https://vimeo.com/120077671

 

This is what our 2013 Mini Cooper justa sounds like for about the first ten to fifteen minutes after a cold start.
Didn't sound this way when new but started at about 6000 miles.
Pretty embarrassing, sounds like a diesel.
Is this normal?




https://vimeo.com/120077671

 

You have to upload to YouTube or some other video sharing site.

 

Thanks, I found a video sharing sight and reposted above and will post it here just in case it didn't work.
Is this normal for an almost new Mini Cooper Justa to sound like a diesel truck?


https://vimeo.com/120077671

 

if you don't have direct injection ( I dunno about justas ) then I'd say you got something going on, piston slap ? I'd pull some of the oil and have it tested by blackstone, they can tell you if your motor is falling apart.

I know my direct injected S does sound like a diesel, guess because it has the same injection system as diesels.

 

No, it's not direct injected.
It currently has 7500 miles on it and we took it to our dealership and left it over night so they could check it out when cold started. They told us it sounded normal to them.
It didn't sound like this when new. Now it is very noisy at initial start up and the noise I coming from where the timing chain is located so we are concerned that continuing to drive it will eventually result in stretching the timing chain if that is what is causing the noise.
Thought we would post it here for second opinions.

 

if in doubt, take it back to the dealer lol let they do the warranty claims

 

We already took it to our dealership to have it checked out. They told us nothing was wrong with it. I did express concerns over the timing chain "rattle" noise causing damage.
The dealership told me that there is not anything wrong with the Mini Cooper timing chain assemblies and that the failures that have occurred were caused by the owners not keeping oil in their car.
It's obvious to me that I would be pissing in the wind taking our Mini back to this dealership and try filing a warranty claim.
Unfortunately we only have one Mini Cooper dealership in our state so taking it to another dealership for a second opinion is not in the cards.

 

Are there any other Justa owners out there who can tell us if their cars sound the same as ours?

 

Sounds somewhat normal to me from your video but I don't know what it sounded like previously. Whenever a dealer tells me something is 'normal', I say "OK then lets choose 2 or 3 newer vehicles on the lot and if those too behave/sound identically, then I'll agree with you. If not, fix it."

Bottom line, if it didn't do it the first 5,000 miles, it's not 'normal'.

Good luck!
Greg

 

No, it didn't sound this way originally. It did make this nose for a short time at around 4000 miles but didn't last and then started again at around 6000 miles and hasn't gone away since. Could be the cold weather being a factor as once it warms up (about ten to fifteen minutes) it quietens down.

 

that sounds like piston slap, when cold the slop in the piston to wall clearance is greater and the piston skirt hits the wall , once warmed up the piston fits better and goes straight up and down.

GM had this issue for a while , the bottom of the piston wall would look oval from this.

If you sample your oil they can verify this by finding the material the pistons are made of in your oil, ie alum etc.

And you would have evidence if you have to fight for a new motor.

Just what I would do, oil test is about $25 , just use a cheap siphon to pull some out of oil dip stick tube.

 

Who would be the best to use for this type test?
Oops, I just noticed you said Blackstone in an earlier post. My bad.

 

Unplug the injectors one at a time.. See if the noise leaves... If it does... It's slap... (Pulling the injector prevents combustion in that cylinder and prevents slap..). I need to see the video once I get home..

That noise sounds more like belt noise.

Shoot another video with the hood open and not 50' away..

 

The reason I posted with the hood down was to show how noisy it was without the hood open.
Here is a video with the hood open.


https://vimeo.com/120110219


Is there any confirmed history of piston slap in 2nd gen Mini Coopers?
The oil was changed just 300 mile back so an oil test might be to soon.

 

What is the outside temperature when you experience this start up noise? I have to say that sounds pretty much like my 'justa' when I start it for the first time each day. The air temperatures here are hovering at zero or below in the AM. Once I drive about 2 to 3 miles the engine no longer makes the cold start noises.

 

I've heard about Blackstone often enough that I recently requested their "kit". I've got 2 near-identical vehicles driven near-identical routes with the same oil showing different signs of wear, so I'm curious as to what an oil analysis might reveal.

Their kits are free and analysis costs $25
http://www.blackstone-labs.com/

 

i haven't listened to the video yet but i get a very noisy clack-clack-clack kind of sound from time to time when i start the motor - only in the very cold. not my daily so i try to avoid winter driving the mini. i'd say it's not exactly good for the motor, but not abnormal either. 90% of the wear an engine sees is from cold starts, especially cold starts in real cold. i'm running 0w30 in my mini to mitigate this a little

 

The colder weather could contribute to the cold start noise, I don't really know.
The outside temperature when the videos were made was in the upper 30's.
We had the car in storage most of last summer so the noise did seem to start as temperatures started getting below 50 degrees in the fall.
The noise is present every time we cold start the engine during this time frame and lasts for at least ten to fifteen minutes before it starts to quite down.
Don't know if the noise will still be there during the coming summer but it would be pretty useless to have this car if we couldn't drive it during the fall and winter.

 

Every car I have had made a bit of noise that went away when warmed up. Some more than others and the MINI is loud even whenfullynwarmed up. I just drive it nice and easy for the first few miles and it's fine. No issues just typica cold weather driving.

 

I know that the newer direct injected engines (our Mini is not direct injected) sound a lot like a diesel engine and that is considered normal.
However I've never owned a car (other than solid lifter race cars) that made this much noise at start up.
If this is considered normal for the Mini Cooper, I don't think it is good for the engines and certainly don't like it.
But if it is normal for a Mini Cooper, then so be it. Just another part of owning one I guess.