It's going to the dealer in a flatbed because of the rattle?

 

Indeed it did. Turns out the front sway bar was loose. Dangerous, I know.

 

This sounds like a defective CV joint or axle housing. went thru three of them on my driver's side in 6 weeks (on my long-gone R53) before the dealer figured out that the tech did not tighten down a couple tranny bolts after the first two replacements.

 

[quote=Skye2;2534801I have been stressed out so much over this that it is affecting my health.[/quote]

If this is the case, then U better get rid of it.

 

Does anyone have any updates about this problem? I have been hearing a knock/rattle from the front driver side too for the last few months. I had the JCW suspension kit installed few months ago and I noticed this noise some time after that. But I hear this noise only when I drive the car after it sits for a while. The noise seems to disappear after the car warms up, so I am not sure mine is a suspension problem. What else could it be?

 

I have something similar on my 07. When it's been sitting for a few hours, when you first take the car out, if you hit a few bumps, there will be a rattle/clank/vibration in what to me certainly sounds like the suspension. Strangely, the longer into the drive, it seems to disappear. I can't tell if it's definitely front or back, although to me it sounds more like the rear as first I thought it was something loose in the boot or that my rear seats were not fully locked upright. But after I checked all that, I was certain it was from underneath the car.

I can understand some people's frustrations with the car, here's a list of the little issues with mine:

weeping washer jets
sunroof issue when it gets really warm
creeping open sunroof visors
this suspension noise
engine surges a tiny bit on stops or at idle
engine clatter on startups after extremely short engine runs
CEL that comes on when temps stay colder than 32 for a few days

But, none of these are totally stressing me as I realize these are the growing pains in the first year of a redesign. The car still runs and drives fine and the issues aren't critical...at least not yet, so I hope. I've been to the dealer once to change the oil at 7500 miles, that was back in the spring. I told them about the CEL at that time and they found nothing as it hadn't been on since it got warmer. And it was off all spring and summer. It came back two weeks ago as it got darn cold here. So when the car tells me my next service is due, I will mention some of these issues, that should be in the late winter, maybe early spring.

I will mention the CEL again, the slight idle surge, the weeping jets and the suspension noise.

Things I won't mention are the sunroof ones. They are so minor. The sticking when it gets really hot wears off if you open the door or window and wait a few moments or, if you simply push on it. Besides, it doesn't happen enough to be a hindrance to me. I encountered it maybe three times all of this past summer. And the creeping visors aren't much of a factor and seem to not slide open as much as time goes on.

I'm also not mentioning the engine clatter as I know they have no fix for the problem. Plus, I can avoid that issue simply by not starting and stopping the car for extremely short periods. My dealer is a shade over two hours away so that's why I'm kind of making a list of things to cover in one shot.

 

HI! LISTEN EVERYBODY!!!! I LIVE IN MEXICO CITY, MINE IS AN AUTOMATIC MCS 2008. I HAD THAT NOISE UNDER THE DRIVER'S SIDE. THE PROBLEM WAS ELIMINATE CHANGING THE TRANSMISSION SUPPORT? I DON'T KNOW IS THAT TERM IS RIGHT. (SOPORTE DE LA TRANSMISION) THAT IS A PROBLEM WITH AUTOMATIC (ONLY) TRANSMISSION. DEALER CHANGED IT UNDER WARRANTY, THEY KNOW ABOUT THIS ISSUE!!!!

 

Came back from the dealership yesterday after my driver side rattling had been been addressed. Apparently the bolts that hold the sway link in place were loose and the threads were stripped, a result of the shipping process my invoice had indicated. They replaced the sway link for me now. No more noise.

 

Congrats! Finally something REALLY fixed!

 

It's a tranny mount issue. MINI has a service bulletin and updated part for it.

 

[quote=Spectral G;2588193]

I can understand some people's frustrations with the car, here's a list of the little issues with mine:

weeping washer jets
sunroof issue when it gets really warm
creeping open sunroof visors
this suspension noise
engine surges a tiny bit on stops or at idle
engine clatter on startups after extremely short engine runs
CEL that comes on when temps stay colder than 32 for a few days

[quote]

I believe the "weeping washer jets" are caused by the washer fluid boiling and being forced out of the jets due to the heat from the turbo. It was noted several times in the threads talking about the melting hood scoops. IIRC one way check valves solved the weeping issue.

t

 

I don't know about the other ones, but the washer jets have a bulletin for check valves as some one else mentioned.

The creeping sunroof shades also have a bulletin. They'll install rubber stoppers that make the first 3-4" of movement harder. So next time you're at your dealer for something else you can get those fixed easy enough. I had both of those with mine also.

 

i have a similar noise from the right front suspension...odd sound, hard to pin point what it is and cuz you can hear it at some random times.

 

There appears to be a complaint/service bulletin for replacing a weakened transmission mount. You can look it up at www.mycarstats.com under 2007 Mini Cooper S. Theres also a lot of other eyebrow raising bulletins on this site. I dono if its BMW official.

