R53 engine rattle and squeak

[jdl_1967]

Has anyone ever suffered from a rattle from the offside of their engine under acceleration? Definitely a rattle rather thank pinking.

I've also got an annoying squeak from the engine bay when setting off or accelerating, it only lasts for a second as the engine takes up the slack after the clutch is released or you get back on the throttle.

Any ideas to the above would be greatly appreciated, it's still under a MINI warranty so will be going back in at some point, but just fishing for ideas in the mean time.

Cheers all


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[Craig]

John,

I'll come for a wee listen at lunchtime sometime to see if I can help diagnose.... I have plenty experience of faults !! :lol:

[Gismo]

Could be the engine mount but more likely to be the tensioner

[Doug_m]

Could be the harmonic damper/camshaft damper

I had that go on mine about a 18 months ago!

[jdl_1967]

The rattle returned today whilst accelerating to join the M9, but only for about 5 seconds before I tried to change gear and lost my clutch in a sort of grating banging noise and the clutch pedal stuck to the floor. I was only doing about 4500 rpm at the time and not thrashing it at all!

Coasted to a halt and after a couple of minutes the clutch pedal came back up, I engaged 1st and tried to pull away. I was met with another crunching banging noise and no drive.

Collected by MINI Emergency and taken to Menzies.

I bought the car on the 2nd March last year and the warranty runs out at midnight tonight.


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[Craig]

The rattle returned today whilst accelerating to join the M9, but only for about 5 seconds before I tried to change gear and lost my clutch in a sort of grating banging noise and the clutch pedal stuck to the floor. I was only doing about 4500 rpm at the time and not thrashing it at all!

Coasted to a halt and after a couple of minutes the clutch pedal came back up, I engaged 1st and tried to pull away. I was met with another crunching banging noise and no drive.

Collected by MINI Emergency and taken to Menzies.

I bought the car on the 2nd March last year and the warranty runs out at midnight tonight.


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Holy sheet John..... That ain't good... Get a call into mini customer services to explain the problems just I'n case they fight the issue.... Always good to have a time line ;)


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[cooperchris]

Hope you get it sorted mate :frown:

We had both our clutch and gearbox go on us at seperate time, Got the gearbox done under warranty but had to fix the clutch ourselfs. Same as you(pedal hit the floor, came back up and nothing) Lucky for us it happened outside the house.

You'll be back on the road soon bud :thumbs up:

[jdl_1967]

Cheers Chris, what had happened when yours did this?


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[cooperchris]

Cheers Chris, what had happened when yours did this?


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The clutch just gave up. Got it replaced an was fine after that :thumbs up:

[jdl_1967]

Thanks Chris


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[Colin]

Not what you need! Hope you get it sorted.

[Mon the fish]

Clutch release bearing is a common fault

[jdl_1967]

Would that be a warranty item with only 32000 miles?


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[Craig]

Would that be a warranty item with only 32000 miles?


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It should be John.... It was for me when I got my clutch and gearbox replaced.by Eastern...


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[jdl_1967]

Update from MINI today; apparently "the clutch assembly has failed and it requires the whole gearbox to be removed" and they are waiting to hear from MINI to see if it will be coveredon warranty.

Two questions please;

1. Is this normal practice to run warranty claims through some higher being MINI?

2. Does the gearbox usually need to be removed to change a clutch?

I'm guessing the term "clutch failed" means it's not just worn out as it had never slipped once before and had a perfect clutch pedal action.

I've just had a second call, they've sent it to MINI to ask whether they consider it should be a warranty claim for 2 reasons;

1. Whether the clutch failure is a manufacturing fault or normal wear and tear.

2. Whether or not MINI consider that it should even be a claim as the car is now out of warranty. The warranty expired 7 hours after the car broke down and was collected by MINI Emergency. i.e it broke in warranty, but is now out of warranty. I hope I don't have an accident the day my insurance runs out, the day they come to mend the damage will therefore be outwith my insurance and therefore not covered!


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[Gismo]

Your fault was reported within warranty time, hence the question to MINI, depending on the actual diagnosis after the gearbox is removed will determine their opinion.
The gearbox needs to be removed in order to inspect the clutch.

What you need to do is get the evidence once it's been removed, the actual clutch and thrust bearing, especially if they claim it's not covered by warranty and say you will seek an engineers report on the parts.
Under no circumstances allow them to fob you off without giving you access to the parts if they fail your claim

[Craig]

Your fault was reported within warranty time, hence the question to MINI, depending on the actual diagnosis after the gearbox is removed will determine their opinion.
The gearbox needs to be removed in order to inspect the clutch.

What you need to do is get the evidence once it's been removed, the actual clutch and thrust bearing, especially if they claim it's not covered by warranty and say you will seek an engineers report on the parts.
Under no circumstances allow them to fob you off without giving you access to the parts if they fail your claim

What he says ^^^^ ;)

I have my fingers crossed for you John


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[jdl_1967]

Thanks for that, I'll ask for the parts if it comes to it then. I hadn't thought of that.


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[Mon the fish]

If you have the time/can afford it, ask to be there when they take the parts out, with an independent mechanic to get his point of view on it

[jdl_1967]

Flywheel and clutch both showing signings of massive overheating, blueing and pitting. I'm sure that all happened when it went bang!

Mini saying normal wear and tear!

Anyone ever successfully claimed for DMF failure?

My driving is far from hard, my mpg is usually mid to high 30s so I dont thrash it. Car only done 32,000 miles!

Another mini dealer quoted £2k to replace clutch and DMF!!!!!

Thanks

John


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[Mon the fish]

Never heard of a flywheel failure at that mileage, should do well over 100k

[Craig]

Yeah John, that's just crap. I certainly wouldn't let them off with it, but I know more than most that battles with mini can be long, drawn out and pretty fruitless :frown:

Hope you get it sorted out. ;)

[weemark]

dont let them palm you off, doesnt matter if its out of warranty, under the sale of goods act 2002 goods can be covered up to 6 years from date of purchase, five years from date of discovery in scotland to ensure goods are fit for purpose, a flywheel lasting 32000 miles is not really fit for purpose is it? these rules changed under EU law and lots of people dont realise it.

[jdl_1967]

Thanks weemark,

I've got a couple of bits from Valeo's own website now basically stating that their flywheels may fail early. All good evidence I hope!


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