Twice I've brought my 07 MCS into my local dealer complaining about the infamous death rattle, and twice my dealer has dismissed my concerns because they couldn't reproduce it. However, when my car went in today for some unrelated-but-undesirable behavior (takes 3-5 tries for a successful cold start, it cranks but sputters and dies within a few seconds), I figured I'd try my death rattle speech for a third time. THIS TIME I casually mentioned that maybe, just possibly, it *might* have something to do with the timing chain tensioner.

And, praise be, they listened to me this time. Tensioner length was found to be 69.1 mm, so they replaced:

11-31-7-597-895 CHAIN TENSIONER
11-31-7-534-251 GASKET RING
11-31-7-516-088 TIMING CHAIN
11-31-7-568-241 GUIDE RAIL
11-31-7-534-833 CHAIN TENSIONER
11-31-7-534-771 BEARING BOLT
11-31-7-534-768 BEARING BOLT
11-31-7-550-461 GASKET RING
11-21-7-588-996 SPROCKET
11-21-7-585-184 HEX BOLT

When they called to let me know my car was ready, they told me that the timing chain issue was also the cause of the car not starting correctly (which sounded waaaay fishy to me but, like a chump, I said nothing), and I picked up my car and headed home.

Not even three hours later, I headed back out to my car. Hit the Start button....and the car cranked, sputtered and died. Then again, then again. On the fourth try, the car started, and lo and behold, the death rattle was back. What the hell? I brought the car in with two distinct issues....both of which were "fixed," but neither of which actually were.

Tomorrow I'm going back in with video footage of the car sputtering and dying, while making sure to zoom in on my service invoice so they know the footage is post-"fix". I give up on the death rattle thing....I just want my car to start again...

When you finally get it started does run right?

Once I get it started, it does perform normally, yes. But anytime the car is allowed to cool down for more than a few hours, it once again takes 3-5 (and, yesterday morning, SEVEN) tries to get the car started successfully.

It might be the High Pressure Fuel Pump, there's a couple of threads about that here.

find out if the decarbonized the engine while they were at it. I'd bet it's the HPFP or carbon.

Matt

That would make sense, yeah, thanks....it literally sounds like the engine is choking before it finally dies. I love that I have to tell the dealer what components to check when working on my car....

Off to the Definitive Cold Start Issue thread to see if there's any precedent for the rattle persisting even after all the parts are replaced....

The HPFP isn't connected to the normal diagnostics; they'd need to run a special check for it- I had almost exactly the same thing happen (two weeks apart, from timing chain replacement to fuel pump failure) Low fuel pressure can cause engine knock, and the fuel pump will work more reliably when it's warm, so it's most likely going to work and not get caught during another repair.

+1 on checking for carbon build-up, especially since your list of parts doesn't include the newer valve cover. I'd ask about that too.

newer valve cover?!

we can get one of those and it helps reduce carbon build up?

I got an updated version that has some changes to reduce the amount of oil passed through to the PCV system and it's supposed to help. I wad told by the dealer that my carbon buildup was pretty bad, and I did a Seafoam treatment ~50k miles after replacement and only had about 10 seconds worth of good smoke, just compared to the videos I've seen online with lots and lots of thick smoke, it seems to work much better.

So, naturally, this morning when I started up my car (video camera in hand), it started just fine. It idles a little rough, but...it works. Seems like this is going to be difficult to pin down. Last night it took five tries to get my car started, and this morning it starts fine every time.

Still gonna call the dealer re: fuel pump and carbon buildup.

it will get worse and more repeatable...

Matt

It'll get worse, might just have to wait until it doesn't start before they find the problem. When I had some strange clunking sound coming from my front suspension I had to tell them where to look too. They replaced a strut twice with no fix and on my third return I told them to check the engine/transmission mounts and magically it was fixed. They gave me some lame story about the strut having to be lubed.... They dented my hood too and of course blamed me, I stood up to them and they fixed it...

OP dealer might push back on the carbon buildup (not all R56 S's have this problem) but like the death rattle they should not push back on the hpfp issue. this is a well-documented problem with BMW; it's also hit their 1-series cars pretty hard.

I guess Ive lucked out so far (09/08 build) because nobody else I know who had their R56s built during this time have had faulty hpfps.

me smells a bad batch of hpfps made in some developing 4th world country's dark and dank alley-way. All to spend less of the almighty buck re your subs and production costs, eh BMW?

I agree, details, please. first Ive heard of this!

Actually, according to the RealOEM parts list, it looks like it's changed a couple of times.

I'm sure I've seen mention of it in some of the carbon-buildup thread around NAM, but it's also been done on a couple other cars in my local club.

When they replace it, the MINI decals aren't included- in my case the dealership didn't mention that the cover was replaced; I actually had to call and ask if it was included as part of the repairs they did. It was done to address carbon build-up after I complained about cold start issues. My biggest problem was the HPFP, but the dealership did a cleaning and replaced the valve cover at the same time.

My car's back, after three days (!) at the dealer, and now starts and runs like a champ.

From my invoice: "Started engine and viewed the rail pressure values with engine running...Found the pressures fluctuating between 4.3mpa to 5.1mpa. Found high pressure fuel pump defective. Replaced high pressure fuel pump." It also notes that even though the engine was constantly running rough and/or stalling, that nothing had been written to the fault memory. Odd.

Thanks for your help, everybody. I *shouldn't* have to tell the dealer what's broken when I bring my car in for service, but thanks to you guys I knew what to suggest when I dropped it off....

I agree. At least your SA listened. Too many times it seems like THEY want to know whats wrong, not that you the mechanically uneducated consumer can know what is wrong with YOUR car.

Honestly I am starting to feel that our MINI's are like our bodies, we know them better than our doctor or service advisor. Both of them are good at fixing problems, if only they would actually listen to the patients ailments instead of just assuming they know what's best.

+1 to checking HPFP and carbon buildup.