Hi all

I've had an ongoing 'issuette' with my GP - happening on a sporadic basis.

Sometimes when the car is started cold it'll make a rattle noise (like a smaller football rattle) coming from the top of the engine which quickly shuts up as soon as the oil is up to pressure a few seconds later. It seems to be coming from the breather box area, which of course would 'amplify' any sound coming from it.

But worse is the same noise when the car has been run and is hot/warm, has been stopped for a bit, and then started again.

So, for example you run the car for a journey, stop for fuel, and then come out restart and the noise can be there - but this time it won't stop unless you stop the engine and restart it.

It's been into the dealer repeatedly, but they just can't find the issue (or seemingly replicate it) - the car is (and has always been) under warranty, and is well looked after. The last time it went in they changed the valve in the breather box, as after I provided some video clips this seemed to confirm where the noise was coming from..

Then it did it again, and still does on and off!

So - here's a YouTube clip I took, and on this occasion it happened in a town centre car park after having been parked for 1½ hours before I came back and started it to go:

‪IMG_1066.MOV‬‏ - YouTube

Has anyone experienced this? Anybody know what they think it is? Because the dealer are stumped, and there are no advice notes out for this sort of problem.

Any help would be much appreciated - it's driving me nuts.. :confused:

Many thanks

Sounds like the cam chain tensioner rattle which is solved with a new tensioner, the part is roughly £30 from the dealer.

Shouldn't take a MINI 'technician' (or monkey) longer than 30 mins to change

Thanks - sorry, I should have added that the CAM chain tensioner has been changed - that was the first thing that they tried.. (oil pressure on start up, etc. etc.)

i dont mean to bring up an old thread, but i have an 05 R53 S with the same problem of a rattle noise on and off when cold and after running for a while an stopping. the noise seems to be originating from the side where the transmission is. i have a getrag 6 speed, i dont know if that makes a diff, but my clutch seems to be starting to give also (getting stiff). ive been reading lots of rattle noise tsb's and mostly seem to point to the dual mass flywheel being crappy but it does not specifically target our complaint. just an idea but if someone who had the same noise that has changed to a new flywheel or clutch flywheel combo can chime in with the noise going away we'll know what to target.

like i said just an idea because it coming from the left area of my engine bay, and not because im sitting in the drivers seat haha.

JP

Hi

It has been know to get a bad cam chain tensioner from new. I think there has been threads about going though two or three till one worked properly.
I have also read posts about the snout drive adaptor on the supercharger causing Bad rattles, you could pop the belt off and see if there is any back lash in the pulley.
Also which might be worth a try put some sea foam in you engine 50 or 100 miles or so before you get the oil changed its ment to remove deposits and free up sticky lifters in you engine, just dont go spanking it around while its in there just take it easy. Also you may have oil pressure but not in the right places or not enough sea foam my help
I take it the car has not lost any performance and runs ok apart from the rattle

Hope this helps a little or rules out some things :-)

My first guess was cam chain tensioner, no exhaust leaks at header ?

i posted when i was at work and could not see the video on my phone, i just watched the video and holy SHEIT we do not have the same problem. sorry about that bud but you have a oil problem and what it seems is that you have oil pressure but at some point in the oil valleys theres blockage, which is why when you turn it off and try it again the foreign object has either gotten outta the way or pushed through, i just solved my problem which was a just rattle from the exhaust when starting up. you have a continuous tapping noise which is NOT normal and if they cannot fix it, that **** is an engine replacement. unfortunately these cars are well engineered with cheap parts.

shouldve watched the vid first.

Peace
JP

Hi all - update.

Finally the noise came on and stayed on, and I limped it over to the BMW garage, luckily with it still doing it when I got there.

Leaving the car running I had the whole technician team out there, and the unanimous suspicion was that it was the timing chain assembly.

So, under warranty (I have Mini Insured warranty - comprehensive) they've replaced the whole timing chain assembly - which is obviously on that side of the car (video).

It's been fine since, and I'm really pleased that it's finally sorted..

Thanks all for the advice/pointers - hopefully this will also help some others out..

:cool: