I have a 06 mini cooper S, and took it for a drive yesterday.

However there was a point when i pulled over at a store and then upon starting the car, my engine made a terrible rattling noise.

When i got home, i checked the level of the oil, and it was empty, but there was no engine oil light on, to notify me of this.

I put in 1.5 litres of oil, and the level seems fine now, but i still get a rattling noise of the engine. Has anybody had this problem? Seems like there is permanent damage to my engine :(

Any advice plz

Oh, and I only get the rattling upon starting, the engine seems to be as responsive as it always was, and no rattling or engine noise when driving

It is possible that you damaged the engine....

The oil light on the first gen only comes on when there is no pressure. If that happens, it is already too late. You should have been checking your oil every other fillup. Even on the second gen you should not trust the lights. Take the few extra moments to ensure that your engine has oil.

Find and independent to look at it and see what they say.

oh dear, i think i will get it booked in to be seen. thanks for your advice

Sounds like the timing chain tensioner, common fault on mini's, no damage will be done to your engine.

Sounds like the timing chain tensioner, common fault on mini's, no damage will be done to your engine.
:confused:

How can you say that no damage was done? Clearly there is a problem due to running the oil low and without pulling the head or at least doing a leakdown check you can't say something like that. As for the timing chain, that is not a common fault on the 1st Gen MINIs.

It could have been the hydraulic tappets. They will clatter when the oil level is low.

I have a 06 mini cooper S, and took it for a drive yesterday.

However there was a point when i pulled over at a store and then upon starting the car, my engine made a terrible rattling noise.

When i got home, i checked the level of the oil, and it was empty, but there was no engine oil light on, to notify me of this.

I put in 1.5 litres of oil, and the level seems fine now, but i still get a rattling noise of the engine. Has anybody had this problem? Seems like there is permanent damage to my engine :(

Any advice plz

Oh, and I only get the rattling upon starting, the engine seems to be as responsive as it always was, and no rattling or engine noise when driving

I have exactly the same issue. Although it doesn't happen every time I switch the engine on.
The engine rattles for one second and, at the same time, the fuel gauge drops for the same duration. Like you, my engine oil ran low (no oil light on).

:confused:

How can you say that no damage was done? Clearly there is a problem due to running the oil low and without pulling the head or at least doing a leakdown check you can't say something like that. As for the timing chain, that is not a common fault on the 1st Gen MINIs.

I think what they meant was that if its the hydraulic tensioner it wont have done any damage to your engine ;) That was my interpretation of his post anyhow.... It is a fairly common problem - Ive had it on my car and so have many others, not as common as the steering rack or power steering etc etc but still 'one of those things'.....

Low oil can cause your tappets to be noisey and the engine run very hot - get a compression/leak down test done to check that it hasnt over heated and warped the cyclinder head etc etc...

Also you need to find out where the oil is leaking from - if it happened all of a sudden then something is wrong and you need to find the cause, and if not then, as posted above, you need to check your oil more frequently. :)

Unfortunately TLC has encouraged some MINI owners to not check their oil for up to 2 years as they leave it to the garage to check........I have lost count of the number of MINI's I have seen rattling with barely any oil in the sump. With the radio always on many owners are not even aware of the rattle and damage being done. :(

Take a look here at a video of a similar noise - may help :)

YouTube- Broken hydraulic lifters