Hi, I'm thinking maybe I'm being super paranoid. We're having a bitter cold snap & noticing a very brief period of a very slight rattle from the engine on cold start. Mostly gone (as in much less noticable) by the time I've backed out of the driveway, 100% gone after say 4 minutes by the time I've stopped at the first light.

I think if I wasn't on NAM I wouldn't even notice it. Is a bit of rattle normal in sub-freezing temps or should I have the timing chain checked since it doesn't purr like a kitten 100% of the time?

 

WE have heard of some problems with the timing chain tensioners on some of the new N16 justa's.
Our 2013 justa has started the cold start rattle, but it is quite noticeable and lasts for 10 to 15 minutes.
It only has 7,000 miles on it so we are somewhat concerned and are scheduled for routine maintenance next week and they are going to check the cold start rattle at this time.
I will let you know what we find out after the dealership checks it out.

 

Update:
Took it to an independent shop for an oil change, didn't even mention the rattle but my receipt said it was time to replace the timing chain tensioner. I called the dealer and found out my warranty expires February 1! (I seriously thought it had expired in November). SO... brought it in, they agreed 100% with the independent shop and replaced the timing chain tensioner under warranty.

I was told that if I want to keep the car for a long time I should be changing the oil at 5000 miles, not whatever the computer thinks. She also said that a small bit of rattle or ticking in very cold temperatures is normal but the tech did hear my rattle, and basically it was just barely more than normal. So I'd say err on the side of caution and get any rattle checked out b/c I have no idea how a person is supposed to distinguish a normal one and an abnormal one unless it's so bad your car sounds like a diesel or something.

 

We just got back from having our 2013 "justa" Mini serviced and I asked them to check the cold start rattle as we thought it was pretty loud. The dealership checked it out and told us it was normal to rattle like that when cold started and as long as you kept oil levels where they should be a timing chain failure would not happen.
The service Manager told me that the 2012 and up engines were greatly improved over the earlier ones but I know that the only thing they did with the timing chain assembly was make adjustments to the tensioner and some of those have even failed since.
Guess I'm paranoid to, just can't help it, but we still have four years left on the warranty counting the Mini Cooper Next extended warranty.
I am beginning to wonder if we shouldn't just sell the Mini while it is low mileage (7500) and still has four years of warranty, think if someone made a decent offer I might just be tempted to take it.
I just don't know, all I do know is when cold started it makes one hell of a racket (definitely coming from the timing chain) for about 10 minutes until it warms up and when we first bought te car it did not have the cold start rattle. I have never owned a car that sounded that way before.

 

FWIW, I think you should hang on to it at least till your free maintenance runs out. I mean you've got a warranty and with the free maintenance you just have to put gas in it. I definitely wouldn't get rid of it just b/c of a noise if you don't have to worry yet about the consequences of said noise (unless, like you mentioned, someone made you a great offer out of the blue).

Also FWIW, yesterday morning I had to scrape the windshield and was listening to the engine from the outside... I definitely can still hear a slight rattle, although from the inside I'd have to strain to hear it. So, improvement after timing chain tensioner replacement but slight rattle remains. I believe my SA that some noise is normal, so I do think it's possible that your engine noise is 100% normal.

 

The dealerships' Maintenance Manager was pretty adamant in his opinion that all the timing chain failures were due to operator error of not keeping oil in car.
While I can certainly agree that this could be a factor in some of the failures, I have read and know of too many cases where the owners were diligent on checking their oil levels.
It just doesn't give me a warm fuzzy feeling knowing my dealership is probably going to point the finger at me if we should have a timing chain failure even under warranty.
To be honest, in every other way, my dealership was and has been very responsive to my needs or concerns.
I may put feelers out there to see what trade/sale values we would get, given our Minis' condition and extra Mini Plus warranty, I would think it might bring a little more than average trade/sale value.
If it were to bring the upper end of those values, I might seriously consider an offer.
It's my wife's car and she has said she would consider the new 2016 Mazda Miata coming out in June/July so I think I will start with that and see what happens.
We tend to keep our cars for a long time after the warranty runs out so owning a car after the warranty is gone depends on the cars reliability.
We do love our Mini and thought we were safe getting a "justa" over the "S" model, but now are not so sure.

 

There's no way all of the timing chain failures were the result of low oil, think your Maintenance Manager is naive in his opinion. How much you want to bet that if you were out of warranty the dealer would be singing another tune when it's on your dime?

The N18 engines pretty much made oil consumption non-existent and at the same time the number of timing chain failures fell by a large percentage when compared to the N14 engine. I never let it go below the half quart mark!

 

Not sure if this is what you're referring to, but here's my 2013 justa (Zippy) with under 20k miles. She runs and idles great, no CEL etc.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xMWWqmj8ZPk&sns=em

 

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