Hate to say it but I believe my 09 R55 S is starting to death rattle. Had a 40 degree day yesterday and went out to start the car first thing. When she started up, she sounded smooth. I let her sit for about 5 mins and then went to leave and initial acceleration had a good rattle but then eventually cleared up. Happened again today this morning. Oil in the car is good and the car is not burning any oil. I have 78000 miles on the clock and literrally just bought an engagement ring for my girlfriend and now I`m stressing about this rattle. Are the lawsuits on this still pending? Or will some Mini dealers replace for free? I sent the closest dealer an email but its Sunday so wont get a response till tomorrow. Anyone deal with the Exton, PA Mini dealer? I normally do all my own car repairs but I dont have time to do this myself or adaquate tools. Any responses are appreciated

 

Sorry to hear about your problem swade. My wife's 2008 Clubmans S had it repaired at 29,000 miles while under warranty. I can't answer any of your questions, but I want to wish you good luck on getting yours fixed!

 

Honestly it's all dependent on the individual dealers. Our local dealer (who is the only one in our state) did not cover the cost for me. I paid $1300 for the entire replacement.

 

The most important and first thing to do, when owning a Mini is to find a good,
quality independant shop. Its been, in my experience, when dealing with the "dealership"… has been, quite frankly, less than savory.

 

It's a sign.

Return the engagement ring!!

 

Ha ha had the girlfriend longer than the car can't do that lol could have built the car for how much I spent on that ring. The mini is parked until I reach a resolution. Unfortunately it will prolly have to wait a week or two. I have a local shop that can do the chain and everything for me but trying to see if I can get it done free since its a known problem. Last resort is driving it to a dealer and trading while the car is warm so it's not detected since its not rattling bad while warm but would rather not live with a guilty conscience for passing off my problem.

 

Sorry to hear that.. I actually just got a job at a mini dealer here in Charlotte. And as far as I'm aware it's not a recall or anything.. Luckily for me when it happens to my clubby I'll only have to spend a fraction on labor because of my new discount on pets and labor

 

There is some cold weather noise from the lifters. I was in a panic on my first cold snap. My mechanic did a check up. No issues. That was 2 winters ago. Get it checked and measured. Hopefully it's just cold lifters

 

I don't deal with Otto's personally but I'm in PhillyMINI and a ton of our members go there. Great service department from what I hear. I had one service done there a long time ago. I do all my service at MINI Of The Main Line. They are amazing. I just had two oil leaks fixed there this week on my 09 clubman S. They also replaced my timing chain / tensioner under warranty a while back. They done a LOT of warranty work for me. The only time I had to complain to get something covered was for the carbon buildup media blasting. Even then all I did was ask them once nicely and it got taken care of. Call Otto's and see what they say. If you're not satisfied with what they say jump on PhillyMINI.org and make a post there asking for help. Our president is good friends with the service manager there and our club has a great relationship with all the dealerships. We also get 10% off service. Good luck, if it wasn't for my extended warranty I would've ditched this car a long time ago. I've had around $7000 worth or warranty work done and it only has 53k miles...

 

just had mine done at 113K miles (has been getting worse over the past 10k miles) before the last of my extended warranty ran out. $500 deductible but better than the 1200 it would have been without.

 

Y'all are making me nervous... No Mini or BMW dealers around here and I bought an 09 Clubman S back a couple months ago with 89,000 on it. It's got 96,XXX on it now, no issues other than a CEL that I got when I ran sea foam through it, and TPMS sensors needing to be replaced. I picked the mini over other cars specifically because it had a timing chain instead of a belt - I have done several timing belt jobs on Subarus, and was not interested in doing more of them.

 

Called Mini's customer service the other day and if your car was manufactured before May 2009 the timing chain may be covered by them as long as the dealership diagnoses it. If you call Mini and give them your vin they can check for you. I'm not sure what the limitations are on this, but I dropped the car off at Ottos Mini tonight so we'll see. The car has been sitting for about a week since I heard the rattle but actually didn't rattle starting up today (acting healthy when going for a check up). Some BMW lifetime oil is also leaking from the car now too so we'll see what they say.

Above I mentioned the engagement ring purchase also. She said "yes" so can't sell that lol

 

Keep us posted and congratulations on the engagement. I have been married 23 years.


We have a 2010 S with about 80k we bought 3 months ago. Noticed a little oil on the floor of the garage this week where the MINI sits. I inspected this morning and it appears the oil filter housing is leaking. I also noticed oil around the oil pan. I checked the oil pan bolts and several would tighten up using my 1/4'' drive socket. Probably have to put that gasket on my list too. I replaced the thermostat housing about 2 months ago. If we end up needing the timing chain replaced I will probably do it myself. Not afraid of engines and I have a lot of tools. I did 2 complete rebuilds on both of my son's Jeep 4.0's engines last year.

 

Thanks grussell!

Status Update:
Timing chain was stretched out to the point it has to be replaced. Otto's Mini said they would cover 35% outright on the repair but I have them contacting Mini about more since I was told it should be covered. Other than the timing chain, other problems included an axle seal (leaking fluid as mentioned before) and the water pump needed replacing. Brakes had to be serviced as well. So far up to $1000 due to the mentioned items and had to pay to get them to check the chain since they couldn't duplicate the rattle. Should get the resolution by the middle of the week.

 

Another Status Update:
Just got a call from Otto's Mini and Mini is covering 70% of the timing chain replacement so that part will cost me about $300. In all in the repairs at the 78,000 mile mark I'm at $1300-1400 in repairs. Definitely a lot better than the Mini dealer outside Philly that originally quoted me $1700 just for the chain replacement.