2009 Mini Cooper S, almost at 51,000 miles. For a couple weeks now, occasionally my car will start to make a vibrating / rattling / whirling noise -- usually starting between 2,500 and 3,500 and will usually continue until I left off the gas.

Seems to happen about 3 times a week, and when it does happen, it usually lasts a few seconds during steady moderate acceleration. Will usually last until I stop accelerating and between gear changes (and sometimes will just stop after a gear change altogether -- even if I keep accelerating).

It almost sounds like a metal rattling noise (although also reminds me a little of a diesel engine noise), and usually has a whirl sound to it (like a constant fluctuation). I haven't noticed any reduction in power, and the RPMs aren't affected by the noise/whirling.

Any ideas? Closest MINI dealer is 2hrs away, and I'd rather not drive up there if they can't figure it out (as it doesn't happen during every drive).

Doesn't seem to be a knocking noise. And I had the piston for timing chain tensioner replaced back at 20,000 miles (which was causing the popular cold engine startup noise). Not sure if anyone can help solve the issue before I end up just bringing it into MINI (as I'm sure they have had others with this issue).

Edit: decided to pop the hood, looks like a possible leak from the turbo??? Did some quick searches, and see that this is the turbo oil pipe. That's probably not a good thing...and I would assume is the cause of the noise?





When I was at the dealer at 42,000 miles (about 9K miles ago) to get a few things done, they "supposedly" did the following:

Performed recall on Auxilary Water Pump
Replaced "additional coolant pump for the exhaust turbo", hose clamp, and added coolant
Replaced corroded (valve stem seized) right rear Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) Stem
Performed Oil (98B1MI Motor Oil SAE 5W-30 Longlife: 832511) and Filter Service and topped off all fluids
Replaced Engine Belt (Ribbed V-Belt:115031) (was cracking/worn)
Adjusted and Greased Sunroof
Right Tie Rod wouldn't move for alignment (I declined to have it fixed at this time)
Replaced Coolant Temperature Sensor and did System Bleed (was causing slight coolant leak)
Replaced Rev Counter (Tachometer) Assembly and reporgrammed control units
NYS Inspection with Emissions
Replaced Inlet Pressure Sensor (fault for intake manifold pressure sensor found)
Replaced Lambda Monitor Sensor (O2 Sensor)

 

I'm no expert but it might be to little to late for your turbo, bearings probably shot!

 

with the engine off and cool, pull the black tube off the turbo (the one with the ribs), stick your finger in the turbo and grab a hold of the compressor wheel and wiggle it and spin it feeling for excess play and note if the fins are contacting the inner housing. that's how you tell if the turbo bearings are shot. the compressor wheel should have some play back and forth but not enough play for the fins to scrape the housings.

 

Took the tube off and spun it a little and didn't hear/feel any of the pins hitting/catching the edge of the inner housing. Makes some sense though (and is soft of a relief) as the sound I've been hearing is a deeper/deisely sound. I'd expect a grinding or buzzing sound (or squeal) if the fins were scraping.

 

Took the car up to Keeler MINI (up in the Albany, NY area) and gave them the Detroit Tuned turbo feed line to install. I'll keep you all posted what they find out about the rattling engine noise.

 

Apparently the car was low on oil. That would explain why I had a difficult time getting a good read on the dip stick...it was supposedly below the dip stick...wow! Not sure where it all went, because the leak I saw around the turbo feed line didn't look bad enough that I would have lost that much oil.

But anywho -- I had them install the turbo feed line and return (cost $605 + an additional $70 in gaskets, clamps, bolts, etc.)

After an oil change, the engine noise has gone away...or at least I haven't heard it the last two days since I got it back.

 

these cars burn oil pretty good. 2011+ N18's are a bit better but 07-10 MCS's are notorious for consuming(burning) oil, can be simply from the setup of the PCV system or a large piston-to-wall clearance allowing oil to blow past and into combustion during cold starts(no noticeable blue smoke out exhaust though). Check the level at every gas fill up.

 

UPDATE: the new turbo feed line from Detriot Tuned is doing great. But the engine noise that I described in the original thread (a rough vibrating/rattling noise) has come back. Almost every day I drive it when it's cold, the engine will make this noise at about 2,000rpm until 3,000 rpm or so. I've checked the oil level, and it seems fine according to the dip stick. But is it just me, or is this dip stick really hard to read? Thinking about getting the Detroit Tuned dip stick so I can more easily tell if what I'm seeing is the actual oil level.

 

Have you had the timing chain slack length check? There is a campaign for those with your model Mini to have the timing chain components replaced at no charge, this started happening two weeks ago. You might want to give Mini a call.

 

I had that replaced/repaired within the first couple of years. This doesn't sound like the same noise, as it also doesn't happen during idle (only during throttle at about 2000rpm). After doing a bit of research, it's possible I've been misreading this pesky dipstick due to it picking up more oil than I imagined when reading it 2 or 3 times in a row. Might be low on oil again. Sad if it's "burning" that much oil though where it gets low enough to cause engine chatter at 2K rpm.

 

I got tired of trying to get consistent reads on my stock dipstick and bit the bullet and ordered a Cravenspeed dipstick. Expensive, but gives me a little peace of mind. Might not be the main cause of your noise, but low oil could exacerbate the problem.

 

We work on Mini Coopers all the time and the vibration your talking about at that RPM range is most likely the metal dipstick hitting against the oil pan. We sleeve the dipstick in order to stabilize it and stop the dipstick from vibrating at hi speed against the tube wall and possibly the oil pan. Hope this helps we see this frequently. I have pics of our remedy if needed. By the way we figured this out with our first mini by putting it in the air and reving it while techs isolated the noise when being reved to 2500-3000 rpm to the oil pan while under the car.

 

getrdoneautomotive, can I get a photo of the fix? May have this same n issue?

 

I have the same vibrating issue, I checked my compressor wheel and it wasn't wiggling or scraping at all. I tightened up some heat shield bolts around the turbo but its still happening. I will post a video later tonight of the sound. I hope its what getrdoneautomotive said and its the dip stick vibrating.