Hi , sorry to be a bother ,
I have a faint rattly noise when the clutch is not pressed , which disappears completely when the clutch is pressed . you really have to listen out for it... the car has warranty and the dealer is saying no its a normal noise minis make... I don't think so??

Hi,

It will be so hard for someone to give you spot on advice without actually hearing it for themselves, it could be the bearing as you say or could even be the gearbox. It may very well be an acceptable noise and nothing to be concerned about.

If you sit in the car with the handbrake on , press clutch down full , put car into gear , depress the clutch slowly just to bite point, do you hear the noise? is it worse at this point?

thanks for getting back to me , the dealer currently has the car doing other repairs (both lower arm bushes were knackered, as was a rear wheel bearing)
anyway from memory there have been a few kind of weird squeaking noises when pulling away in 1st gear , but not the rattle . is this to be concerned about also? only happens sometimes... also the rattle is easier to hear when engine is cold... ie not been driven over night or something... when its warm its bearly audible

Hey,

Personally i would wait until you get the car back as its in for repair work then see how you feel after that , if you are still not happy then if possible get a second opinion . If its a noise you really have to listen for it could be a simple vibration somewhere.

Hey,

Personally i would wait until you get the car back as its in for repair work then see how you feel after that , if you are still not happy then if possible get a second opinion . If its a noise you really have to listen for it could be a simple vibration somewhere.

yea you do have to listen for it but it deffo stops as soon as you press the clutch down. and comes back as soon as you release it in neutral , had one guy look and he said "yea prob the release bearing" but he wasnt a great mechanic (one of those tyre/exhaust places)

100% not something you want someone just to guess on as its damn expensive! i know lol , well in your case you have warranty? i guess they wouldn't want to do it unless you pushed as its a big job.

In my case the noise was bad and i also got bad vibration in the pedal due to a wrapped plate , although i can't blame the previous owner as my mechanic told me the clutch was recently replaced, just not correct! :angry:

Best of luck and please let us know how you get on :)

100% not something you want someone just to guess on as its damn expensive! i know lol , well in your case you have warranty? i guess they wouldn't want to do it unless you pushed as its a big job.

In my case the noise was bad and i also got bad vibration in the pedal due to a wrapped plate , although i can't blame the previous owner as my mechanic told me the clutch was recently replaced, just not correct! :angry:

Best of luck and please let us know how you get on :)

ok, It looks like I may well be having to just see how it goes and hope nothing comes of it...
as they are also investigating a clicking noise when under acceleration which I think may be the crankshaft pulley (harmonic balancer) :( they said I will have to pay for that if it is worn out, which doesnt sound fair...

someone has no said they think it is very likely the dual mass flywheel

Hi , sorry to be a bother ,
I have a faint rattly noise when the clutch is not pressed , which disappears completely when the clutch is pressed . you really have to listen out for it... the car has warranty and the dealer is saying no its a normal noise minis make... I don't think so??

Hi the noise you have is the Input Bearing - Input shaft goes round with engine revs when your sat on your drive in Nuetral. Press the Clutch and the noise stops ? Thats because the shaft is not rotating as you have disconected the engine from the input shaft by pressing the Clutch.

Rebuild transmission required. :aargh:

Regards John Tee

Mini Gearboxes Limited

Coventry

UK.

I had the same problem the dealer fitted a new clutch and fly wheel. The sound stopped for about 6 months and came back I've just learnt to deal with it now.

I had the same problem 2 months ago (1) "Red October submarine prop shaft noise" - er but quieter- that disappeared when stationary and clutch depressed but also several other noises including (2) a squeal when pulling away = clutch release bearing / thrust bearing (3)l a constant high pitched whine = idler pulley.

After getting various conflicting diagnoses from visiting different garages in London, John Tee's Coventry people fitted a recon gearbox, a brand new DMF, a brand new clutch and a new ider pulley. This was a good job, I am very happy and the cost was the same as my Local BMW-Mini dealer quoted for just the clutch. A problem arose the next day which job fixed promptly.

So I do not actually know whether fault (1) was fixed by the new DMF, the new clutch or the recon gearbox but Jon knows what he is talking about. So far so good.

In my Honda (the car I sold to buy my MINI), I had a noise that was just as described. It was a rattle noise when the engine was at idle with the transmission out of gear and the clutch pedal released. When I pressed the clutch pedal, the rattle would slow down and stop. When I released the pedal, the noise would start back up again.

The problem was the input shaft bearing inside the transmission. When the clutch pedal is not being pressed, the input shaft is coupled to the engine, so it spins along with the crankshaft and flywheel. When the pedal is pressed, the input shaft is decoupled from the flywheel, so it will slow down and stop.

The release bearing in that car (probably in the MINI as well, but I'm not certain) is always in contact with the pressure plate, so it will make noise the whole time the engine is spinning, no matter if the clutch is pressed or not.

The solution for my Honda was to tear apart the gearbox and replace the input shaft bearing. The box was otherwise functioning well, so I didn't do more than a quick look at the rest of the bits before putting it back together.

After the second ISB went bad, I realized that I had been chronically under-filling the oil in the gearbox for years. (Note to self: Don't check fluid levels with the nose of the car up in the air!) That was likely the cause of the failures in my case.

This is a long-winded way of saying: "I agree with John Tee!"

Combination of flywheel and release bearing. See my post entitled "Clubman Clutch Despair". I'm sure you'll find the story familiar...

http://www.mini2.com/forum/mini-clubman/190379-update-photos-clubman-clutch-despair-waterpump-seal-deal.html

Hi , sorry to be a bother ,
I have a faint rattly noise when the clutch is not pressed , which disappears completely when the clutch is pressed . you really have to listen out for it... the car has warranty and the dealer is saying no its a normal noise minis make... I don't think so??

From your description I had same problem with my '05 S. Made several dealer visits and they (Century Mini,Greenville,SC) were very responsive with several different "fixes" including cluth/flywheel kit. Eventually I decided that it was something that "minis just did"! During the process I was told that a dual disc clutch -which I guess I had-could be responsible. Bottom line-I never had a serious problem as a result of the noise. I did have 3 slave cylinders (warranty) during the 5 years I owned the car but that problem was unrelated.