no need to wait until <40 degrees (altho the extreme cold seems to make it worse). It's cold engine, not cold weather.

 

Thanks for the info. Personally I only experience cold start at low temp/cold engine, but it's good to know how to reproduce/demonstrate the problem at dealership location.

 

on thurs Im taking Syd in to have a moonroof rattle diagnosed and fixed, as well as finding what the mysterious "tunk" from the rear is whenever I hit a bump. I'm encouraging my dealer to keep Syd overnight, park it nose-down, and have them start it in the AM to see what happens.

 

Just got mine back from the dealership....my cold start rattle is gone! WooHoo! The engine runs much smoother as well. The chain tensioner was replaced.

 

Hope they just do a recall so everyone doesn't have to keep playing cat and mouse with this issue.

 

My dealer is going to replace my chain tensioner next week, I'll see if it fixes my car...........

It did it once on me on my trip last week to South Dakota, that was the first time I'd parked it nose downhill and it really rattled, but only for a few seconds, then it cleared up. I have had it do it before, nose uphill as well.....

Anyways, they gave me no hassle about it, so I don't have to demonstrate the noise or anything, and they say they have several of the new parts in stock. I hope that's all they have to do, my car only has about 5k on it and I'm not real keen on having them do major engine teardown so early in it's life, the tensioner alone seems like a fairly easy fix..

 

You DONT have to demonstrate/reproduce any noises for this fix. Mine has not done it in at least a month. When my car was hooked up to their diagnostic machine and the required steps followed per MINIs protocol, my car was diagnosed with the Cold Start Rattle. I had no hassles from my dealership whatsoever in getting the fix. I got 5 star treatment. Thank you Northwest Mini!

 

I just took in my R56 Cooper S for the fix at Midwestern Mini in Columbus, OH and they fixed the knocking by, according to the needs of my engine, replacing ALL parts that needed replacing (ie: timing chain, chain tensioner, etc etc). Now the engine runs better than it ever has with 20,000 miles on it. It's like a new engine and I hope that it stays that way. So far, no rattles or knocks at all. The service at Midwestern Mini was superb - they were prompt (did in in a day) and they had all the parts on hand.

 

I rec'd an e-mail from dealer telling me my parts were in (car was in last week for sunroof replacement)..huh--what part? Called dealership and was advised that a certain number of engines ( my MCS was put in service July 2007) are having updated chain tensioners replaced as a precuation.

I have never had any ratlles or heard anything that remotely sounded like the racket being described here on the board.

Car is going in next Monday for the surgery. I wonder if my mechanic saw/heard something he did not like ( I will ask ) or if the parts guy was telling me the whole truth.