Hello everyone, first post here, and of course it had to be a bad one...

I appologize in advance for the really long post.

I have had a 2007 R56 Cooper S for a little over 2 years now, and problems have been slowly building up... The previous owner gave me all the papers from official repairs and services and the car seems to have quite a few things fixed before I bought it:

-Timing chain and chain tensioner
-Water pump
-Thermostat
-Turbo oil line (they also added the shielding plate)

A few months after I bought it, it started to ocassionally sound rough at start up, almost like it had the dreaded death rattle, however this appeared to be completely at random, it didn't matter if it was cold or hot, dry or humid outside. Sometimes it happened 3 or 4 days in a row, sometimes it could go one week without doing it, and when it did do it, it would always go away after 5 or so minutes.

I have also had a constant oil leaking/burning (learned recently it's leaking) problem since I bought it, and it kept getting worse. Recently I did an oil change and noticed the o-ring seal on the new oil filter was considerably thicker than the old one, and after this oil and filter change the car seemed to stop leaking oil.

However...

Since the oil change everything seems to have started going wrong... I started smelling oil inside the car after the car had heated up a bit and was stationary, it also seems to be coming from the vents, if I turn off the ventilation I can't smell any of it. Some time after, the car started making a weird whine when I started it up, this always happens when starting it up when the engine is cold, lasts only about a second (it accompanies the engine starting sound).

The engine also started making hissing sound constantly, and when I shut it off it did a sort of decompressing sound for a while. Looked around the forums and found out the valve cover was to blame, so I replaced it and at least that part seems to have been fixed. When I replaced the valve cover I looked at the timing chain and guides and they seem to be perfectly fine, so I'm guessing the ocassional random rough noise is not the death rattle.

While I was replacing the valve cover I also noticed an oil stain on the ground, dripping from the huge bolt that seems to hold the exhaust right bellow the engine, the bastard was leaking oil again, and it seems to be coming from around the oil filter cover area, like before. As if this wasn't enough, the engine started going a bit chokey at idle, this happened on the last run I did with the car before I replaced the valve cover and still happens now. When I tried driving the car after replacing the valve cover I also noticed that it would go all jerky after I took my foot off the accelerator, acceleration however seemed to be fine. This jerkyness and the idle roughness seems to have smoothed out quite a bit after the run, but it still isn't as smooth as it should be.

While searching for possible causes for the rough idle, I came across a few comments that mentioned it was the vacuum pump that was leaking and caused that issue. Sure enough, the oil leaking seems to come from the vacuum pump, but I still have to remove it to confirm this.

There is another thing that bugs me however. When I replaced the valve cover, I noticed the intake camshaft was looking considerably drier than the exhaust camshaft, and the bit near the HPFP even looks a bit on the toasty side. This puzzles me to no end and makes me worry that there's even more problems looming.

Could changing the vaccum pump actually fix the rough idling? Could this also have anything to do with the "death rattle" like sound I hear every now and again? The oil leaking didn't happen every single run, I could go over a week without the slightest change in oil level, and the next few days lose almost a quarter of the indicator, so could they be related in their apparent randomness?

And should I worry about this camshaft? I'll include a picture showing the intake camshaft (left) and exhaust camshaft (right) so you guys can take a closer look.

Thanks in advance for all your help, I'm going nuts over this and I'm gonna need all the help you can give me.

 

The coloring in there is oil coking/varnish, quite normal, no cause for concern.

The vacuum pump won't cause a rough idle unless it is seizing. Vacuum pump oil leaks are quite common on these cars, but so is leaking turbo oil feed lines and oil filter housing gaskets, which would cause an oil slick down the front of the engine, which migrates to the back over time.

Cams look fine, aside from a bit of pitting starting on the lobes, if you are having a death rattle sound you'll need to deduce if it is coming from the waterpump, friction wheel, or timing cassette.

 

If you are hearing the death rattle then stop driving or you could cause serious engine damage.

 

The "death rattle" probably isn't the death rattle, from the info I got it happens everytime when starting cold and keeps getting worse, but in my case it can come and go and be almost a whole month without manifesting. It's just completely random and the chain and cassette seem completely fine. There's most likely something else failing intermittently and causing a similar noise.

I've got an oil leak for sure, but I can't tell where exactly it's coming from, seems it's either around the vacuum pump/oil filter area or somewhere between the turbo and the engine. Curse these contortionist engines trying to fit themselves in small cars, I can't see a thing in there...

 

It's not always that simple, some never have any warning their timing chain is about to fail. There's no universal law that says it can only happen when the engine is cold, mine would rattle and not happen again for weeks to a month.

 

His top guide rail looks in very good condition... I'd even say it looks new. So I doubt the chain is going bad. The only plausible explanation for an elongated chain not to rattle, is if the top guide rail is completely broken. Without it in place, there is little the vibrating chain can touch to generate the sound.

So I would not worry about the timing chain at this point...

 

I just confirmed the vacuum pump is indeed leaking. Gonna replace that as soon as possible. Could an oil leak cause enough lack of pressure on the chain tensioner to make it not work properly, and thus make the death rattle noise? Or am I completely wrong on how this tensioner works?

 

Oh, and by the way, the engine has about 68k miles on it, for those interested. Forgot that "tiny" detail...

 

We have seen people break the top guide due to chain stretch and a faulty tensioner, they take it to a less than qualified shop who "fixes" the problem by replacing the top guide.

Only way to know if the chain is stretched is to put the timing tools on and check chain slack.

The water pump and friction wheel have also been known to cause a clatter from the passenger side that people think is "death rattle" but much cheaper to fix..


A leaking vacuum pump won't cause the tensioner any problems, it is on the opposite side of the engine and fed by it's own oil passage.

Have the car looked at by a qualified shop if you are having chain problems, they can become costly if misdiagnosed.

 

I would've done that a long time ago, but the problem is that the BMW/MINI "qualified" shops in this country (Portugal) are completely incompetent. They were the ones that supposedly did the timing chain + tensioner and water pump replacements.

When I bought the car it had just come out of the shop and 2 days later I had a sudden and massive coolant leak. Went back to them and it turned out they screwed up the thermostat installation. My dad had turbo problems on his 535D and they also screwed those repairs up big time in a different qualified shop.

 

Hey guys, just an update.

I've changed the vacuum pump and valve cover like I mentioned, and right now I'm doing test runs on the car. The engine behaviour seems normal so far, with the exception of the instant and brief whine when I start it up. I don't see any oil leaks right now either, but there's still some left on the exhaust pipe bellow the engine and that seems to be where the burning oil smell comes from after the engine has heated up. Unfortunately I can't clean that off as I can't currently reach it.

 

wow I’m surprised you didn’t know that the valve cover has to be torque back down to manufacturers specifications

 

Check your water pump pulley for any damages, and your belt. My water pump pulley was the source of my so called intermittent death rattle sound. (started out intermittent, shop told me timing, so I did timing job, still there thats when i found the water pump pulley) if theres pieces missing of the rubber, or it just looks worn replace it, (you can get just the pulley on Amazon (yes i know amazon garbage) but i wasn't paying 500$ for a water pump when I had a service receipt from 50k km ago, unless the pulley was not the issue. The pulley was my issue, but now im into a new problem. Mini's keep you on your toes!