If you are passed the honeymoon stage with your 07'(I'm assuming you are) Than by taking it to MINI and them telling you it's a TO bearing means you'll have to pay $120+ diag fee. Even under my MINI Next and Extended Maintenance this part is not covered.

It will cost $1900-2000 for the clutch/TOB to be done by the dealer and that includes parts, but you end back up with another plastic TOB. If it's the TOB then you might as well go aftermarket SPEC or ClutchMasters, atleast with those it's a stronger metal Timken bearing.

 

Well, I am going to start with getting the timing chain issue resolved. That is the main reason I am going. I am still unsure of the other noise, need to investigate more.

 

Had the GF work the clutch while I listened, could def be that TO bearing, damn.

 

The noise you are hearing is the vacuum pump... It is normal! If you remove the vacuum hose the noise fades back in the background, which is the exact procedure described by BMW in identifying where the noise originated from.

Plus, I dont really heard the chain rattle in any of the two videos. As I had the chain rattle myself (fixed by me by installing the larger tensioner), I believe your chain is fine. The chain sound is REALLY loud, much like a tractor.

PS.: This is what the chain rattle sounds like. Much like a diesel motor. If you hear this in person, it is so loud that it would be impossible to listen to the vacuum pump...

 

Sounds just like mine before I got my tensioner fixed. At the same time, I noticed a rattle when the clutch was not depressed, you could hear in inside while sitting at a light. It turned out to be that the flywheel was wrapped and was replaced under warranty.

 

Nice dealer R56 DMF weren't so problematic like the R53s, some dealer diagnose a bad flywheel to get it covered under warranty for you and them, which in turn calls for a clutch/new TO kit solving maybe the real issue. If they say it's the clutch they have to send it out for warranty verification for under 1mm at any of the rivets. If they diagnose it as a throw-out bearing issue, it would of not been covered.

Wish my dealer was just as nice to give me a pass.

 

+1 for this- I had mine brought in during the no-charge and complained of the rattling twice, back when dealerships were considering the cold-start rattle 'normal'. When the service bulletin finally came out I was outside of the warranty by mileage and they finally agreed to do the repair after checking their notes (and some arm twisting).

@Mindspin311: In my case, the cold-start rattle was much, much more pronounced when underway and at more than 2200RPM. Usually what I'd hear at idle with the hood open was flywheel noise and went away with the clutch engaged- your 2nd video sounds similar to my car.

For what it's worth, they did the chain/rail/tensioner replacement at ~56K and I'm just about to hit 150K. I do get a slight rattle if I have the right combination of parking angle/cold morning/half a quart low on oil, but not ever as bad as I would hear at 15K before the replacement.

I've still got the flywheel/clutch rattle though

 

So my car is at the dealer now, already called me back saying they couldnt re-create the timing chain noise.

--Well no s**t, its a COLD START issue and I dropped the car off to you fully warm.

So they are going to let it sit overnight and then try again. At the same time they believe my rear main seal is leaking, but it should be covered under my aftermarket warranty.

I see this is a bit of good news, because if I understand correctly, they will have to pull the trans to get to the seal. Which means they can inspect the clutch and check on the TO Bearing. They also gotta put it back together, so I can just buy a new bearing (~$75) and have them use the new bearing when they put the car back together.

If the TOB is causing one of my noises.....

 

So, of course, they find nothing wrong related to the timing belt.

I was told that there is a leak on the rear main seal, which caused the engine to be low on oil, therefore making whatever noise it was making.

They topped off the oil and say there is no noise now. Go figure.

I am stopping by on Monday morning to get a loaner car and will have the car started in front of me with a tech to confirm there is no noise. Supremely frustrated. At least I have this aftermarket warranty which should take care of the engine seal.

 

Saw my car this morning. Tech fired it up after sitting all night and there was no rattle that I could hear, so who knows.

We put it up on a lift and saw the leaking from the main seal. Service advisor is going to call Easycare to have that taken care of. So I should get my car by wednesday if all goes smoothly.

Still cant believe the car didnt make any noise. My luck. They said it takes about an hour to hour and a half to simply take the measurement on the tensioner to check for stretching.