Bought an 06 R53 about a month ago and I’ve been spending weekends replacing the usual leak and wear suspects at 100k.

At idle, the motor has a slight chatter to it that I originally diagnosed as the timing chain tensioner (just by sound and location alone). However, I noticed the other day that the chatter completely stops if the clutch is depressed, or if the shift lever has any pressure toward a gear slot (without the clutch being depressed).

The latter makes sense to me for a timing chain issue since the gear lever pressure would engage the synchros slightly, changing the ideal speed, breaking any resonance on a worn tensioner.. But I don’t understand the connection to an engaged/disengaged clutch and engine ideal speed when the car isn't in gear.

I’m not able to tear it down yet, until a new set of valve cover bolts arrives. A few of mine are corroding away into dust, so it’s getting a whole new set.

Any ideas on the clutch connection? Ideally I’d like to have the parts ready to overhaul valve cover and timing chain in one shot.

thx for looking!

 

In your case it sounds like a bad throwout bearing. You might also check the bushings on your belt tensioner damper (black rod). It's common on older Minis that these bushings dry out, crack and fall out leaving metal to metal contact between the damper and the bolts holding it to the tensioner. I thought I had a timing chain problem (clattering) and the damper was the problem. It's a cheap fix and the noise was completely gone after replacement.

 

do you have any pics or could you be more specific? Sorry if I sound very dumb but I could have same “chattering” you guys talking about, plus I am new in the mini world... thanks

 

Sorry, don't have any pics. Your throwout bearing is part of the clutch assembly. The serpentine belt tensioner damper is on the passenger side of the engine. It's a small version of the lifts that hold up your rear hatch. Log into www.realoem.com, choose your particular year/model Mini and you'll find illustrations of just about every working part of your car.

 

Thanks Cooper48, about to change the fuel filter to kick off the afternoon since she’s been sitting overnight. (Less fuel pressure to release manually)

I’ll pull the wheel shroud back after to check out any pulley/belt tensioner wear more closely. I looked all of that over from the top before purchasing to see how dire the damper situation was, but nothing struck me as out of the ordinary for 100k. Belt tensioner vibration at idle is well under 1/8in if I remember correctly.

after I get the fuel filter done I’ll start her up and try to get a vid of the chatter position and clutch effect posted today.

also so you can compare, Luters85!

 

Pretty nice information about it... thanks guys this will help me to find the source and of course you guys doing this before me

 

Does the car have a single mass flywheel? Valeo kit? Often times without the dual mass Flywheel, you will have this type of clutch/transmission noise. Just something to consider!

My race car sounds like a bag hammers with a lightweight flywheel until the clutch is depressed...I questioned the manufacture when I first installed it..told it was normal and it has been fine for 3 year (removed...for other reasons.. and inspected several times and all is good)

 

No racecar here lol. Bone stock was a requirement of my purchase. Thx for the input though!

here’s a vid of the chatter position and effect depressing the clutch has.

I let the motor warm up for a few minutes. (I’m also diagnosing a symphony of exhaust rattles throughout the warm up process haha)

this vid starts with the suspect chatter in full swing. I placed the phone pointed at the location the chatter seems to be coming from. It sounds like it’s higher than the transition/bell housing to my ears. If I had to pick one spot, I’d say just behind the bypass valve.

anyway, I let the video run for a bit, chirped the horn once just before depressing the clutch. The chatter immediately stops as long as the clutch remains depressed.

Then I chirped the horn twice, before letting the clutch out again. The chatter resumes, but not in the same frequency as before.

if I repeat that process, the chatter will go and come with a seemingly random volume from not at all, to the loudest being what you hear at the beginning of this clip.

 

The chatter volume is definitely more prominent on the drivers side of the motor. If it’s indeed being produced by something in the belt line, it’s pulling a great ventriloquism act.

 

Had this one fail on mine too. Pictures at the link. Fairly easy repair, and a nice cheap $18 part. Not many like that on these cars.

That's not the noise in your video, however. Believe this is what you have, as I do. My clutch is relatively new, replaced <5K ago with the stock / OEM style dual mass. It sounds just like yours in neutral with the clutch released.

I've seen it best described as the whop-whop-whop-whop sound of an old two blade Vietnam Era Huey UH-1 helicopter.

Good comparison of the Valeo single mass vs OEM dual mass clutch here:

 

interesting. I don’t believe my clutch is new, although I’m not sure. None of the service records from the previous owner specify clutch work, but the records are also not seemingly continuous, so who knows.

do at have any leads on the origin of your chatter? Any other symptoms show up at the same time? Did you do the clutch work yourself?
Thx!

 

I did not do the clutch job myself. Took it to an indy garage that professed to specialize in late model British cars including our decidedly German ones.

From what I've seen on this site the dual mass clutch is often the source of the 'helicopter' chatter noise. And it goes away when you press in the clutch pedal. I've also read that, as mentioned above, it *could* be a throw-out bearing, but I discounted that in my case due to the recent clutch replacement.

 

Thanks for the lead, my previous R53 never had this issue, but it always up for a chase down a NAM rabbit hole. I’ll read up on dual mass clutch noise vs throw out bearing.

My valve cover bolts finally all arrived also, and so I’ll be cracking into the valve cover this weekend. ECS sent a complete set minus one, so I had to wait a few extra days for the straggler to show up.

With literally every weekend/social plan cancelled for the foreseeable future, I’m about to have a fully rebuilt R53 by the end of the summer (srsly though, stay safe out there)

 

Sounds to me more like an input bearing on the trans. When you depress the clutch, the input shaft stops spinning. The pilot bushing is then spinning and the throw out bearing is spinning. They would not be the issue. On old school transmissions this would show up in the shifter. Not so much on these cable actuated shifters.

So when you depress the clutch, this allows the clutch plate and splines to readjust or center, which will change the tone of the input bearing or slopply gears to not bang around so much. You might try running a heavier oil or check the oil level.

I don't think it is the splines themselves, but I suppose it could be that.

 

I'd guess its the dual mass flywheel, mine did that for 366,000 miles until I replaced it with a Valeo.

Nik