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Cold engine Rattle/Knock 09 MINI in the timing cover.
Heads up,
I know this has been talked about before in many other threads, but my 09 S has now developed one. The rattle/knock goes away after the car is warmed up. Talking with Classic, they are getting "quite a few" of these calls lately. From what they told me, it is a good posibility the timing chain tensioner needs replacing. She has 29K miles on it. They stated a few other thing that it could be, but unlikely.
It goes in next Tuesday and I will let you all know the results.
If you look in the cold engine knock thread here on NAM you will find that MINI finally has a fix for that problem. IIRC there were several fixes before that didn't help. The latest is supposed to work.
Actually I did read those threads before I bought my car. I was under the impression that MINI imposed the fix you mentioned on the 09's. If that is my problem in this case.
When I asked Classic if they wanted me to drop the car off overnight so it would have a cold start and a noisey engine, they stated it was not neccessary. This leads me to believe they already know what the problem is.
There are other things it could be such as piston slap or the vacuum pump. No one had really reported those and I have not really beat this engine up either. This is leading me to believe it is a the timing chain hitting the block due to the tensioner piston not extending al the way when it is cold.
This issue has kept me from buying an R56 MCS. Nice cars, but I put a lot of miles on my cars & the thought of the motor going kablammo after the warranty is up scares me. Now that there is a fix I may one day own a Turbo MINI.
Hang in there, your MINI will be fixed. Nice to have a dealer who is understanding of the problem. IMO that is half the battle.
Actually I did read those threads before I bought my car. I was under the impression that MINI imposed the fix you mentioned on the 09's. If that is my problem in this case.
What's your build date? I believe the general consensus is that build dates of 03/09 and earlier did not have the benefit of the latest tensioner design.
There have been spotty reports of the problem in later build dates but at a rate that appears to be at least a couple orders of magnitude lower than the earlier builds. Might have taken some time for the new parts to completely infiltrate the assembly lines.
I'm honored to post in your club forum. Good luck with your fix!
"...indeed the love that the horses of the Rangers bore for their riders was so great that they were willing to face even the terror of the Door, if their masters' hearts were steady..." --- J.R.R. Tolkien
Classic told me the same thing. I performed the bleed and the nosie comes back especially after it sits for a day or so. Here is a thread from Bently Publishers. The last reply in the thread is well worth reading. I am printing this all out to take to them if I need it. I think they already know
Well ... She's back - Replaced timing chain tensioner
Engine is as quiet as when I first bought it. My suspected retarded cam timing is gone also. The tensioner that came out you could squeeze together with you fingers from what Classic stated.
Here is the replacement part number: 11-31-7-597-895
ROHERYN -- 2011 MCS SO/W -- 
