[DIOJCW]

that noise would be the spigot bearing. when you are stopped at the lights do you leave your foot on the clutch? if so that can wear it out prematurely

[sorphin]

when i'm sitting stopped at a light, i'm in neutral, foot on break, foot not on clutch, never heard of the valve you're mentioning, and never seen any other mentionof it before now..

[northandy]

Quote: Originally Posted by DIOJCW

that noise would be the spigot bearing. when you are stopped at the lights do you leave your foot on the clutch? if so that can wear it out prematurely

Not neccaserily, they replaced that twice and it didnt fix the problem....

[Acadian]

Have had my 05 MCS for two weeks and it almost immediatley developed this noise. Took it to Downtown BMW (Toronto) and they fed me a load of crap saying that it was normal and due to the gear spacing. I brought the car to another dealership, with printouts from this forum, and spoke with the service manager who agreed that it was a dual stage flywheel. It's in there now being replaced and will be ready tomorrow. Hopefully this will solve the problem.

[Robot Features]

I cant believe i found this thread... what a spin!
Northandy... mate i had the exact same prob. I tell you my story - bought my car June 04... Rallye Monte Carlo special. after 1 week of owning... i noticed the exact same noise in your description. I took it to a BMW dealership... one that i didnt buy car from just to get an opinion. So the typical thing happened when you take something back due to a technical fault... it wasnt very obvious and loud at the time. The tech said just keep driving it for a while and see how it goes. Anyway so over the next month or so this thing got louder. Took it my dealership... they diagnosed and it was the thrust or throw bearing i think they said. i'm not too tech savvy when it comes to cars... but it had something to do with the bearing that constantly spins and when you press clutch it engages. All front wheel drive cars do this exact same thing... but with this fault it becomes louder as the bearing is damaged. The final conclusion they said the gearbox will have to be replaced.. as its easier than changing bearing.
Got the car back... all fixed and well. They said the Bearing was split in half scary stuff.
I must admit i spewed about this whole thing. I wrote a letter to Dr Franz Sauter and asked for a new car. he got one of his PA's to ring me and try and calm me down. I didnt back down. I said to her 'lets make a deal... i paid good cash for this car and i want a new car... not one with a gearbox that has been ripped out... if you think the car is good... you keep the car and give me a newy' he heh eh he h. Didnt work
But yes its all good now...
I also told her i should've bought the Renault Sport 182... cheap BMW product. LOL!

Mic

[CalPauly]

Sorry all... late to the party. Is this the noise when pulling away in either 1st or reverse is a sort of higher-pitched grate/whine (not the pwr-steering)? If so, I have such a noise in both my '02 and '04 MCS, sounds like something isn't lubricated, and you can sort of 'feel it' in your clutch foot.

If this is what you guys are talking about, could you let me know? The '04 is going in for 10k soon, and the '02 is going to hit 36k before long, so I'd like to get it addressed when convenient/still possible.

Many thanks!

[superbrit]

hi
i work in a dealer and we have no trouble changing gearboxes for that noise and it is the input shaft bearings that are gone.doing them all the time for my customers.it is only the early gearbox that tend to suffer with this noise.

[Robot Features]

My MCS is an 04... is this considered an early gear box model?

Mic

[Acadian]

Got my 05 MCS back after having the dual stage flywheel replaced and guess what? The noise is still there. I'm negotiating with them right now to replace the throwout bearing.

[jeffjmr]

I think there are a few different noises being referred to on this thread.

I believe the original complaint was the gear-lash noise at idle, in neutral. Disappears upon engagement of clutch, because the idler gear is no longer spinning with engine. Theory is that the less cylinders, the less consistent are the instantaneous RPM's, i.e. the tach may register a smooth "avaerage" 700 RPM's, but at any given point on each rotation, immediately after and during a power stroke, for example, the engine is rotating at a considerably higher rate for the early portion of the cycle, then slows towards the bottom of that power stroke as another cylinder is on the compression stroke, and then the cycle repeats. At higher RPM's inertia and the flywheel combine to smooth things out. It is the momentary slight accelerations and decelerations that alternately drive the idler gear then slow down the idler gear that causes the gear to rattle back and forth in the spacing between the gear teeth.

My '05 MCS has the problem, so it doesn''t seem this is limited to "early" gearboxes.

Did the poster who had the tranny replaced experience an improvement? If so, did they tell you what they changed in the transmissions to cure the problem?

[northandy]

Quote: Originally Posted by jeffjmr

I think there are a few different noises being referred to on this thread.

