire housing that code is now gone and has not returned.

P0014 related to the camshaft timing to be advancing. This was a very general code and didn't give me a lot of insight as to what was happening.

So what I done I borrowed a better diagnostic machine from the place I work which is a Snap-On Verdict I read the manufacture specific codes and everything pointed towards the VANOS.

So anyways I cleared the codes and seen what happened the next day. The next day I received a few codes relating to the solenoids not working correctly, so I took advice of a friend got them cleaned out properly (there was thick slug attached to them) cleaned the inside of the port they fit into and put them back in, it solved pretty much all of these codes except one which remains.

283D - VANOS Exhaust Adaption Stop

So I seen this and tried switching around the solenoids to see if that made a difference. It did not.

So I took the car for a drive whilst watching the live data from the valve gear, from this I noticed the the exhaust adapt value remained at either 0 or -1. I thought this was a bit strange as the inlet values were ranging from 0 to +12.

I'm a little bit stuck and not sure where to go from here, can anyone give any advice on the situation?