Hey guys, been battling with this 2009 Mini R56, N12 (non-turbo) for some time now…

The car has been very well maintained; but it did jump time due to a failed tensioner. It started and ran, but inconsistently and mostly rough; although the engine did not make any odd noises.

So… I have replaced the timing chain, guides, tensioner and crank sprocket.
The tensioner is the 5th generation revision. Part: 11317607551
The chain kit is by: Febi Bilstein.

Runs and drives great now, no codes…
But, it has what seems to be “The Death Rattle” at cold startup.
Here is a video of a complete cold start; as you can hear the rattle goes away.

If it didn’t have all the new parts in there I’d know exactly what to look into, but given it’s got a new chain and all that… Any suggestions what to do? I don’t want to keep changing the chain just to have it keep rattling when cold. It is full of fresh 5w30 mobil 1 oil. I even added a little extra just to see if that’d help.

 

Hi - did you manage to find the problem here?

 

It was the friction wheel. I disengaged it by pulling the tab, started the car... was quiet. re-engaged it, and it never did it again, LOL. Who knows...

 

Cars are a mystery at the best of times! 😊

Really pleased you managed to sort it.

Cheers.

 

THESE cars are definetly mysterious!!....and costly! It's such a tease coz they're so fun to drive when they run right. Best of luck~