Hello, hello. I've owned my 06 R53 6 speed for a few months now and have had no real issues save for the cold start up noise everyone seems to experience for a minute or so.

While preparing for a trip the other day I had been driving my Cooper for maybe 20 minutes and then went to get gas. After the gas fill with 91 I went to pick up my brother when I noticed my Cooper had a very loud knocking noise coming from the passenger side so it seemed. To me it sounded like an exhaust leak but I was leaning towards a lifter noise. It made me so nervous that I parked the car and it has been sitting for several days while I figure out what is going on.

I had been reading up on the issue and figured it was a lifter but now I'm not sure. Below are the symptoms I've noticed.

-The problem started after filling the car with fuel, though likely just a coincidence.
-I have the initial startup noise
-I started the car up several times since it has been sitting and the terrible knock/rattle does not start right away. It shows up after maybe 30 seconds of idling and then slowly gets louder.
-The noise seems to disappear about 1500 rpms or so. It is not that it becomes so loud I cannot tell, it actually sounds like it is not there. Up to about 1500rpms it would increase with the engine speed but then goes away.
-The noise started when the car was at operating temp. It was not a cold start noise that stayed.
-Oil is 5w30 full synthetic and near the middle high end of the stick indicator.
-I have not tested whether the noise goes away when the clutch is depressed but I don't think it does since when the noise first appeared I could hear it constantly while driving home.
-The car didn't seem to lose any power though once I noticed the noise I kept my rpms under 3,000.

I feel like I read about a noise that went away with RPMs but might be mistaken as a bad lifter but for the life of me I can't find any info on that now.

I'm beginning to lean towards timing related junk and will check the adjuster for tightness in the next day or so.

Any help would be appreciated. :0)

 

You don't mention how many miles on the odo but common noise-producing failure items are the belt tensioner and the chain tensioner. Both are on the passenger side and in close proximity to each other. Use the 'search" function to read up on these and how to determine which is your culprit. Neither is overly expensive, especially if you do your own work.

 

Thanks for the reply. I have 82k miles on my mini. I was mainly interested in the fact that the noise goes away with RPM while it seemed like the symptoms of most problems the noise increases with RPM. I came across a few R56 posts mentioning that the timing chain tensioner issue usually goes away with increased RPM so while I have an R53, I went ahead and ordered a new TC tensioner. I'm about due for one anyway. If that doesn't make the noise go away then I'll move to the belt tensioner even though it looks pretty steady while running.

Thanks again.

 

I had the same problem with mine. It wound up being the chain tensioner failed. Time to get it into the shop. Make sure to replace your oil pump as well. it's more of a precautionary step just in case any of the plastic chain guide got sucked into it. The pump is about $100 or so.