hi guys
looking at buying a R56 Cooper S soon. Any advice from other Australian owners ex and present?

In particulary, should I be worried about this engine rattle business which is all over this site but no mention in oz section. Safe to say the posts here on the rattle issue have been sufficient for me to question if I should get a R56

hoping to receive lots of encouraging comments from owners !!!

thanks in advance
Cheers

My R56 has the Engine "Rattle" which i keep telling the dealer shouldnt be there, but they keep on insisting it is normal. Apprantly its got something to do with the vacum pump.

My R56 has the Engine "Rattle" which i keep telling the dealer shouldnt be there, but they keep on insisting it is normal. Apprantly its got something to do with the vacum pump.

well then that makes both of us, however I haven't spoken to the dealer about it. I convinced myself I was just imagining it.

Atleast im not the only one who thought i was imagining it. I personally think its more then a vacuum pump and is worse then what the dealers are letting on, only time will tell i guess, but atleast the dealer knows im know not happy with how the engine sounds.

There is a known cold-start engine rattle that has a fix available (if you were lucky enough to have your dealer actually acknowledge it), other than that the engine will still sound like a diesel at idle most of the time due to the fact that it has direct injection.

Don't let that stop you from getting one though, it's still a ripper engine with a tonne of torque! :D

There is a known cold-start engine rattle that has a fix available

Do you know what the fix is??

New cam chain tensioner

MotoringFile Archive Details Behind the Cold Start Fix (http://www.motoringfile.com/2009/05/18/details-behind-the-cold-start-fix/)

I have told my dealer that was a fix, and they denied it, and keep saying it sounds normal, I think otherwise and im going to keep persisting (might show them the article).

i found a nice little video of the rattle...

MOV03797.flv video by sat1983 - Photobucket (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v481/sat1983/?action=view&current=MOV03797.flv)

That can not be normal...

i found a nice little video of the rattle...

MOV03797.flv video by sat1983 - Photobucket (http://smg.photobucket.com/albums/v481/sat1983/?action=view&current=MOV03797.flv)

Mine sounds exactly the same!

okay my mistake, mine's more of a ticking than that rattle

The ticking is from the direct injection pump that runs off the inlet cam, it is normal.

I think there are quite a few people who have mistaken the ticking (which is fine) for the rattle (which is bad). Maybe because the old (R50/R53) engine wasn't direct injection and so didn't make the same ticking sound?

The R56 engine was a shared development with Peugeot, it is essentially the same as that fitted to the 207GTI. Despite this, I haven't heard of any issues with Peugeot engines.

I was also quite worried about the rattle but BMW have been very helpful in the past when it came to warranty issues. It also seems like very recent build Minis are not suffering the same issues, so I have placed an order for an R56 which will be here in January. One thing for sure though, I won't be picking it up from the dealer if it has a rattle!