Hi all, I have a 2008 mcs, 59k miles and on Monday I noticed a knocking sound from the engine bay, i think it's coming from the passenger side, i check the oil religiously as I used to be a wrx owner so I know about oil consumption, I checked the plugs they have about 8k miles on them and look normal so I made an appointment at mini of Seattle, 280 miles away, because I thought it might be the chain tensioner. I made it there fine no hiccups or weird car troubles at all. They told me they checked the tensioner it and it was the new-er tensioner(I knew that as I replaced it myself 1 1/2 years ago.) they did not check the chain as they said they only do it if they feel it's necessary, they also told me they put on the turbo oil line heat shield (they didn't as I also put that on.) anyway, my question to you all is, has anyone experienced this same knock? It's louder when cold, when I got off the freeway after driving 50- 100 miles it was very faint almost un-noticeable The car doesn't stutter or hesitate at all leading me to think it's not engine related, unless a rod knock wouldn't cause a loss of power, maybe a pulley hitting something or a tensioner going out. Any input or suggestions would be really appreciated.

Wow I came here tonight for the same reason, I'm also getting a similar knock, knock sound only after driving at freeway speeds. It's fant at idle but gets louder when revving the engine. There is a pause in-between the knocks though. It only goes away if I turn off then turn the engine back on, it's only occurred four times now after getting off the freeway in the course of two months. Is your sound coming from behind or between the tensioner and cylinder closer to passenger side?

This is strange but this started occurring right after I installed my torque arm insert with brand new motor mount. Perhaps it's a bad injector, I don't know it that's a tick or knock...

Mine is constant and almost un-noticeable after freeway driving. It's not lifter tick because mine does that some times, not often though.

Check out this thread:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...in-thread.html

Cerenkov, that sounds horrible! Mine does not sound that bad, it doesn't sound anything like that really. I'll try and get a video with good sound today.

Mine doesn't sound remotely as bad as the link, it's between a tick or a knock but not that loud. I'm thinking injector or water pump starting to go bad, I just don't understand why shutting off the engine and turning it back on remedies the sound gone. What is that drum looking thing on my intake valve cam sprocket? The N18 has two of them.

I was looking around on here and that's the brake vacuum pump.

Not sure who you're post was meant for, but is that where the noise is coming from? If so these failing vacuum pumps have been known to bricked engines before by seizing up ripping the sprocket off of the cam!

I was responding to your post. I have an N14, that's where the vacuum pump is on mine. I'm not sure on the N18. And no the noise on my car isn't coming from there. Unless it's echoing or traveling through something to make it sound like it's in a different area than I'm thinking.

Get a stethoscope from your local auto parts store, it has a long metal rod connected to the ear plugs. It will help you pinpoint internally where the sound is coming from.

Took Benni to a shop today that does a lot of work on MINI's, we went for a test drive. He says it's probably a mount that has worn out but without getting it up in the air while charging $80/hr it would be hard to narrow down which one or ones.
My car still runs fine, no stuttering or loss of power, just shudders/shakes/vibrates slightly when letting the clutch out from a stop.
I have the NM insert on the large side and powerflex bushing on the small side of the torque arm. It makes sense that some mount would be wearing out as my car has 59k on it.
Does anyone know if the mounts on r56's are liquid filled like the r53's.

No there are rubber engine mounts, very soft rubber used. My brothers 2005 Honda Odyssey had air engine mount.

This sounds like clutch chatter to me. Mine does it too, only after driving a long time. Do you feel anything in the clutch pedal? It would be extremely hard to feel...

I don't. I have been reading about the dual mass flywheel being loud. It also gets louder as the engine temp goes up. Would it get louder as engine temperature increases?

Yes, in a way. The engine would warm up a lot quicker than they flywheel, but eventually that would get some heat in it. I think this is why I only hear mine after longer drives, and not in the morning. The only reason I know mine is chatter is because I have driven a car with an aftermarket clutch that chattered bad, and mine sounds exactly the same as that. I notice it letting out the clutch in first, and when shifting to second.

Is there any concern with the clutch chatter? Mine does it after long drives too.

Are we talking about a heavy tumbling noise? I can hear what sounds like tumbling noise when in neutral with clutch pedal not depressed and I always thought is was the throwout bearing.

Clutch chatter is felt rather than heard, generally.

Your noise may be a bearing. I had a couple of bad input shaft bearings on my old CRX (don't ask, it was self-inflicted!) that made noise all the time the clutch pedal was not depressed. It was most obvious in neutral, but was present in gear as well. The noise slowed down and stopped when I pushed the clutch pedal in.

This is exactly what I'm experiencing, it's going to MiniWorx today for diagnostics courtesy of AAA Insurance. I ran over a huge tire on the I5 in SoCal at 65 miles per hour and went under my MCS, it was a hard hit! The tires must have weighed in at 25-35 pounds, bumper was replaced yesterday. It's really high pitched noise almost like a whistle but constant and goes away with the lightest amount (barely tap) of pedal pressure.

It's cause is vibration that gets it to act up whether in neutral or in gear about 2500 rpms. I'm betting it's either the slave cylinder or throwout bearing, hope it's not the bearing because I don't want to have to drain my Red Line MTL, it cost me $70! If they pull off the tranny I will have them replace the clutch while their at it even if there's nothing wrong with it.

God I love my $100 deductible! :) If only my powertrain warranty was a $100 deductible instead of $200.

Well, after going to three shops, none of them can diagnose the noise. One shop said engine mount could be bad, but it increases with engine speed. Another said timing chain but it doesn't go away after the engine is warmed up, it just gets quieter, Actually two shops suggested timing chain after asking if I check my oil. The upside is, no shops around here can measure my timing chain. Well, guess I'll just wait for detonation.

I took my car to another shop that got their stethoscope out and spent the day looking around. He checked around when it was cold and hot. After listening to everything, he mainly heard the knocking above cylinders 2 and 3. He doesn't think it's piston slap or rod knock related because there are no CEL's and no loss of power. He then said with out ripping everything apart it would be really difficult to pin point exactly where it's coming from. So, for the time being I'm just going to monitor it and make sure it doesn't get louder or worse.

The knocking sound that I heard above cylinder #4 comes and goes, strange that turning off the engine makes the knock disappear for weeks at a time, not quite intermittent yet. Only heard it four times in 3-4 months. Our issues could be valvetrain related, hope it's an injector.

Bringing this back. I have an N18 and im getting a knocking sound from thr valve cover. Its most obvious when cold almost like a rattle then dies down to a faint knocking sound at about 900 to 1300 rpm or when gearing down. I'm auto btw.