Replacing struts on 2004 Cooper S
 

This was going really well. Started with the rear as I knew they would be easier. Easy peasy. That part is all put back together again. Just started on the fronts. Got the bolt that holds the strut to the wheel streering knuckle on passenger side off easily (to my amazement). Switched over to the drivers side to do the same. The G*** D*** bolt broke off. about 1/4in in. Can I drill and tap this? Would have to drill through more than an inch of bolt. on the threaded side of the knuckle
Do I need a new knuckle?

Not much fun either way.
Appreciate any comments.

From older posts drilling out does not always work . Can either try a used knuckle of buy a new one. You will see used units for around $50 to $60.

Me, since everyplace is closed until Monday I would try drilling it out and then just get a longer bolt so that the nut is outside. Thinking 60 ft lbs for torque.

Great idea. Longer bolt with nut. Baring any otehr good ideas, that is what i will do tomorrow. Trying to drill and tap risks ending up with weaker threads..

The same happened to me when putting the bolt BACK ON. I bought a 2nd GEN Pinch bolt with a nut from the dealer as back up just in case I had to drill the whole bolt out but did not have to use it along with the correct bolt. I drilled 3 small holes on the opposite side of the bolt( open end) to create a slot for a screw driver, husky serrated square shank worked best I heated the Unthreaded side of pinch bolt with propane. This is the side that binds and swells, not the threaded side. Used a wrench on the shank clockwise.https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...5fa1a6eb89.jpg
https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...5efdc1d9b8.jpg

New bolts is a great idea. I am just not weell enough equipped to drill out a bolt that long so after working on for a couple of houtrs, I ended up giving up. Found a used steering knuckle for $60. At this point money well spent. WIll be doing the installation tonight and tomorrow. Suppose I should get a lower ball joint as well since I am in there.

Finally got everything back together. A comedy of errors thought. I drove out to a junk yard about 40mi away to pick up the steering knuckle. When I got home and started to install. I found out they gave me the passenger side and not the drivers side I had requested. There went another day.

Now that I have everything back together again, I find that I have a gutteral groaning sound coming from the front passenger side when I press on the gas and start moving forward. I took a close look at everything tonight. Everything is correctly torqued and nothing seems to be loose. I replaced the strut and the strut mount and installed strut reenforcement plates. Everything seemed to go together well.

I bounced the struts a few time and could not reproduce the noise. It also doesn't seem to happen when going in reverse.
Unfortunately I still have the noise. Would anyone have any ideas?.

That is a good thought but noise is coming from side where I didn't change the steering knuckle and I didn't have any noise before.

These were new struts and mounts. I am not an expert doing this but I have changed struts 3 or 4 times in the past 20 years on different vehicles. Other than the busted bolt, there were no fit issues..

It is interesting that the noise occurs mostly when pressing on the gas from a complete stop. Once up and running I only hear the noise occassionally.
Also appreciate thoughts on how to go about troubleshooting this.

I took an even closer look. I did have some mushrooming when the strut mounts attach. I used a 2x4 and a mallet to try and knok the area flat (following the process in some web videos). The bolt holes are larger than they should be. Rather thane being circular (about 3/8in in diameter) . They are oval about 3/8 in wide and about a half in long. I have the strut reenforcement plates in could I be getting a little movement of the strut plate? I suppose I could test this by loosening the strut mount bolts and drive the car a few feet to see if the noise goes away.

Reading your post, I remembered that when doing the struts on my mini, I developed a similar groan when launching, it ended up being the strut mount, it was defective from factory. I replaced it and the problem is solved. Thought my 2 cents would help.

Thanks. How did you determine that it was the strut mount? In my case, I am not getting any noise when turning the wheel. It is mainly on acceleration from a dead stop.

A little history in case it helps. A couple ofmonths ago, I hit a pot hole really hard. Hard enough that I inspected the car when I got home. I did not see any problems and no obvious noises. Marked it up to luck. A few weeks ago, I started to notice a squeeky sound when turning and attributed it to .a bad mount. Since everything was original with 105k miles, I decided to replace the struts front and back, new mounts and for good measure, strut reenforcement plates.
After the replacement, I am getting this gutteral groan on acceleration. Not the same thing I hear before replacement.
Since the noise seems to happen most on acceleration, I got to thinking it might be the passenger side motor mount.. The mount does look damaged. Notice the rope material that has popped up over the top of the mount in the picture
Is this a reasonable theory? Any thought on how to test?
https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...7329fd5b42.jpg

I was really just commenting on cspm's post (#10) that mentioned a bad strut mount, just in case it applied in your case.

As to the 'rope material' over the top of the engine mount, that's completely normal; they're all like that.
Below is mine - replaced about 4-months ago.
https://cimg4.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.nor...bef2a7b830.jpg

The quickest way that I tested mine before replacing it was to lift the motor from below with a jack. It doesn't need to be much just enough to lift the motor about half an inch. If the mount it bad you will see it near the top after you have relieved the pressure.

When I replaced my old mount with the OEM mount I noticed I had the jack the motor up almost two inches just to get it level when the new one was installed. Old mount came out in two pieces due to how shot it was.

If that is the original mount and you are at 105k miles then its almost for sure shot. If not it doesn't have much life left.

Thanks everyone for the comments and suggestions. Just trying to figure out where the noise is coming from so I can address. I will probably order a replacement for the mount as it has had a good life. and certainly won't hurt to replace. Hopefully that will address the noise.

From the photo you posted, it appears that you may have the dried-up remnants of past leakage under the motor mount.
That's generally how these things fail. Over time, the rubber dries up and cracks and the hydraulic fluid within seeps out.

What is the correct name for this part? It looks like this part

Just wanted to confirm nomenclature

What is the correct name for this part?
It seems to look like

but there other motor mounts that don't looks quite the same.

It's called an 'engine mount,' (p/n 22116760448) and I'd not bother with the one you linked from Amazon.
The photo looks OK, but a couple reviews refer to the mount they received being different.

I purchased mine (pictured in post #13), the OE part, HERE.

Today, the noise to a more metal on metal sound. sounds quite a bit worse. If I am pointed down hill and go forward it doesn't seem to make noise but pointed up and press on the gas and the metallic rattle is there. I am going to take a deeper dive tomorrow to see if I can see anything obvious.

In the process of looking around the vehicle tonight, I noticed that I have a squeek type noise from the rear driver side when I compress the strut. Bad bushing somewhere..

So I was able to spend some time under the Cooper this afternoon. I think I have identified that the control arm bushing is totally shot. Unfortunately I think this one is beyond my skill level. as a DIYer.. Not used to calling a garage to do work so that will be my task for tomorrow morning. Any idea how much this will cost? Anyone know a good garage in the west Atlanta, Marietta, Smyrna area where I could get this done?

PS, While under the car, I also located the cause of a couple of other creaks and groans. <grin>

Check out Way Motor Works in the Atlanta area. They are a supplier on this Forum.

Will give them a call tomorrow. They are close to 85 in the north east part of the city. Not the most convenient for me but recommendation and price are important.

Wow! $850-$1050. I was expecting something in the $400-500 range but that was just a guestimate on my part.

Yep, I was quoted $1100. When you get them done, make sure you get polyurethane bushings so you only need to do it one time. If you have the right tools and patience it's very doable. I never worked on Mini's and I was able to replace my LCA bushings and ball-joints without completely lowering the subframe. Took about 4-5 hours.