I am new to the forum. I'm 25 been on my own since 18 and doing what I can to keep whatever is my daily driver at the time in the best shape I can with my income/time/skills. I have a Service Manual for the 2002,2003,2004 MINI Cooper, MINI Cooper S. In my youtube hosted you will hear a sound that is Coming primarily from the left forward of the engine. The sound in the video is the sound i hear verbatim, so please go off that. In scouring the web i have found a video where someone on a different vehicle replaced their silicon (?) intake gaskets and the ticking is relieved. Through further investigation as well as simply learning the parts of my engine and how engines in general work i assume my issue is more in the area of my rocker arms. The first owner babied what is now my R53, however the pervious owner was an ogre. His friend smashed the passenger window, and the first oil change was black and filled with confetti, same with the filter. I have replaced the belt, alternator, oil filter housing, CV axle, and both front rotors and bearing housings. I'll work on the suspension once my engine is not crying for help. I'm having nightmares at this point because this is my daily driver and I have no other options (not that i would take them).

I am handy with a wrench, and am fairly careful/fearless. I read my manual on everything I need to do many many times before actually attempting a repair.

The noise is accompanied by 28mpg average found through the classic math (miles over gallons) method, however the indicator says 30mpg average. I believe i'm seeing a leak as well. I'm loosing 1qts of oil in about 1k miles, and i saw a clearish/yellow tented liquid with almost water-like viscosity dripping off the transmission. The liquid had a faint smell of oil, however I was doing other work and it may have been drowned out. The ticking is worse in the morning now that it's cold, and is accompanied by some smoke during initial warm up out of the exhaust (maybe a min max). It's normally quite by the time i get to work, however it's not right and needs to be rectified. Please help. (:

This is my daily driver. It has 181k miles on it, and I've replaced the oil every 5k miles since (mostly because the oil is almost gone anyway). I bought at 165k miles in January, but i can't remember if the ticking started before or after i replaced the belt and alternator. There are no lights, and I can't tell if i'm bad at releasing the clutch or if there is a jerk from the engine. Please help.

 

With this many miles and a somewhat sketchy pre-ownership maintenance record, I'm betting the sound comes from the timing chain slapping against the chain guides. That could indicate a couple of things: 1) a need for a timing chain replacement; or 2) if you're lucky you just need to replace the timing chain tensioner. Timing chain replacement is somewhat involved, however, replacing the chain tensioner is much easier and much less costly. The tensioner is hydraulic and can become compressed when it fails therefore it doesn't make contact with the timing chain guide and causes chain slack (and makes noise). The tensioner is located on the back of the left side of the engine block (nearest the firewall as you face the front of the car) and can sometimes be accessed from above, but most often necessitates entry through the passenger side wheel well. It's not a hard job. That would be the first thing I would recommend.

 

 

The yellowish liquid (antifreeze) indicates a leak in your cooling system. That could be either your thermostat housing, water pump or coolant hose(s). None of these is difficult to fix. If the water pump is failing you should also have an overheating problem.

 

 

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Please remember, when describing a location on a car, use the driver seat position as the point of reference.
The noise can be from several causes. If it is on the passengers side, it could be broken chain guides, a bad chain tensioner, worn cam, causing rockers to rattle, etc.
The oil consumption, could be due to poor service in it's earlier life, also bad timing, worn injectors (washing down cylinder walls and wearing rings out, or several other things. If the oil is all of a sudden, then, that is a different issue, like a leak. Is it smoking blue on acceleration? Are all four cylinders hitting, or is there a miss? Have the plugs been changed? Have you put an OBDII tester on it, and found any codes?