[lyndahayes]

Hi!
I finally got my replacement MINI after nearly a year of negotiations. Everything is great and it is much better than my first MINI. Since I have had it (October last year), I have had it in the dealership 5 times for a LOUD noise like rushing water every time the steering wheel is turned. It is very loud. But each time I get the car back, it still does it. They have changed many things in an attempt to correct it. The last time it was in, they put in a new power steering pump... It goes back in on Tuesday this week...Has anyone experienced this swishing, gushing sound when you turn the wheel from left to right???? WHAT IS IT?????????? No one at MINI has a clue.
Thanks,
Lynda x

[Ryephile]

is it the steering wheel itself? Waterfall MINI indeed would get annoying quickly. Have you tried a different dealership (fresh set of brains) to figure it out?

yuk, best of luck getting it figured out!
Ryen

[mcglothh]

Lynda,

The water swooshing sound you are hearing may be the same as in this thread:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43458&

I think consensus on one theory is that it is coolant flowing through the heater core during start-up. Once the mini is warm, the sound is no longer heard due to pressure in the cooling system.

- Mitch

[Ryephile]

ooh, that waterfall sound! Yes, I hear this too, albiet only the first turn after a cold startup. Coolant flow indeed.

[lyndahayes]

Nope. I don't think it can be the coolant flow. It whooshes as you turn the steering wheel from left to right. Say you turn 'left , right, left right'...you hear 'shoosh, shoosh,shoosh, shoosh' as you turn the wheel. It does it cold, warm, and hot. All you have to do is turn the wheel. As you steer normally, it gurgles and grinds. It's horrible. Then there is also a knocking in the steering wheel when you accelerate hard, and when you turn the wheel...They are all stumped at Wollaston MINI, Northants.

[mcglothh]

Have a look at this thread regarding steering noises:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38950

Maybe you can have your dealer look at the upper and lower steering column assemblies as CooperS4us notes in the above thread.

Good luck and please post the latest after you take your mini in for servicing.

[lyndahayes]

Took it in today and they are going to put in a new steering rack. They said a new rack will 'probably' fix the knock in the steering wheel as well as the sound of rushing fluid. Fingers Crossed. I asked why they haven't managed to fix it yet as this is my 5th time in for the same thing and they said 'Do you realize many MINI's we need to get through in a day!' Somehow it gave me little comfort.

[waynef]

Quote: Originally Posted by lyndahayes

Took it in today and they are going to put in a new steering rack. They said a new rack will 'probably' fix the knock in the steering wheel as well as the sound of rushing fluid. Fingers Crossed. I asked why they haven't managed to fix it yet as this is my 5th time in for the same thing and they said 'Do you realize many MINI's we need to get through in a day!' Somehow it gave me little comfort.

Hi there everyone,

Could I ask that everyone that has contributed to this thread, answer my poll on steering failures please?
http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=49527


I've had 2 MCS's now, the second being a replacement (that we've spoken before about Lynda) for the first. The first MCS suffered two failures and so far the replacement has failed once, and it was only 2 months old!!!

Lynda, my new replacement MCS that has a September 2003 (MY2004) build has exactly the same sound as you describe. It sounds like a circulating liquid sound, my older MINI didn't have any sound whatsoever like the new one. Perhaps that's good, perhaps my older MINI hadn't got any fluid in it's steering tank so that's why it failed so many times!

Who knows? BMW doesn't obviously. Roll on 21 March 2004, then it's taxi's everywhere for me


Thank you all so much, please vote no matter whether or not you have had a problem

[lyndahayes]

Wayne...!!! Are you saying you are getting rid of this MINI in March and will never have another one?????????

[waynef]

Quote: Originally Posted by lyndahayes

Wayne...!!! Are you saying you are getting rid of this MINI in March and will never have another one?????????

Yes!

[lyndahayes]

Bad bad news. Somebody please tell me what this fluid rushing sound is!!! I got my car back from the mechanics today. Now they said it was a pipe from the power steering touching the roll bar. They said it has fixed the terrible noise. I drove it home and guess what????????????????
IT HAS'NT FIXED IT! When I took it in they said it was the power steering rack, but the mechanic said he took the wheels off to put the rack in and noticed this out- of -place pipe. He twisted it around and PRESTO: Problem NOT solved!
WHAT IS IT???????? I take it back tomorrow and I need to know..they sure don't!

