i just bought an 06 mini cooper s. loving the car! had a ppi and came back with some minor suspension problems that i will have fixed; however, after 500 miles i am getting a rattle from the engine. it is under light acceleration and it does not seem to affect performance. it does not rattle when in neutral and i rev it only while driving. it did idle roughly once but no check engine light came on. the one thing i did have done was replaced the front motor mount as it was leaking. any ideas on what is going on? i am afraid to drive it now.

check out the pics. i am really proud about the matching recaro child seat. yeah i am a dad and it is my first mod. more to come...

 

Have you had the Timing Chain checked?

 

ugh don't say that! i thought that was a lifetime part and not really serviceable? pardon my ignorance... how do you check the timing chain?

 

Unlikely. 1st gens aren't known to have timing chain issues. What type of rattle & how loud?

 

while driving it appears to be coming from the passenger side. it sounds like a loud vibrating aluminum pan/shield or a pulley?

 

so i had the one ball mod done yesterday and i am loving the sound. i took the liberty of tightening all the heat shields i could reach. the rattle remains. any ideas? the only think i had recently replaced was the front motor mount. could something be loose?

 

maybe supercharger.. ?

 

Check your tensioner, if you see the spring/pulley bouncing up and down then your damper is shot.

Can also spend a quick 30 mins and pull off pass front wheel, fender liner and 2 13mm hex head bolts and check the damper yourself to see if its blown or has any resistance.

If its bad and needs replaced I need a worn oit tensioner for testing and fitment purposes as I am working on replacement dampers. Id pay to have it shipped to me too.

Anyways, also
Check your harmonic damper pulley for wobble (possible broken rubber in pulley seperating and causing noise)

Last if all else fails put a new timing chain tensioner in it. I just bought mine from Way last week. It can be replaced with a flex socket in back of motor by the oil canister.