[lyd54321]

Hi All,

I bought my Mini One Diesel from new in 2004. I have had some problems on and off. It all started about 18 months after I bought it, a kind of rattling noise coming from the engine. I mentioned it at my first service but they said they couldn't hear it. It would be intermittent and would seem to stop doing it every time i took it to the garage!

At 3 years old at my MOT i mentioned it again. Luckily they wrote down they needed to check the problem. They concluded that there was nothing wrong and that it may be something that just happens.

When I took it into service at the end of last year i mentioned it again as it had got louder and was making a really nasty noise. They concluded it was the alternator pulley's and said that they would get it sorted as a gesture of good will seeing as i had complained about it before. So it was all well and good for about 24 hours and then another noise started coming from the engine. I took it back and they apologised and said that the alternator had gone. I was worried as it was out of warranty but as another gesture of good will they replaced it and said it should be fine. After a few days i noticed the noise again. I thought maybe i was worrying over nothing, but it was due a service in october 07 so i got them to check it. They said nothing was wrong and that i was probably just worrying because of previous problems.

On Christmas eve i was driving my car on the M25 and my whole car lost complete power and loads of warning lights came on. I took it to the garage and they got it fixed, but since then this noise from the engine has been happening again.

Then tonight there was a really loud clunk when i was driving and the battery light starting flashing intermittently. I was worried so pulled over and checked the manual. Apparently this may be another problem with the alternator as I'm aware the alternator charges the battery. I got my boyfriend to take a look and he said that a bolt and had sheared and that the alternator was loose making the belt really loose.

Do you reckon Mini will replace this for free seeing as i have had these ongoing problems with it? It was only replaced in november! Has anyone else had this problem? I am totally fed up with it now as it has been in 4 times since last November!

Any advice/help you can give would be really appreciated!

[iain cooper]

yes, this should not cost you anything as all problems related to alternator, also sounds like when the alternator was replaced, the bolts were not tightened correctly, hence your present problem.