I've done a fair bit of reading up on what might be the same noise, but with no videos/sound clips to compare it to, I wanted to post a video of my engine bay noise.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-f3NCzMTVo

I bought this car 10 days ago, it's a 2011 Cooper S with manual transmission and while my old justa made plenty of noise as it was in its decline, the new motor sounds a little loud.

I know people say there's a ticking sound thats normal with this kind of engine because of the fuel injection, I'm just wondering if this is the same sound. If so, I wont be worried, if not, I'm gonna be pretty upset if I have to get something serviced this early!

Also, in addition to the idle noise, I can almost hear a hissing sound while driving (when near curbs or highway barricades as it reverberates (sp)), not like air, but maybe more like ball bearings spinning or something. Maybe I'm just paranoid but after so many problems with my 04 r50, I wanna be on the ball at all times.

The sound I'm most worried about is the one near the end of the video (18s) thats very rapid and pretty faint in comparison to the other noise.

Note: I've been pretty gentle on it during the break in period, albeit racking up almost 500 miles in those 10 days, and have kept it under 5k and nowhere close to redlining the motor.

(ps - in before 'omg a simple search would answer your question')

 

Sounds pretty normal to me.

 

Yeah, it sounds normal to me.

 

By the sound of it, you have yourself a 100% authentic Mini Cooper S.

 

Yup, sounds like a normal MINI.

Drive it like it's stolen.

 

Thanks a ton for th feedback, guys! Can't wait to start putting my foot down on the gas soon. Silly break-in period!

 

No worries. The noise on your car is normal.

The clip below is not normal (marbles in a coffee can sound) and is related to the cold start issue.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZ6cb...eature=related

 

I bought my 08 Cooper non S, last week, and I noticed some engine noise, I can hear an injector get louder and quieter and a very similar noise the first noise clip that everyone says is normal. To me, it sounds excessively loud, but that sound clip is almost identical to mine. I was going to visit a local dealer since the car is still under warranty. Since you guys all said it's normal, should I still bring it up to them, or is it truly normal. Thanks for your thoughts.

Ivan

 

So I went to my first Mini meet yesterday and I noticed the other newish models had pretty loud idle engine noise. So I'd say you don't have much to worry about if it sounds similar to mine. The engine is just loud .

 

Obviously freakishly loud because several new owners worry about it. MINI needs to train their salesmen to tell customers loud ticking noises are normal