Sodding car!

[JustinMCS]

My R56 Cooper S broken down a week before Xmas and had a new timing chain fitted. Now it's just blown a head gasket!

Thank god its still under warranty.

[Eviltad]

Harsh. Keen to see what the root cause of the problem was.

[mark77]

hi everyone i have a cooper s r56 and i am having a similar problem like the person named JUSTIN MCS. when i start the car i can hear the engine rattling, the noise is exatly as if it is a diesel engine. the car does this rattle only when it is cold and it lasts for 3 minutes or less. Can anyone help?????

[matt21]

mark77 said:

hi everyone i have a cooper s r56 and i am having a similar problem like the person named JUSTIN MCS. when i start the car i can hear the engine rattling, the noise is exatly as if it is a diesel engine. the car does this rattle only when it is cold and it lasts for 3 minutes or less. Can anyone help?????

just an R56 trait.......I wouldnt worry.

[bananapieface]

Hi,

I cannot believe the amount of timing chain problems reported with these cars, I have an R53 MCS and its putting me off an upgrade.

[JustinMCS]

Well that rattling is almost certain to be the timing chain tensioner. My car had done it in the cold for most of its life and each time it went into the garage they didnt fix it or said it wasnt a problem. Finally it started the rattle all the time not just in the first couple of miles of the first drive of the day and it finally lost power. I had a chat with a mechanic from the dealer who was curious that it happened so quickly on my car but was not at all phased that it had happened. I guess they are engineered to last the warranty period then fail. My failed but thankfully didnt break at 29k. In terms of its latest problem Im still waiting for a verdict from the garage as to what is wrong. Im now wondering if its not a head gasket but a thermostat problem and condensation in the oil to account for the yellow crap under the cap. Either way I just want it back. So far R56 has been a complete let down compared to R53.

[mark77]

so now they changed the chain tensioner for you and the rattling stopped?? Because mine is bugging me a lot as i want to fix this problem! the incredible thing is that my car is almost new because i bought it six months ago and for me is very strange that i have faults at this time.

[hyperblue]

bananapieface said:

Hi,

I cannot believe the amount of timing chain problems reported with these cars, I have an R53 MCS and its putting me off an upgrade.

Upgrade?

Edited by hyperblue on Sunday 10th January 12:29

[kevkbuk]

matt21 said:

just an R56 trait.......I wouldnt worry.

The rattle should not be ignored if it sounds like this:

http://www.youtube.com/user/kevkbuk#p/a/u/2/ryDE5o...

This is my own car suffering from the cold start rattle. Mini/BMW is well aware of issues with the timing chain tensioner and there is a fix which I believe sorts the problem. There have been several revisions to the tensioner and associated parts and my car has had at least two of them. The latest one appears to have done the trick and my car has been fine since. It is now very nearly 3 years old with 45k miles on it.

Anyone suffering from this should get it sorted whilst the car is still under warranty. If the dealer is no help then keep pushing them, Mini2.com has plenty of info about this issue on its forum. If your dealer is no help contact Mini customer services.

[mark77]

with reply to KEVKBUK, mine the noise is less loud but it's very similar. The only thing that is different from yours is that when i start the car on that small screen in the ref counter i get a picture of the car with the word written SERVICE. i never seen that triangle thing that you have on your video. what did your mechanic do with your timing chain?

[kevkbuk]

mark77 said:

with reply to KEVKBUK, mine the noise is less loud but it's very similar. The only thing that is different from yours is that when i start the car on that small screen in the ref counter i get a picture of the car with the word written SERVICE. i never seen that triangle thing that you have on your video. what did your mechanic do with your timing chain?

The SERVICE word should be followed by a number of miles. This is the miles to next service, if it's at 0 your due one.

The triangle with snowflake in it is a warning for ice.

[mark77]

kevkbuk said:

mark77 said:

with reply to KEVKBUK, mine the noise is less loud but it's very similar. The only thing that is different from yours is that when i start the car on that small screen in the ref counter i get a picture of the car with the word written SERVICE. i never seen that triangle thing that you have on your video. what did your mechanic do with your timing chain?

The SERVICE word should be followed by a number of miles. This is the miles to next service, if it's at 0 your due one.

The triangle with snowflake in it is a warning for ice.

sorry about the thing of the snowflake, because i live in malta and here we don't have snow. so now 3 years have passed since you fixed the car?

[kevkbuk]

mark77 said:

sorry about the thing of the snowflake, because i live in malta and here we don't have snow. so now 3 years have passed since you fixed the car?

Lucky you!

I've had the car 3 years tomorrow. The tensioner fix was in April 2009 and it's been fine ever since. I believe the fix was worked into new cars around that time also.