You may also want to check the bushings on the little shock on the belt tensioner. My front bushing completely broke and fell out last week and made a pinging metal to metal sound and had to replace it. I had replaced it last year and at least it was covered under the MINI 2 year Parts and Labor warranty so it cost me nothing.
Damn, I just bought one of those, Litens brand of Pelican for $110. Amazon has the Gates 3804 Belt Tensioner for $73!!!
Darn new I should have looked around more. Got mine at Rock Auto for.just over $80 with a 5% discount code. Got the idler pulley too, figured I'd freshen it too while I'm there.. Paul has over 25000 miles on his Gates....of course he drives like a little old lady.. LOL
You cannot really see the bushings by looking right down at it. You have to jack up your car, take off the passenger wheel, and remove the front part "1/2" of inner fender liner. Then you can fold it back so you can use a LED flashlight and look up for the little "Shock like" part on the tensioner. It is black about 4- 6 inches long. It is in a hard to see location, it is kind of below and behind the tensioner spring. You need to look at the bushings on both ends were it connects. My front one completely broke and fell out and the "little shock" was rattleing against the post making the metal to metal sound. :frown2:
Video Private again? BUMP....trying to see if this is the same as I am having on mine. 03 MCS, 15%, 122k miles