I am not looking for problems, I assure you. But the threads I have been reading on cold start problems here and on www.mini2 really began to freak me out. Well, no more. I understand now that there is a fix....as simple as adjusting the dry lash of the valves with shims (I'll make my dealer do this, I assure you if I ever get "the noise") and by using 0/30 synthetic in the winter. I am good with that.

Trust me, I am no worry wart (I drive and have been doing all my own repairs repairs on Range Rovers for 15 years for God's sake...Jag's and MG's for 15 years before that...ya I am an old guy).

We are cool. I am looking forward to my S in several weeks, and will obsess on this this issue no more.

Don't let anyone tell you that it is right, normal or non-damaging though. dry valves on start up can be a real wear problem, as well as a noisy embarassment.

 

Ok, so, I was gonna have to give you a rash of crap here, but you're a fellow Rover person, as well as a fellow MINI person, so, I couldn't do that.

What I will say, however, is that again, I believe you are making something out of nothing. Don't ask your dealer to do anything to your engine to alter it from it's stock configuration until you have reason to believe that this is necessary. There have been a lot of people with R56's that have joined NAM over the last year that have zero indication of this problem. When I spoke before about cold start noise, I was merely alluding to the fact that my engine is noisier at start than it is when it's been running for ten minutes, and has reached operating temperature. It's not like the sounds you hear on some of these videos. It's perfectly normal, and will not cause you a problem.

Buy, and love your umteenth british vehicle. Believe me, I understand completely where you are coming from, as I've had a lot of English cars. I prefer them, actually, but you do begin to take a proactive find-the-noise-before-it-finds-me stance. Believe me, you'll be fine

 

I've got over 15K miles on my '07 MCS. I think maybe once or twice during the winter and after sitting for several days I heard the "chain tensioner" rattle. It goes away as soon as the oil pressure gets to the chain tensioner and it does it's job. I agree with the comments that we bought a car with warranty so if it develops into something then MINI will take care of it. I do change my oil every 5K miles and replace the filter w/MINI parts. I don't think the oil drainback valve from the filter circuit is part of the filter element, I would not worry about ordering the car or let this issue spoil your opportunity to smile each and every time you need to go somewhere.

 

I would be concerned about the long term effect but no one knows whether it will result in a sudden death of the motor at 60K miles or what. Nobody knows. If I were shopping for a car now, I would avoid MCS. But that's just me.

 

I friggin' made my decision, and know there is now a fix (valve lash shims) if it begins to bother me. Nuff' said.

 

Maybe this is one reason why MINI has dropped so drastically in initial quality compared to the last gen cars. The 2006 was near the top. Very disturbing.

 

But WTF. I am committed.

 

20K and no worries.

 

I'm going to ride this one out until the end of the warranty period comes near. If the problem is still happening, I'll trade her in and get a new one. As much as I hate the idea of giving her up, I would not want to face the costs of an engine replacement because of oil starvation.

I wish MINI was more straightforward in communicating to us. With all of the non-corporate ideas as to the problem, you'd think that they would have definitively resolved the cause and solution.

I had a Mazda pickup truck in the late 80s that had a noise problem similar to this one. It was valve-related but they did nothing about it whilst it was under warranty. I was about 3k miles over the warranty when the engine failed catastrophically. The engine replacement cost was about 1/2 the book value of the truck ... needless to say, I sold her off in not-running condition and never bought another Mazda again. I switched to Toyota, and we've bought five new Toyotas since then (Tacomas and 4Runners). Never looked back. Mazda could have had a lifelong customer but they blew it.

Let us pray that MINI does it right because I love these cars and I really don't see any substitute on the market today.

 

If you're referring to the new JD Powers report (see separate thread on this) the "cold start noise" issue couldn't have anything to do with that because that survey was for owners in the first month or 2.

 

But if the underlying problem was observed and documented within the warranty period (regardless of whether corrected) , the ensuing damage that occurred after the warranty period should be covered, as it is related to a "documented within warranty" issue. I would have taken that one to court I'm afraid. Documentation (says the former claims adjuster/mgr in me) is everything.

