my mom has a 2008 cooper s.. just around 51000 miles. noticed her leaving the house the other day i could hear a very loud rattle from a distance. so she then lets me know about it. a friend of mine checked it out and he "thinks" a header is coming loose. we put it on a trailer today and took it to a local shop that has always worked on my cars. I just really want some insight from you guys, it would help the diagnosing for the mechanics cause they haven't seen this yet on a mini (only going by what i described). so when i drove it off the trailer it starts fine and no noise, then about 15 seconds a loud rattle starts and it idles really rough. then you give it gas and the rattle gets super loud. engine light came on my mom said earlier this week. the car almost stalled out as i let it idle into the parking spot avoiding giving it any throttle. so if anyone can kinda point me to what it might be id really appreciate it.

 

Sounds like the infamous death rattle...or timing chain tensioner. I bet it is loose enough that it skipped a tooth and the timing is out of wack.

If she has a warranty, get it in now....don't drive it as if it is the timing chain, the engine could grenade and that's a whole new level of cost.

Was it colder than today than the previous few days? The first sign of the death rattle usually shows up on a colder than usual day and a low oil level.

 

well the weather here in NC has changed BIG time, over 80 last week and barely 60 for a high this week. Also its due for an oil change but oil level wasnt low and it looked clean. no warranty either. so sounds like it a known problem.. thanks

 

Does it sound like there's a bunch of rocks flying around in the engine? If so, this is the coldstart/deathrattle issue, where you have to get the new timing chain tensioner replaced. This is an inexpensive replacement that may solve the noise. If replacing the timing chain tensioner doesn't fix the problem, your mom would have the get the whole timing chain replaced. This is a big job and costs over 1k. This is a known issue and depending on the dealers, they might split the cost w/ your mom.