I have a 2007 Mini Cooper S and I love this car. Bought it about 3 weeks ago and every day is better than the last.
Now that being said it is very different than my Honda Civic SI was as far as the engine and noise.
The SI was refined & smooth where the Cooper seams to have a bit ruffer sound and feel to it. I personally like it!

The question I have is , and I have searched the site and not found exactly what I am looking for is:
When first starting up it does seem to run a little rough (like a diesel) but smooths out quickly.
If it was not for this forum I would think this is perfectly normal and would go on fat dumb and happy. But I have read about this death rattle and I am wondering is this what I am experiencing or is what I have just a normal sound my mini will make.
I am not hearing a clanking or metal on metal noise, just a rougher sound and feel as the engine oil starts lubricating everything and the engine gets to normal operating temps.
I have a month warrenty on the car and it has been checked by the local (One hour away) mini dealer and a garage that works on minis.
Your thoughts?

 

Here is what the "death rattle" sounded like on my MINI. Search youtube for more examples. Mine was fixed under warranty.

 

I just made a recording of my engine how can I send it to you to hear?

 

I think this is going to work.

 

This is about 30 seconds after the other video

 

I don't think that's it. The death rattle sounds more like rocks in a tin can. It's loud and you'll instantly know it. That just sounds like a diesel....which is normal.

 

That is what I was thinking but with about 1 week left on a warrenty I was getting frightened by the threads here.

Thank you so much muzak

 

It might behoove you to try to get the revised tensioner installed before your warranty is up if you can. Although, it might take some persistence if that video is all you have at this point. Maybe someone else can chime in on if they think that sounds normal. The diesel sound does sound a bit exaggerated in the video, but that may be because of how close the camera/phone is.

 

I bought my car from a Honda dealer who knows nothing about the mini.

They are not going to send the car to a mini dealer to have a repair done that does not seem to be needed.

I agree I would love to have it done under a warranty just to play it safe, but that would be a very hard sell.

I fought to get a second key to the car, they could only find one. Originally they told me I would have to buy my own. I wrote an email to the owner of the dealership and they finally agreed to foot the bill for the extra key.

 

I'm having difficulty discerning the difference between the sound in your two videos. Overall, your engine seems a little on the noisy side compared to mine (although, a video isn't the best representation). But it doesn't seem to have the "clacking" sound that mine had or others I've heard.

Checked, as in checked the noise specifically? If not, and since your warranty is about to expire, I would take it in just for peace of mind.

 

So wait, is the car under factory warranty or the Honda dealer's used car warranty?

 

I see...I assumed it was the MINI warranty. The tensioner bolt is an inexpensive part if you want to change it/have it changed for peace of mind.

 

If the car is still under MINI warranty coverage, just take it into the MINI dealership near you and have them check it out.

IMO your video doesn't sound like a timing chain issue but I still have trouble telling the difference as well. The Prince engine is noisy as are other direct injection engine.

 

2007 Mini Cooper s with no Mini warranty, just the 30 day used car warranty given by the dealer I bought the car from.
How much would it be to have the cam chain tensioner bolt replaced?

Honda offered me a 3 year warranty for almost $4,000 and they do not even work on the cars so I would have to get it to a mini dealer anyway.

 

Sounds to me that you need to have the chain tensioner replaced, like they talk about on here. I am in the process of trying to do the same thing, but have run into some issues. I don't have enough clearance to get the tool onto the chain tensioner to remove it.

 

No I had the car checked for anything that I needed to be concern with. I did not want to have any surprises since the Honda dealership did not now minis. I did not even know about this potential issue at that time.

 

Have you called the MINI dealer and given them your vin #? I bet it has already been done at this point unless the miles are extremely low. How many miles are on the car?

 

I have 34,000 miles on my baby

 

I just called the dealer, no cam tensioner work has been done to the car.

