[lowaaa]

Hi, I have a bmw 2012 116i f21 with a drivetrain fault.

If I let the car sit there for 5 - 8 minutes its fine.. then the drive train issue comes and an engine warning light comes... then 2 minutes later. the engine warning light is gone but drivetrain malfunction is showing and the car still sounds rough and is in limp mode?

As soon as I turn the car off and then back on, the engine light is gone and so is the drive train malfunction.
But if I wait long enough I'm back in the same place.

And the weird thing is, there are no codes appearing when I turn the car off.. only when the car is on and the drivetrain malfunction happens, I scan through the obd and get a code.

I can only run the obd scanner when the engines on as that's when the warning light comes with the code and the message that appears is:
P13C0 error appeared, with the following message The fault appears as P13C0 $07E8, Please refer to vehicle service manual!

I've inspected the camshaft sensors and cleaned them, they had some weird residue around the middle of the sensors, it looked quite like Vaseline. I cleaned those sensors and still have the drivetrain issue.


I'm completely stuck now. I've ordered a more expensive obd scanner in hopes it reads / displays a more in-depth error as apparently bmw codes can't be read with a simple scanner.

One thing to note; the car came without a vanos solenoid to which I've replaced and refitted. Originally I had an engine warning light and a code on the ignition for the vanos solenoid, but ever since fixing that, that specific code is gone. Could the camshaft timing be off because of that? If so what do garages charge? because I can't find nothing online where someone retimes the camshaft.

It could be that the wiring harness which is connected to the solenoid is bad but I know that would be a different error. Something to do with the circuit so I know it can't be the harness itself.


I have no idea what to do... maybe realign the camshaft? and if so is there a manual for this procedure?

[lowaaa]

Scanner came and this is all it says.