 

I also agree that the JD Power survey results probably don't relate to this issue, as it typically happens after 4K miles (from what I have read).

 

I am confused. Does the Mini not have hydraulic self-adjusting valves? What does the shim do?

 

I only have 8,000 miles, but have had the car for 14 months. Haven't experienced any cold start noise. Yet.

 

With my Mazda, I was a naive graduate student at the time

 

I've seen "adjust the valve lash" a few times in the thread, as a fix for those MINI's where they have an issue. I am curious, is there a service bulletin concerning this, that one could point to for a (possibly clueless) service manager? I would think so, if they are aware of this and doing the fix, which it sounds like some posters here have had done.

 

(Quote)-"That MINI would replace engines due to this problem illustrates that it is indeed a very serious issue to them. If indeed the cause is high drylash, engine replacement is definitely unnecessary overkill.

Following is the recommended service procedure.
1) Measure the drylash at each valve. How to is described in an earlier post.
2) Remove the camshaft, roller finger followers (RFF), and HLA, identifying them for reassembly into their original locations.
3) Using the rocker arm force ratio and the drylash measurement, determine the number of shims necessary to place underneath the HLA to reduce plunger travel to 0.50-1.00mm at each position. Hardened steel disks may be used, just so long as they won't pass thru or block the vent at the bottom of the HLA bore.
4) Reinstall HLA and RFF into their original positions.
5) Reinstall the camshaft. Note that the camshaft journal caps should be tightened down by hand, not with a power wrench. A tightening sequence must be followed, turning each fastener only 2 or 3 turns at a time to avoid bending the cam. Also, the HLA are full of engine oil and will not leak down quickly. If the cam caps are tightened too quickly, the valves that are on lift can be overlifted and could possibly hit a piston, bending the valve head. Alternatively, the HLA may be submerged in CLEAN kerosene and the plunger repeatedly depressed until it can be easily collapsed, indicating that the engine oil inside the HLA has been replaced with kerosene. The kerosene will be dispersed when the engine is run. Almost all new and unused HLA come pre-filled with leakdown fluid which is very similar to kerosene. It allows the HLA to leakdown quickly to avoid valve damage.

So that's it. You might want to pass this along to your MINI service rep. Send me an email or a personal message for more information. My company would probably permit me or another of our engineers to visit your dealer as a professional courtesy"

 

I don't want them to take my engine apart... It could lead to another or more problems.

 

16k+ miles and no problems.

Ollie's a stand-up guy apparently.

 

Not really "taking the engine apart". The upper head area only. But ya, I get your drift, but if the factory got it wrong, you might not really have a choice.

 

To date I have 13K miles on my 07 MCS with nary a sign of the dreaded cold start phenomenon.

It is clear that boards like NAM, which offer a forum to those owners experiencing problems, tend to amplify the perception of problems by posting endless back-and forth between a limited number of owners with issues. If 20 people report a certain problem, it creates the impression that the entire MINI breed is infected with this problem. In reality, however, thousands of happy owners without the reported problem are out there motoring away in good cheer, rather than sending gloomy posts. While there have indeed been some real issues with a certain number of R56's, especially the MCS, the focusing effect of NAM, Mini2, etc. makes problems appear to take on an exaggerated dimension out of proportion with its occurance among the entire fleet of R56's on the street. The cold start issue, I believe, is not nearly as severe or as widespread as one might imagine from reading boards such as this.

That said, it is encouraging to hear that an effective diagnosis and fix for this pesky cold start anomaly may have been discovered.

 

I hope to not have a cold start problem with my newly ordered Greenie MCS as well. Fingers crossed.

 

GL

 

Approaching 15k miles on my 07 Cooper S. At times when I stsrt it the engine is really rough. It goes away. I had some software issues related to the ABS and those were taken care of by the dealer. My CEL comes on often and off randomly. No reason.

Overall, nothing has nuked my love of my little blue car.

 

24K miles and I'm doing good on start-ups... occasionally it clatters, but nothing serious. I do check my oil about every 5K though, just in case.