Lately I've noticed a weird sound - almost exactly like the sound of hitting a ping pong ball - as I first depress the throttle, and then when I back off all the way (for example: when starting from a stop and then shifting from 1st to 2nd). I can only hear it with the window down.

It isn't only when I first start. I accelerated and decelerated in 1st gear over a stretch of road, and heard the klocking noise once each time I pressed the accelerator and then again when I took my foot off the pedal.

Any ideas?

 

See this thread here:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=137163

It basically is like the same thing that is happening to you.

Or it could be a bad passenger side motor mount...

 

Thanks - Based on that, it seems like it's either a CV joint or a motor mount. Given that my car is out of warranty, I'm not looking forward to either. I didn't hear the sound until after my car had come back from the body shop for front-end repairs. Maybe they failed to tighten something correctly. I need to get them to realign the hood, so I'll start there.

 

Well the good news a motor mount is pretty easy to diagnose and replace, plus it's fairly cheap to boot. You can tell if the mount has gone bad (on 05+ at least) if you see a pool of oil sitting beneath it on the passenger side.

What year is your MINI?

 

Mine's a 2004 (6/04 build). I'm going to try to get it checked out next week. We shall see.

 

The pre 04's dont have the same issue with the motor mount it think, as I believe it is a different type of mount that uses rubber instead if fluid. In which case you should be able to look at it and see if it is busted (the rubber will look dry and cracked).

 

Well this was annoying. I took my car in to All German Auto in Escondido this morning and got a call a couple hours later: They confirmed hearing the noise when test driving, but couldn't replicate in the shop. Prescription: Keep driving until it gets bad enough for them to be able to replicate it on the lift!

Motor mounts are fine, suspension is all tightened as it should be...seems it could be a CV, but they didn't want to just go around installing new parts until they solved the problem, thankfully.

(Also thankful I don't have an MC with CVT. They had just replaced one on a car with only 90,000 miles on it - at a cost of around $7500.)