Story starts in February , I just got back from my prolonged vacation. Everything seems fine, starts and drives my 2007 Mini Cooper S. After a few days, I start to notice the engine making a slight grinding sound around 2-3k rpm. I didn't really worry, I thought it was just a "normal" sound from this famously loud engine. Over the next month or so, it just got louder and louder. So I brought it into the dealership to have a look. At this point it was really really loud, sounds exactly like a diesel tractor and the grinding noise is unbearable.
It's funny when I brought it into the dealership, there is a little indoor garage for us to park. The mechanic came to my car and took me to start it up, VROOM, 2 seconds later, needless to say the mechanic took me to shut it up. LOL.
They find out right away that my car has really low engine oil level, but I did my oil service in october 2008. They give me the weird look like they don't believe me, so I showed them the service record.
They top up the engine oil, start the car again, still making the noise. So they finally decide to take it in. Gave me a loaner car, the new Nissan Sentra...

 

1 week later, service guy calls me and said the car is ready. I drove to the dealership right away, then he told me the chain tensioner needs to be replaced but it is back-ordered for 2 weeks. "The car is fine to drive, it is just loud. Lots of MINI have this problem that is why the part is on backorder." said Mr service guy. so I asked him, if there's a problem it's not my fault right? He said ya.

So I drove the car away, still making the crazy loud noise. I took it easy while I was driving and I didn't drive too far from my house. within 10km range. Basically the car only make the noise when it is warmed up. When the engine is cold, it only make the super loud clicking noise (not your ordinary clicking noise).

yadayadayada later, well 1 week later. The car wouldn't start. It would try to start but it never started. Calls roadside assistance and got the car towed in. They gave me a Toyota Yaris this time (omg slowest car ever!)

Long story short, drove the Yaris for exactly 2 weeks, they called yesterday and said the car is now ready, got a new engine. WTF? GOT A NEW ENGINE????????

So I went to the dealership right away. Picks up my car, opens the hood. And fines that the MINI logo on the new engine still had the protective sticker on it... wow a new engine...

 

Here's what my car got, straight from the service sheet.
Complaint: Trace fault for no start
Cause: Front damper bolt on crankshaft was loose. Cams not turning
Correction: Remove engine/gearbox unit. had to remove driveshaft and drain ac system, swop parts over to new engine, refit engine. put fresh new oil in gearbox, evacuate and charge ac system. fill cooling system with antifreeze and water. put oil in engine and start engine. blead cooling system. connect gt1 and clear codes and roadtest vehicle.

Parts all replaced under warranty
chain tensioner
>>>>>>>>>>exchange engine n14<<<<<<<
screw
gasket
clamp
hex nut
5w30 bmw high perfo
1/10 engine col
some other stuff.

 

Cams not turning? Wonder if this is another one with a failed vacuum pump. The noise you mentioned does sound like the cold start rattle that has progressed to failure.

So far all the failed engines that I've read about look to be 2007's with about 25-35k miles. How many miles was on your car? Did you have any of the previous versions of the "fix" for the cold start rattle?

 

my car has 37000 KM on it. I never brought it in for the cold start rattle.

It didn't do it until this year. Cold start rattle, and the grinding noise from 2-3k rpm all came together in a nice little package that eventually lead to the doom of the engine. lol

dunno about the failed vacuum pump, the mechanic just said chain tensioner is loose. and then kaboom. lol

but I think it is only with the 2007s?

 

wow. least they didnt give you any gripe about it. did they even call to tell you what was up?

 

no they didn't call, that's the only problem...
I drove the yaris for 2 weeks without knowing when I will pick up the car or whats going on. I was gonna call them the day they called me to pick it up. so they kinda beat me to it. lol.

ya at least they didn't blame me for anything, so that was alright i guess. I would kill someone if they even tried to blame me.

 

Nope, 08s and plenty of 09s, inc mine, have the rattle.

 

What bothers me a lot about ANY engine failures is that our engine isn't particularly exotic. It's a pretty conventional design with specific output about on par with other comparable offerings from other manufacturers. Stock engines should just not explode. My only similar experience was with a 2003 E46 M3 that I had. Sometime around 2004, BMW started seeing a rash of lower end failures on that S54 engine and it was diagnosed as a potentially bad batch of crank bearings. Any car within a certain build range was offered a rebuild with new bearings, and all cars built up through the end of the 2003 run were given an extended 6 year/100K engine warranty. Mine didn't need/get the rebuild but the extra warranty was comforting.

 

Just a quick question and I'm sorry if this question seems obvious but do they restart the odometer when they put in a new engine???

 

So you have a new engine and things are normal now.How many miles were on the previous engine?

 

No

 

no, they did not restart the odometer.

my old engine had 37000 KMs on it.

geez... I can't imagine the 08 and 09s would have it too.... I guess they screwed up BIG TIME with the design... Is it only happening to the S? are the MC having the same problem??? if the MC are fine, then that means they really underestimated the power from the turbo I am guessing..

 

this thread is not comforting to me.

i have a rattle that is loudest around 2.5k rpms, and only happens when the car is warmed up, no noise when it's cold. The noise seems to be continuing through all rpm's now. The engine is definitely getting noisier and noisier.

The car just recently threw a CEL and went into the shop for it. They claimed that the high pressure fuel pump was leaking, so they replaced that. No mention on the receipt of the grinding noise at 2.5k rpms that I mentioned to the SA when I dropped the car off.

I did have the tensioner upgraded as I had the cold start noise pretty frequently.

 

well, after some more discussing, i determined that the noise might be a glazed clutch, and not noise prior to engine failure. I live only 4 miles from work, and it's all stop and go traffic. I get very little time to exercise the car.

Followed some recommendations from the mini engineers that I found in another thread to de-glaze the clutch, essentially by burning it a bit. The noise went away, except for a small noise at 2.5k rpms... no more clutch noise, no more grinding... i think the problem was just a slipping clutch, that was the grinding noise I heard. I think others might be having the same issue. stupid dual mass flywheel.

 

I just had to have my mini towed to century mini from the Dragon yesterday because of this same noise which was REALLY bad. it sounded like someone threw rocks in the engine when it was first starting up. One of the service tech's suggested that it may be the timing chain tensioner that snapped or loosened up to the point that the chain is actually banging against the cover which houses it. A glazed clutch would make a squeeking or horn honking sound when letting off of it if that's the case. I had that same issue also which there is a service bullietin out. This makes the noise when the car is idle and the clutch isn't even engaged. I had to use Mini's roadside to book a flight to get back home. Thankfully they are reimbursing me.

 

yea, that's the cold start issue, which i already have the updated tensioner for.

I was refering to the OP's "engine making a slight grinding sound around 2-3k rpm."

what's the tsb regarding the glazed clutch? my service department told me there's nothing they can do about it. and yes, it's a howl/squeek when letting out the clutch at slow speeds, but i've been getting a slight grinding sound while engaging and disengaging the clutch, which went away after i burnt the clutch twice, so i'm chalking it up as a glazed clutch.