Sooooo I have a problem.
My countryman is making a loud rattle, thought it might be the death rattle so today to took the top off and even the oil pan to check for broken plastic.

Long story short everything looked good. No broken plastic. And even the timing chain looked good.

Anybody have an opinion what it might be.

Video of the rattle.

 

Do you notice it when you are driving slowly and the engine bogs between gears. I seem to be having the exact same issue. I hear it when I am driving in a neighborhood and the auto is in 2nd or 3rd and should prolly downshift but doesn't. As the engine bogs I get a loud knocking rattling kind of sound. I will post my vid as well. Can't get my phone to pick up the sound when I'm driving but in my vid I'm holding the RPM's at about 1,000 in park and the rattly vibrating sound comes and goes. Sorry for the dark vid. It was already night out. [YOUTUBE] [YOUTUBE]

 

Im not to sure I Drive a manual. But I did take it to the dealership when I had other problems and talk to the mechanic about it. Ended up being my timing was off alittle but the sound was still there but not as bad. he said its normal in the minis.

hope that helps.

 

After listening to it more and more im almost 100% sure it is coming from under the timing cover.

 

I have a strange knocking sound coming from the engine bay as well. The dealer has played it off as normal which is hard to believe since I have 26k miles on my 2013CMS. The noise started at around 25k miles. It's similar to a lifter knock but not as quick. It was slightly shaking the car at one point. It is intermittent but is occurring more frequently. I have been able to record the noise and can forward it on if anyone is interested. I sold my 2007 MCS after the 4th timing chain replacement and this has me fuming for being bit twice...
This is a dropbox link:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/w04a72ml3h...g%203.m4a?dl=0

 

Sounds just like mine. I just had it to the dealer 2 weeks ago and they claimed not to hear anything. I can have the car in park or pit in in drive with the ebrake on and it does it. Or as im backing up my driveway i hear it. And when im coasting up to a light or stop sign. Its driving me nuts and getting louder. Is the new engine prone to weak timing tensioners. It is def coming from under the valve cover/timing chain area.

 

i gave the dealer a bad review after the service when they told me nothing was wrong. got numerous emails from dealer service manager, etc. they said they were looking into it. sent them the recording of the noise and have heard nothing since. Momentum Mini in Houston - not impressed. I'm just hoping the engine blows up before the warranty ends so I can sell it with a new motor since they seem to refuse to investigate further. i wish there was another car out there i liked as much....it sucks that they are so unreliable and Mini is so bad regarding customer service and manning up to problems

 

Update on rattle:
Ok, momentum mini has redeemed themselves. I took my 2013 countryman s in and basically left it with them and asked that they drive it as if it was theirs until they heard the noise I was complaining about. Very sporadic and sounded like a valve rattle. Couldn't duplicate it. They gave me a loaner and drove it for 4 days. Mechanic apparently sat in it for a solid hour trying different things. Turns out it was a cracked transmission mount (manual tranny)!!! They nailed it. Runs as smooth as the day I bought it!! Have them check all your mounts if your experiencing the same thing.

 

Just got mine back from the Cinci MINI today and as far as I can tell its as quiet as a.....well as this engine can be. lol. No more rattles. Apparently the heat shield surrounding the turbo was hitting on the O2 sensor and something else. they took it all off and put back on and now all is good. Also, replaced the serpentine belt because they said it was also making some slapping racket. I sent them the vid and told exactly how to replicate the sound and sure enough they found it.

 

So 4 days after I posted this the sound came back. Louder than ever. Called the dealer and they couldn't get me in with a loaner for 3 weeks. They have had it a month and almost 2 weeks now and just got the call on Saturday that it has been fixed. It was only doing it at startup for like 3 to 4 mins. Then wouldn't do it for several hours or until the next day. Therefore the time to diagnose was very short each day. They ended up replacing everything that the serp belt touches and still didn't fix it. Finally they replaced the water pump and its gone. They have had it the past week testing it and say the sound is finally gone. Apparently it wasn't the usual sound that the water pump makes when its going bad.

 

So after my first post the rattle came back. Same sound. Sounds like valve clatter but it's mostly random. This time they had the car for 2 weeks. Said they found the problem and that it was a bad bearing in the same transmission mount area. Sure enough it drove like new for a day or so. Now the noise is back, this time more intermittent but just as annoying. I've had it with Mini. It's hard to enjoy a car when you think it's going to leave you stranded all the time or at a minimum you just can't enjoy driving it due to the rattles and creaks. Such a downer Mini!!!! Fix your crap. I still have 14000 miles on the warranty so I'll just drive it until it breaks. The dealer has proven incapable of finding what the heck is going on with this vehicle.

 

Don't want to hijack this thread but I have a quick question. How did you get the one oil pan bolt off that sits between the oil pan and the transfer case? ....or do you have a FWD instead of the All4? I can't fit anything into that space to get that bolt out.