I believe the original complaint was the gear-lash noise at idle, in neutral. Disappears upon engagement of clutch, because the idler gear is no longer spinning with engine. Theory is that the less cylinders, the less consistent are the instantaneous RPM's, i.e. the tach may register a smooth "avaerage" 700 RPM's, but at any given point on each rotation, immediately after and during a power stroke, for example, the engine is rotating at a considerably higher rate for the early portion of the cycle, then slows towards the bottom of that power stroke as another cylinder is on the compression stroke, and then the cycle repeats. At higher RPM's inertia and the flywheel combine to smooth things out. It is the momentary slight accelerations and decelerations that alternately drive the idler gear then slow down the idler gear that causes the gear to rattle back and forth in the spacing between the gear teeth.

My '05 MCS has the problem, so it doesn''t seem this is limited to "early" gearboxes.

Did the poster who had the tranny replaced experience an improvement? If so, did they tell you what they changed in the transmissions to cure the problem?

Eventually I got it replaced yes,in the end they did the box clutch and flywheel and as soon as it was done the noise went...

they never said what the difference was but i had the car for another 20k miles and it never came back...

[venox22]

My MCS went in about 3 months ago for the same noise as described in this thread, first time they said it needed a new modified flywheel, but when i picked it up all they did was the clutch release bearing, now it is doing it again, so i took it back and they did the clutch release bearing again, noise still there wwhen i picked it up

Now they want to test it against another MCS, then if happy they want to fit a new flywheel, but they forgot that thats what they origanally did or supposed to have done.

Right, im picking the phone up and demanding new box, clutch, flywheel

Quote: Originally Posted by northandy

Eventually I got it replaced yes,in the end they did the box clutch and flywheel and as soon as it was done the noise went...

they never said what the difference was but i had the car for another 20k miles and it never came back...

[GTmini]

During the attempted fixes to my car, they had given me the new flywheel...it seemed to improve engine response and smoothness, but it didn't fix the noise completely as it came back awhile later. The next time the noise came back (with other issues), they said they traced it to a defective clutch plate that was slightly off center. After replacing the transmission with a *new* unit (rather than remfr) and replacing the clutch again, the noise was eliminated. The noise was still cured at the time that my vehicle was finally "surrendered" (lemoned), but that was the longest period of time the car had ever been without the noise (and the smoothest it ever shifted on a somewhat regular basis).

Of course whether the fix was the

*new* replacement transmission
new clutch
re-designed flywheel
a combination of all of the above

...I'm still not sure of. The drivetrain had so many problems and was taken apart and put back together so many times that I can't (nor really want to) remember the timelines for all of what happened.

[H & M]

Quick question.

Our Cooper S will be having its flywheel replaced shortly due to the noise described in these threads etc....

How long did it take to replace for those people that have had it done (1 or 2 days)?

What is involved, e.g. is it a drastic engine out job to get to the gearbox or is there enough space to work in situe?

Thanks

[JCWPedro]

I hear a vibration noise similar to what CalPauly describes. It only appears the moment I let the clutch out and accelerate in first gear. Almost always when the car is cold, sometimes when warm.

My flywheel was replaced last summer, less than a week later the noise reappeared.

Last visit I was told MINI was aware and working on a fix, not to worry because it wasn't serious enough to disable the car (just make it sound like a cheap piece of crap, thanks BMW!) and that since it was documented I would get a fix when they figure it out even if my warranty has expired.

I feel like I'm getting the brush off especially since many others with different clutch/noise experiences are being told the same thing.

I struggle daily with whether or not to sell the car, I just can't imagine the value holding much longer when year after year these cars are sold with the same problems. Cute and fun only goes so far.......

[yellow02]

What if you buy a used mini and has this defect but the dealer wasnt a mini or bmw dealer.Will any warrenty cover this?

[H & M]

Quote: Originally Posted by H & M

Quick question.

Our Cooper S will be having its flywheel replaced shortly due to the noise described in these threads etc....

How long did it take to replace for those people that have had it done (1 or 2 days)?

What is involved, e.g. is it a drastic engine out job to get to the gearbox or is there enough space to work in situe?

Thanks

Can anyone answer the above, it appears a lot of pepole have had new flywheels........

[Bad Ess]

Can someone tell me how a flywheel makes noise?

[H & M]

Quote: Originally Posted by Bad Ess

Can someone tell me how a flywheel makes noise?

Apparently the flywheel in the mini is not a solid cast component as per older vehicles, but an assembly of components. Fingers crossed thats whats causing it........

[venox22]

Quote: Originally Posted by H & M

Can anyone answer the above, it appears a lot of pepole have had new flywheels........

Got mine back on saturday, after they changed the flywheel, should be 1 full day job but normally 2 days.

The noise has now stopped, thanks to northandy for his help