Hello Mini Community,

I have a 2012 JCW R58 with the N14 engine. The car is about to roll 57,000 miles. The car has an occasional, mild rattle on cold start only (the rattle lasts less than 10 seconds usually). The car has had this happen twice in a month of daily driving.

With the mileage the car has, I suspect it is time to replace the entire cam chain and guide rails. That said, I decided to start with a new cam chain tensioner for now and to monitor the vehicle since I intend to have a full dealer service this summer. I'll likely have the chain replaced by the dealer at that time.

Here is the question:
I've removed the old tensioner and have a replacement (OEM) in hand. The original tensioner is definitely the one installed when the car was built. I note that the new one is a little longer which I have read is by design. The problem I am having is with installation of the new tensioner. I need to find a way to compress this tensioner and twist it to get the threads started. Is there a trick to getting this tensioner threads started to reinstall? I tried to compress it before insertion but it doesn't seem to lock in place or anything. I feel like I'd need to be superman to get this thing started where it is.

What am I missing here?

Thank you for your time.

 

I just replaced mine, all I had to do was remove the old one and insert the new one, hand threaded in as far as I could, torqued to 80 nm.

From Newtis

 

Thank you so much for the reply and images. Yeah, I have the location down but the problem I am having is the plunger of the new tensioner is not allowing the tensioner to seat anywhere near the threads. With the tensioner located at the back of the engine bay, it's like I need to somehow compress the tensioner into the engine and twist it to start the threads. With the positioning under the hood, this is going to be impossible.

I have been manipulating and turning it now this morning for over an hour straight and I just can't seem to get it to thread. I even thought perhaps I need to wiggle the tensioner to get it to "seat" inside of the guide rail or something. I am very puzzled. Every post I've found seems to suggest no one else has experienced this and they just inserted the tensioner and hand tightened until time for a torque wrench.

Thanks again for the reply and help. I'll update the thread if I make any headway.

 

Update: I FINALLY got the new one installed with basically sheer force using a portable electric ratchet. I am very thankful it did not cross thread... I'm not sure why this was so difficult on my car vs. other mini's I've watched online. Maybe it's a JCW thing?

Thanks again for your post and help, @Jason Cornelius .