I can't find anything specific to cm's so I hope I'm not the first. Loud ticking in my '13 r60 jcw, increases speed with rpms but is not consistent in timing like spun bearing. Only audible from passenger side, below the valve cover. With hood open looking down you can't hear it, but if you're outside the car, by the front passenger wheel it's easily audible. NO CEL! First heard it reflecting off a panel van with my passenger window down. Definitely not your standard n18 fuel injector/lifter noise. Pretty severe loss in gas mileage as well, only getting about 19 in the city. It's the correct location for timing chain, however I thought they had fixed that in the n18? I'm open to absolutely any suggestions. Thanks!

I feel like i get about the same mileage in the city. Mileage i havent found to be great on highway either. Im a new Mini owner and getting used to the horrendous noises these things make, injector, vanos, etc. But ive felt concered recently with rattle on my motor as well.

could be something in the wheel well tick on the wheel maybe?

It makes the noise while stationary as well. Changing the plugs today. Doubt that's it, but they're needed anyway.

If the friction wheel get a nick in the rubber lining it has been reported to make a ticking noise.

cool, will check tomorrow! Thanks. Plugs brought the gas mileage up a bit, but still ticking.

So I paid the $120 diagnostic fee for a local mini shop to figure out what was causing the noise. Turns out the water pump is loose. They want $1600 for a water pump, tensioner, friction wheel, belt, and a half days labor. Obviously thats astronomical for a half days work and I refuse to pay that. However, I'm wondering if all of that really needs replacing if the water pump is just loose. If it's worth the time to take everything apart to just torque the pump back down, or take the extra 3 hours fishing all the parts out to replace a pump thats just loose. I know I can access everything but the tensioner from inside the wheel well, so I'd like to avoid tearing everything above apart to get to it.

Oy, that price is ridiculous! My guess is they are compounding labor rates for all those components. If the water pump is loose, it might be leaking, at least a little bit, and should be replaced. You probably don’t need a new tensioner. Would be a good idea to replace the belt if it is at least two or three years old. The friction wheel... I would check the friction material for any damage, as that can lead to noises, too. May or may not NEED to be replaced, but you’re in there anyway. if you are mechanically inclined, you could probably get the job done on a long Saturday afternoon.

Hmmm...

If the water pump was "loose", it would be leaking coolant like crazy.

The friction wheel pulley makes sense. It doesn't take much of a "chunk" out of the material on there to make it tick.
It's about $50 for the pulley.

It's tight to get in there for sure, I was changing the water pump as well on mine and ended up removing the motor mounts and raising/lowering the engine, but I don't think you need to do that to just do the pulley, you can get it from underneath and just remove the three bolts (after releasing tension by pulling the little lampshade thing), and putting the new one in.

Here's the documentation on changing it.
https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/r...drive/DcnmUL1Q
note you'd just change the pulley, you don't have to re,over the friction gear.

Here's an example of where you can get it from and price.
https://www.outmotoring.com/drive-wheel.html

I would start with that as it's fairly easy, fairly cheap, and if you aren't experiencing any leaking or overheating/coolant loss, I'm having trouble believing your water pump is faulty. (Plus they were going to do the friction wheel anyway)

Good Luck!

Dan