Hello all! I recently purchased my 2015 Mini Cooper S f56 a little over a year ago and have put around 25-30k miles on it traveling back and forth from college and home so the car is around 100k miles. Recently I have been hearing a bit of a grinding when I left off the throttle at higher RPMS (I love hearing the pops and crackles of the exhaust). I was told that this may be caused by the lower engine mount/torque arm, and was looking into purchasing a replacement and was wondering before I do so if this is a difficult replacement. I’m a beginner to working on car and don’t want to ruin my baby. Thank you guys for the help!

 

The lower mount is easy to replace but have you checked the upper mounts?

 

I had the vehicle serviced and the lower engine mount was what they told me was going bad, however I did not check the upper mounts.

 

It's very possible a lower mount failed could cause that.

If you need to replace it you can get just the powerflex bushing which is a simple replacement and on sale right now. We put them in all the F56s we build as it's a good mode to reduce engine rock.
https://www.waymotorworks.com/powerf...g-f55-f56.html

 

I have the same problem as you. High revs with no throttle input yields a grinding noise. I have found that this is the result of a busted upper engine mount (situated behind the passenger's headlight). I would advise checking it out since it's a common issue with the F platform.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...placement.html
^This is a useful thread if you want to take the DIY route and buy the part yourself. It's not too bad of a process. Most of the difficulty stems from wiggling the mount out/in beneath the refrigerant line.

 

Wow, thank you! I will definitely look into this and I probably will try and go the DIY route. Did you do it yourself? I just purchased the lower engine mount, so I’ll let you know the outcome!

 

I have gotten to that engine mount before, but couldn't unbolt it from the frame as I did not have the right tools. Getting to it is easy (really just pieces of trim and 3 or 4 screws for the headlight). Getting the mount in and out and without stripping the bolts is the hard part. It should be a maximum 3 hour job if you have the correct tools. Remember to support the engine from below if you do it yourself! That thread that I linked was my go-to and is a wealth of info so be sure to consult it.