CONSUMER COMPLAINT: ODI Case Number: 10254199
Component: POWER TRAIN
Details: CAR CLUNKS WHILE GOING OVER ROUGH ROADS. AS PER DIAGNOSIS FROM MINI DEALERSHIP, THE "TRANSMISSION MOTOR MOUNT IS TOO SMALL AND DOES NOT DAMPEN SHOCK FROM ROAD BUMPS OR ACCELERATION TORQUE" AND WAS REPLACED. *TR
Occurrences: 1Injuries: 0Fail Date: 07/16/2008Deaths: 0Date added to datbase: 1/7/2009

[FILE] your own complaint on this model car.

In retrospect my wife's Honda Civic has more complaints/bulletins than my mini cooper. Must be cause there are 50x more of them out there than minis.

 

I have a noise from the right front area as well. It sounds like that from the driver's seat, but it may actually be in the middle. I am 90% sure it is closer to the right than center. I am not sure if this is the same noise we are talking about. It is a clicking or ticking sound, kind of like a small clock or old stopwatch, one with hands of course, except much faster. Tick tick tick tick.

When it first appeared, it was indeed at the beginning of the drive, but it stay for a while sometimes. Also, I would only hear it when I was on the throttle. If I opened the throttle a lot, I couldn't hear it, probably because of engine/exhaust/turbo noise or whatever, but if I would just open it a little, such as cruising at 30-50, tick tick tick tick. If I let off the throttle, it would stop, back on the throttle, tick tick tick tick. It didn't happen every time, but it was, and is currently, fairly consistent.

As previously stated, it usually only happens when I am on the throttle, however, two times, it happened on startup. It was just idling and tick tick tick ticking.

All of these time that I can remember have indeed been during cold weather, but that doesn't necessarily mean it never happened in warm weather. Also, I have the manual transmission.

Is this the same issue many of you are having. Can anyone shed any light?

Thanks
Daniel

 

Mine is at the dealer for serive. They found my rattle noise and are replacing the trans mount (automatic) per service bulletin.

 

I had my car towed in for cold start chatter this morning and while there mentioned about the front driver side rattling. About 2 hours later I get a call from my sm confirming the service bulletin is in effect for my car. Same resolution: replacing a lower transmission mount / bracket.

The bulletin extends out to at least 2008 Mini Cooper S with Manual transmissions.

They didnt really like that my car is lowered 1.4 inches but I cant really do much about it without taking the car back to rspeed first. Warrantee is still in tact, however if the mount doesnt solve the problem im pretty much out of luck according to my sm.

I'll post up as soon as I test drive in 24 hours.

 

unclemeat, do you have manual or auto transmission?

 

Also, can someone please post the number of this service bulletin for the lower transmission mount/bracket? I just called my dealer about it and they are not aware of this service bulletin.

 

My dealer never heard of it. I had to tell them about the sway bar bushing issue and the trans mount problem. They emailed PUMA and got the info. I do not have the bulletin # but if i get it I will pass it on.

 

I sure do have a Manual Transmission without LSD in my 2008 Cooper S. I dont have a bulletin/puma/case number but my dealership was pretty quick in telling me there is in fact a service bulletin for a tranny mount affecting my vehicle. I'll try and get more info on the bulletin.

I didnt get my car back yet. Hopefully tonight.

 

Thank you thank you. Please keep us updated.

 

OK its been about 24 hours since I had my dealer replace the transmission mounting bracket and I could not be happier with the outcome!

First, the service manager and techs could not replicate the klunking. Really its kind of hard to tell until you know what to look for and then its a real nusance. They said they would honor the service bulletin even though they didnt hear anything. I'm sooo glad they did!

NO MORE CLUNKING!! And as an added bonus I dont feel as much drivetrain vibrations! I knew the fixed worked .5 miles down the road. I was soooo freakin happy I actually called the SM and spred my joy. He was amazed and thankfull for my call.

The SM said there is in fact a service bulletin for these cars in the US about this fix and its very new; about two months ago they could not find anything wrong. About all I got out of my SM was that the bulletin just came out "the other day" meaning like the begining of February 2009 or there abouts. I was also supposedly the first person they fixed in town and its probably because I drove my car all over Virginia on cracked concrete roads promoting premature failure.

The only downside was we had to wait ~24 hours for overnighted parts. No problem for me I live close and get loaners.

Get it fixed!!

Happy motoring!

 

I just had that transmission mount service bulletin applied to my 07 MCS with manual transmission and it looks like my front end noise is gone for good too! I am so happy I found out about that service bulletin in this thread.

My service invoice did not show any specific code number for that bulletin. Those of you having a similar problem, just mention the transmission mount service bulletin to your dealership and they should be able to find out more about it if they are not aware of it.

 

I have the same noise. Has anyone been able to find the service bulletin number?