Cooper S ticking noise

[sholto]

I have a cooper s and under load (when accelerating) the car makes a ticking noise (really fast ticking). It sound like a mechanical kind of ticking. It seems to be coming from under the car on the drivers side (RHD car). I took it too the dealer and the technician said it he had heard the problem and it was being investigated.

When I took the car to the dealer to get something else fixed, I asked them about the problem and they said all of them do it.

Has anyone else experienced this problem and do you know what it is?

Cheers.

[NEMINI]

try a search I know this same or very similar question was just asked by someone else, sorry I didn't follow it all the way through so I don't know what the outcome was but a search for 'ticking' will probably net you what you are looking for .......and welcome to MINI2

[eltel]

Yes, I've got the loud 'ticking' noise. Comes on in 2nd, 3rd, 4th gear especially between 3k and 4k revs. I did start up a thread months ago, but no-one else seemed to have that problem.

I reported it in January then in March and finally forced my dealer to do something about it in July. It was off the road for 6 days in July while the BMW guru checked it out and sent all sorts of measurements of 'run-outs' on all of the pulley wheels to Germany.

They think it is the 'harmonic balancer' but they have replaced that at least twice now, and apparently, a new one is on its way from Germany. Something unler load is making the noise.

The noise is still there, although less intrusive. I have asked for a written report on what BMW found and did to my baby but after a month that is still not available.

I continue to seek answers, but I'm not making any friends at my dealer or with BMW.

[komulainen]

I have the same ticking noise that you can hear only with the windows down and something outside that reflects the sound back. It sounds horrible. Of course MINI dealership couldn't hear the sound and instead got me to buy a new tire because of two nails in one of them. Anyone found anything out about this?

[AndrewH]

sholto,

I have this exact same problem, ie under moderate to high load there is a rapid ticking sound coming from the RHS of the engine bay. The ticking sound is not evident when the engine is idling or when it is reved under no or minimal load.

I have a while to go before the scheduled service so I took it over to the dealer for a quick check. The Mini foreman agreed that the noise was not normal but said that it should be OK and they'd check it at the scheduled service. He did say that if there was any reduction in performance, to bring it in straight away (this really inspires confidence).

The sound has been there from very soon after I took delivery but it does not seem to be getting any worse (touch wood). I don't think it is OHV related as it seems to be faster than 1/4 of engine speed (although I could be wrong).

Please let us know how you go with getting it sorted.

[sjbartnik]

Mine does this too. A rapid ticking sound only under acceleration. Not terribly loud, you can only hear it when the passenger window is down (LHD) and the sound is being reflected back from something.

I had the dealer look into it but of course got the old "could not duplicate" even though I told them exactly how to duplicate it. It's something that hasn't gotten worse in 13,000 miles so I doubt it's a real problem but I wanted them to investigate it just in case. There's really not much on the right side of the car to make such a noise. The gearbox is on the left so the only thing that's on the right is the front of the engine (belts and such) and the CV joint on that side as well as the driveshaft support bearing (which would be my guess as to the cause of the noise).

[Restyle]

So its not just MY Ears then
Yep, Windows down, ticking increasing in sync with speed. Same Here.
At 1st I thought I must be dragging something underneath car, like a branch or animal .. NO.
Then I too thought aI must have anail in one of the tyres ..Nope.
I had wondered about some Fan that is apparently close to the ground under the car (power steering related maybe??? ), as I think the noise may get louder after just going through water.
As for harmonic balancers, , is this similar to Inertial Dampers .
Make it So

[bodinski]

mine started after my belt tensioner was replaced under warranty. pretty much identical to bartnik's description. i'd call it a "baseball-card-in-bicycle-spokes" kind of sound. my guess is it's likely the tensioner or the belt itself...

[sjbartnik]

bodinski, hmm that's an idea but not sure why it would only do it under load (meaning I don't hear it if I just rev the engine). You'd think if it was the tensioner it would be purely related to engine speed and not load, so you would expect to hear it just revving the engine at a standstill.

[bodinski]

i can make mine tick just revving (but only briefly, both while parked and coasting), but to do so i have to rev it pretty hard.
everything in the belt area within reach seems tight, so i don't know what to think.

[Sharkey]

The sound that you folks are describing sounds for all the world like "valve float", aka "tappet noise". It is caused by excessive lash between the cam shaft lobes and the valve tappets, and the associated metalic ticking noice would vary with rpm and be most pronounced under moderate-heavy loads (e.g., accelerating up a hill from low rpm). Also makes sense that it is more audible with RH window down, as the cylinder head is displaced to the RH side (with the transaxle to the left). It's a little baffling to me that any semi-competent mechanic would need more than 5 minutes to diagnose this problem, which can arise for a number of reasons, including simple oil degradation, or could be caused by one (or more) bad tappets (I believe that the MINI tappets use hydrolic followers), or could indicate the need for a valve adjustment.

I'd be interested to know from those reporting the noise their (1) total mileage (2) mileage since last oil service (3) and whether the problem has been there since new, or has only surfaced over time.

Cheers, Sharkey

[bodinski]

i've got 7000 miles total (2k since oil change). i had my s/c replaced @ ~ 1250 miles (clatter and screech!). the belt tensioner went @ ~4000 miles (again with the clatter and screech!). i noticed the tick within days of that. if i drive conservatively, i get zero noise. if i rev out of gear, i get zero noise. if, when out of gear, i abruptly rev the snot out of it, i'll get a momentary ticking. the frequency of the tick doesn't seem to rise in relationship to engine speed like valvetrain prob's i've had before.
i would be surprised if it turned out to be the valvetrain.
(although i have been surprised before...)

[sjbartnik]

I don't think it's tappet noise. I've heard tappet noise before many times and it doesn't sound quite like this.

I'm quite interested in bodinski's theory now though. May have to try that out

[Sharkey]

Hmm...interesting. So, bodinski, are you saying that the ticking doesn't vary with rpm? If not, it would rule out valve train noise, but also the largely exclude s/c related noises also (since the s/c spins with the crank as well). As an aside, I'm also pretty distubed by the fact that you've had problems with your s/c: I've not heard of them failing before. Assuming that the noise does vary with rpm, and given that it started immediately after replacong the s/c tensioner, I'll admit that it looks awefully suspicious, BUT it still doesn't make sense to me that the noise would occur in the s/c (or its drive belt system) when the engine in under load. It is also odd that the noise ocurrs under no load when really beating on the engine. Weird.

Are these the same symptoms that you are experiencing chequerboard, including ticking when reving hard with no load? Although it's odd that you hear the noise in first and second gear, the noise would most likely vary with road speed (rather than with rpm) if it were indeed a gear box problem. Also, the effect of engine load would also not effect a transmission related noise, and a transmission noise would obviously not occur when revving the engine hard in neutral. Makes me wonder if everyone is really describing the same poblem, or if it is just a group of problems that cause similar 'ticking' noises

[bodinski]

regarding the tick whilst revving only - it is a very brief occurence , happening only for a second or so. while driving with the engine under moderate load, it seems to be constant.
screwy, ain't it?