Mini Cooper R56

R56 Mini Cooper S Cold Start Noise Update

Following my initial Mini Cooper S cold start noise article, more information has come available. On Mini2, NAM and the Dutch New Mini Club a large number of drivers have reported the problem. Most of them have reported the problem at their dealer but got mixed replies, some dealers replaced a number of parts and even complete engines, other dealers simply stated that the sound belongs to the car, which should be totally unacceptable. Even with many parts replaced and new engines fitted the problem keeps coming back. The first Clubman S drivers also start to report the problem so it’s more widespread than the R56 Cooper S.

The Dutch New Mini Club has setup a form where Dutch Mini owners that experience the noise can add their R56 to the list. This list will be presented to Mini so they hopefully put some effort in to work out a solution for the cold start noise problem.

Another video of the noise:

Add comment April 18th, 2008

R56 Mini Cooper (S) diesel noise problems?

I found this video on youtube from a R56 Mini Cooper S that makes a diesel sound after ignition. From what I could find on the various Mini forums there are more people with the same problem, but so far there’s no clear solution and some dealerships even fail to address the issue. The video shows the most extreme case where the diesel sound is really loud even when the car is idling. Most people hear a diesel sound after a cold start between 1500 and 2000 rpm for the first 2 - 3 minutes. Is any of you having this problem?

Update: Motoringfile did a story on the cold start issue.

1 comment January 20th, 2008