[waynef]

Quote: Originally Posted by lyndahayes

Bad bad news. Somebody please tell me what this fluid rushing sound is!!! I got my car back from the mechanics today. Now they said it was a pipe from the power steering touching the roll bar. They said it has fixed the terrible noise. I drove it home and guess what????????????????
IT HAS'NT FIXED IT! When I took it in they said it was the power steering rack, but the mechanic said he took the wheels off to put the rack in and noticed this out- of -place pipe. He twisted it around and PRESTO: Problem NOT solved!
WHAT IS IT???????? I take it back tomorrow and I need to know..they sure don't!

Lynda,

All the new MINI's that I have driven make that sound, I don't know what causes it but it could be anyone of about three things:

1). Bulkhead drains were blocked (marked by RED arrows on the diagram)
The area below the black plastic bulkhead grilles (between the bonnet and the bottom of the windscreen) could have been full of rain water and that what caused the "whooshing" watery sound as I went from left-to-right-and-back-again. This perhaps could have happened if the drains in the bulkhead area were blocked and weren't allowing any water to escape. I never checked this is the 3 days I had it, but it's doubtful because the car was only about 2-3 weeks old. But it may have been this, who knows?

2). Coolant header tank (marked by BLUE arrows on the diagram).
This is mounted onto the bulkhead area, it's the white/cream tank to the left of centre when you open the bonnet. What I imagine is that the new car don't have baffles inside these tanks to defuse the sloshing/rushing sounds that we're hearing. Baffles exist in tanks like the fuel tank to slow moving fluid as you turn the car left-to-right, to prevent a radical change in moving mass within the car, so throwing it's centre-of-gravity off, so
making the car unstable.

3). Power steering fluid header tank (marked by GREEN arrows on the diagram).
The Baffle story could be true within this tank. Additionally though, there's a bloody great pump (the thing that's failed in my two MINI's, 3 times rendering the cars unusable!) that recirculates the fluid as you turn left-to-right-etc. This is favourite in my opinion. If we
consider that the fluid tank may only be partially full (or less if you have a leak), then this sloshing sounds might be really noticable.


You shouldn't let it get to you too much though Lynda. If it's not broke then don't fix it. My problems with the MINI came to a head after it got recovered for the 4th time. Rise above it and take it to another dealer instead, and if your car ends up being recovered then get rid of it, because the more and more you look at problem like I did, the more you'll worry about it.

Stay tuned though because in a few weeks I think BMW/MINI are going to be in for a shock. A very, very big shock indeed.

[lyndahayes]

Oh Great.... just leave me hanging...What is going to happen???? It is like when Princess Diana said, a few weeks before she died, 'In two weeks I will have some news that will shock the world.' Then we never got to find out what it was....C'mon Wayne... please say what it is...

Now about all the care you took to explain things so beautifully (including diagrams!), I want to thank you so much. I have printed it out and will take it with me tomorrow. The steering noise is way too loud to live with. But it is the knocking in the steering wheel that worries me. This car has been recovered once. My other MINI was recovered 3 times, I think.

So thank you for the trouble you have been taking over my problems here.
Now do tell........ (please?)

[waynef]

Quote: Originally Posted by lyndahayes

Oh Great.... just leave me hanging...What is going to happen???? It is like when Princess Diana said, a few weeks before she died, 'In two weeks I will have some news that will shock the world.' Then we never got to find out what it was....C'mon Wayne... please say what it is...

Now about all the care you took to explain things so beautifully (including diagrams!), I want to thank you so much. I have printed it out and will take it with me tomorrow. The steering noise is way too loud to live with. But it is the knocking in the steering wheel that worries me. This car has been recovered once. My other MINI was recovered 3 times, I think.

So thank you for the trouble you have been taking over my problems here.
Now do tell........ (please?)

Don't worry, it ain't that exciting.

- If you still love MINI's and you can take further hassle, keep it or get it exchanged.
- If you no longer love MINI's, get rid.
There's really no need to take it further than that.

I am not a mechanic, and others on here may have found out what it is exactly, but I am glad you enjoyed the pictures/my explanation. Don't mention it.

[Tracie]

I've just started to get this noise, but its not when the steering is turned.