So I am going to preface this with the fact that I am a Subaru fan, I have owned 6 of them in my life, worked on them for 18 years and know the ins and outs of them. That being said, I bought a 2007 Mini Cooper Hatch for my son. I figure.. well it's made by BMW so it's got to be good. I bought it site unseen at an auto auction. One Owner, no accidens, less than 100K miles... seemed like a good deal.

Well the vehicle gets delivered and as soon as it turns on, it sounds like a spun crank bearing. This is a common issue with certain Subaru engines on cylinder 4, but I don't know if its normal on a Mini. It is not a Mini Cooper S, and frankly, I don't know which engine is in it. The only thing I do know is that it is a 1.6 litre non turbo engine. it is coming from the passenger side of the engine, so could it be the timing chain?

I can upload a video if you guys would like.

 

Here are the sounds you are looking for. Death Rattle.

Tends to get better when you put oil in the engine and the engine heats up a bit unless the cylinders hit the valves---then all sound stops.

 

Ended up googling sounds from r56 and I found a video with an identical sound that wasn’t quite like the death rattle. I replaced the friction wheel (it was clear that it was already replaced once) and also the drive belt (also replaced with an aftermarket part at some point) with a Gates one and the sound was gone. Dayco belts and components suck. This is not the first time that I saw a dayco belt deteriorate prematurely.

 

Is there a reason why you didn't go with OEM? Is Dayco better?

 

I bought the car used and the previous owner went with Dayco. I am not a fan of Dayco, I went with a Gates belt and a different aftermarket friction wheel primarily because of cost. I wanted to get an OEM friction wheel, but didn't because I wasn't sure if I wanted to invest that type of money without knowing if it will fix the issue or not.

 

Thanks. The friction wheel is a common failure point. It was probably your problem. My belt likes like it might be original and I know that for that part, I want to absolute best one I can get no matter the cost. So, I was just wondering if you choice the other vendor because it was better than the OEM belt.

 

Dayco is the OEM manufacturer for the friction wheel assembly that my 2010 LCI came equipped with from factory. When I thought it needed replacement, I bought an original Dayco from aftermarket channels. Comparing the two revealed no visible difference. The new one even has the slight whining noise (just not as loud) the old one had.