its my first mini also my first SC car. so i dont realy know what SC'ers are supposed to sound like if they are going bad. especially that water pump side. on our mini's

anyway it does sound funny sometimes. like a rattle so i thought it was the timing chain. but could it be the SC? only happens sometimes and especially when its really cold out.

here is start up, then after 5 min, then after 10min. temp is 42*F and i have over 130k miles.

 

These are pics not videos. So it is hard to help you out. From what you state, if it is on the water pump side it could be the SC.

 

Sounded normal to me except for a split second on the 3rd video.

 

Well I'm glad you could hear the video to help him out as I could not they only pulled up as pictures for me.

 

I'll be following this post. I'm a Mini newbie and my R53 sounds exactly like the OP's.

Some days the ticking is noticeably louder at startup than others. It is not temperature dependent as my Mini is kept in a heated garage.

 

Not to be funny guys make sure you check your oil our cars are known to eat a quart possibly everything 1000 miles

 

Down half a quart. Sound is intermittent. Some days yes, some days no.

You got me thinking though... Ticking on startup Monday. No ticking on startup Tuesday. Car sat all weekend. More oil leaks down into the crank over the weekend vs. overnight?

 

The oil will start to settle to the bottom over time. Try adding the oil and see if you still hear the same amount of noise.

 

Where is the noise coming from? The front (passenger) side of the engine, or the back (driver)?

If it's coming from the back, it's likely your water pump drive gearbox ... If from the front, either loose accessory drive belt, or a lax timing chain, indicating a bad timing chain tensioner.

 

you have to click on them, but here are direct links just in case.

http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/e...t=101_0156.mp4
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/e...t=101_0157.mp4
http://s228.photobucket.com/albums/e...t=101_0158.mp4

are you taking about when the camera is on the water pump side when i sit it down on the intake tube? it was the camera/lens cap rattling. should have said it before.

to be honest i cant tell. sometimes it comes from the timing chain area, and sometimes its the area of the SC. and it does sound like a diesel engine some times too but not all the time whats the deal?

the only other thing i can see is probably need new belt i dont see any holes on the tensioner. during the summer i will be doing a internal inspection... timing chain, look at the cam and lifters see what kind of wear is on them... etc.....

i want to send the sc out to get rebuilt but i dont think it needs to yet it just dosent sound out of line. a friend of mine that deals with muscle cars told me the sc sounds fine. only to be worried if it sounds like there's marbles in there.

 

Mine started to sound like a diesel when the little shock on the belt tensioner went out.

 

My 2005 sounds roughly the same,

Try listening with the hood closed to help determine what area certain noise(s) may be emanating from by filtering backround noise etc,

I'm not hearing anything I'd be worried about from what I can hear on your vids,