 

Some great news,
I hear this problem comes up mostly when the car goes the 15,000 miles between oil changes and the oil gets low.
While talking with the dealer this car which has averaged 7,000 miles per year has had a yearly oil change.
I feel really good about that!!!

 

It is my understanding that there is a possibility of engine noise associated with low oil, but it is unrelated to the timing chain death rattle and would clear up with the proper oil level.

 

Mine was ok up to 62K and then all the sudden I got the noise.
Always keep oil to full and mine doesn't use oil.
Fixed now but sounds way more quiet than yours does.
My uneducated guess is the chain is loosening up and should be replaced.
Try and get a Mini Dealership involved before warranty gives out.
It is hard from a video but it sounded like rocks and tin to me. Not as pronounced as mine did but still the same noise.
Also, if you read enough threads, the issue can come up with very few miles or many miles. There isn't a good
reason except if someone let the oil go way down.

 

I asked the dealer what the cost would be to have the tensioner replaced and I got a price of $200 - $250, I am thinking it would be cheaper at the local indy. I will call and find out, maybe get it done with next oil change?

 

I made an appointment with my Local indy Greasy's Garage in Worcester MASS for next Friday to have the tensioner replaced.

They usually do the whole deal for $1,500 including valve cover, and timing chain, but since my car has such low milage I asked them to just replace the tensioner, Their cost is going to be $120 - $200 for the upgraded tensioner.

The Mechanic spent 10 minutes talking to me on the phone, so far I am very impressed with them.

 

I just had the timing chain, guides, tensioner, replaced on my 07 CooperS. Had 88,000 mi. I had been trying to find the cause of a fault code, P1497, (air leak downstream of throttle), since last November. Replaced the cylinder head cover, still fault came back within 60 mi. of driving. The car ran good, only had an occasional rattle on cold engine start. I kept hearing what to me sounded like an exhaust leak when under acceration. Never could find it. Then about a month ago. I accelerated pretty quickly, (never tached more than 5K), and when I slowed back to idle, I heard this slapping noise. Was not far from home, limped the car home. Took the cylinder head cover off and found quite a bit of slack in the timing chain between the top gears. Looked like it had slipped a tooth or two. Saw no other damage. Believe the noise I was hearing was the timing chain hitting the top chain guide when the slack took up. Towed my car to a local shop that works on Mini's. He kept it a week, did some research, He did tell me that the timing had slipped. Told me the best thing to do would be to replace, chain, guides, tensioner,(which is what I figured) and he did the bottom gear also. He replaced all of these items. I got the car back 2 weeks ago. Amazing how quite the car is now. Runs really good. What before I had heard as a possible exhaust leak when under acceleration is no longer there anymore. I been about 500 mi. since I've got the car back and no check engine light. Also my mech. did say that the timing chain off of my car was stretched some. So far, so good. This repair cost me $1300. The shop was still pretty pricey on labor, but so far I am pretty pleased with the work they did. ....

Update: Just got back from a spirited drive through the North Carolina mountains today. A couple of hundred miles. Replacing the timing chain, and all associated components has done wonders for my mini. She's scream"in again. Starts quiet, runs quieter than ever. Power is back, (and I had not really, realized the loss in power, it seemed to be running ok, but now I can tell the difference from before). I had been chasing a fault code, (P1494, Air leak downstream of throttle) since last Nov. I put about 800 mi. on my car since the timing chain was replaced. No fault codes.

History: My Mini is an 07 MCS that I bought 2 yrs ago. It had 70K on it when I bought it. It would have an occasional cold start rattle when starting, (kind of sounded like a diesel engine). Still ran OK, and I had not heard of many instances of chain breakage, so I figured as long as it was running OK, I would not worry about it. Had it not been for for the more major chain issue, (described above) I would still be running my old chain and trying to get rid of my P1497 fault code. My mini has 89K on it now and a new timing chain. Never thought it would make such a difference in the car.

For you, I hope the upgraded tensioner works.