Ive posted awhile back about my car having developed a tick. Replaced the tensioner and the sound has come back. Understanding not all things are perfect that it may be my tensioner again. But the sound has been different this time. It still seems to be coming from the same side. But, the car is completely quite at start-up. it only develops the tick after the car has warmed up. Any ideas would be appreciated. Have looked at the basic stuff. thanx

 

You have the Tritec engine? (I do realize you posted in 1st gen...just making sure you meant to) You can hear the direct injection of the prince motors all day long.

 

I get a tick from my fuel tank vent valve. It seems to develop if the car is stored for any length of time. It is located just in front of the tensioner assembly. I can get it to go with a push on the throttle but it will return at tick-over.
Stick your trusty screwdriver to yur ear and check her out.

 

Several others, including myself, have had this problem. It's quite a common issue.
In my situation the sound also developed after about a minute after starting my engine.

If you're not sure about the sound, go have a look on youtube. There are several videos that will give you an idea if this is indeed the problem you're facing.

If so, here's what needs to be done;



Have your timing chain tensioner replaced. It's worth the try as it's not expensive at all.
Mini part numbers 11317510801 (6) & 07137510732 (7)

There's an easy way to access it by removing your passenger side wheel. Have a look on the forum as it has been explained several times before.

!TIP Wear gloves!

 

There were service bulletins posted on here somewhere that I'll have to track down when ours developed a tick. Can't remember what the issue was, but it was a "non-issue." Pull the vacuum line. If it goes away without the vacuum line attached, it's not a problem (like our -- according to the service bulletin).

 

Found it. Look at the following bulletin:

SIM 11 02 07

It mentions in the procedure SIM 11 02 08 which is related to the vacuum pump and normal operation. I haven't found the actual text for this item yet.

 

This is a service bulletin for second generation Mini, which has a totally different engine from the first generation mini's.

However, this was posted in the first generation section.