Hi, excited to be a first-time Mini owner, but having a couple of issues.

I bought a 2009 JCW with 10,500 miles on it from a local Mini dealer yesterday.

Issue 1: Driving the car home after purchase, I noticed that the engine was rattling/tapping very loudly at idle and up to about 2500 RPM. At 2500 and over, the sound completely goes away. This was not evident when I test drove the car.

Issue 2: The history of the car I bought showed a clutch repair at 44 miles and then the clutch replaced at 10,200 miles. The dealer said it must have been owned by someone who didn't know how to properly drive a manual. I figured since it had been replaced, it would not present a problem again. Is this likely to be a recurring problem? Is there anything that would not be addressed by replacing the clutch? Service record says: clutch kit, flywheel, and bearing were replaced.

Thanks for your help!

 

Congrats, and with such low mileage! The rattle you describe sounds like the infamous timing chain tensioner issue. The tensioner fails, starts out by making that noise, and can have some catastrophic consequences. I'd head back to the dealership and ask them to address it, it's a common problem.

Some clutches seem to be defective, but even the best ones aren't lasting as long as they should. In that case, it's great that it was replaced!

 

The clutch and flywheel on the early 09 JCWs were bad and were replaced by a newer design. My clutch was replaced at 28,500.

The dealer saying that someone did not know how to drive a manual trans car and that is why the clutch was replaced would not sit very well with me.

On the other hand...you are right. It was replaced so it should not fail again for quite some time.

 

Thanks for the info--very reassuring. It's back to the dealer tomorrow to get things sorted out.

 

congrats!

did you check your oil level for the rattling issue?

 

So did they find something?

 

They're going to do a complete timing kit, no problems, no bs. (I bought the car at Stevens Creek Mini in Santa Clara--Carol Koback was my salesperson, and so far both she and the service dept. are hitting high marks.)

 

Yep,Carol also sold us ours.Great lady to deal with.
Glad to hear the service dept. is going to fix without any problems.

 

Got my car back today. Awesome!

Here's a picture...

http://yfrog.com/el8en8j

 

So what was wrong?

 

OP says they replaced the timing chain tensioner..............

 

They did the whole timing kit--replaced chain, tensioners, and all the related parts. Plus a low mileage oil change that was do. The service dept. treated me really well.

 

Guess I missed that!