Wits End with this Noise - Please Help!

[Vicki29]

Hi Everyone,

I have an ongoing noise that no gagage seems to be able to rectify and I'm at the end of my tether with it so hopefully someone can point me in the right direction?

To cut a very long story relatively short I have a 2005 Mini Cooper with 65k on the clock. I have had the car since brand new and it has been well looked after. When driving along and I reach about 25-28 mph the car starts to make a noise like a rythmic train kind of chugging. This happens when driving in a straight line, bearing left or turning left. As soon as I bear to the right it stops. It doesn't seem to make the noise when travelling under 25 mph. The car has been in the garage and they said it was the gear box bearings which were apparently clearly shot when they replaced them. This cost me £640 and I find this rather odd considering I have never had any problems with the gears or the clutch at all. I collected the car from them, got half way home and the noise was still there. They subsequently took the car back in and said they have checked the obvious things like the wheel bearings, CV joints, tyres, tracking and they are all fine. Basically they are adamant it's my gear box. They say it is in perfect working order now and if I am that bothered about the noise I would have to replace the gear box which would set me back about £1700. I am not prepared to spend that kind of money on a car worth about £3k and to be honest I just don't believe them and am worried I have paid £640 to them and the have replaced something that was never the peoblem.

The noise does not stop whatever I do until the speed drops to about 25 mph. Even if I coast or dip the clutch the noise remains.

Does anyone have any ideas at all? I can't afford to take it to BMW

Also, the performance of the car is not affected by this (I don't think). There is a possibility the noise is coming from the back drivers side wheel area but I can't be certain.

[mab01uk]

Based on what you say, I would try replacing the rear wheel bearings, drivers side first then if noise is still there passengers side.......if it comes from the rear and goes when you bear right (when putting side/cornering load onto wheel bearings) why did the garage look inside the gearbox?
It is hard to diagnose a noisy wheel bearing that only starts getting noisy above 25mph while car is up on a ramp, sometimes you just have to replace them and hope you have pinned the noise down to the right one.

[Macguyvic]

Before spending any more money try rotating the tires. If you have asymmetrical tires cross them so left front to right rear & right front to left rear. After rotating the tires check to see if the noise sounds like it's coming from another location.

[The Nun]

Yes could be to do with the tyres and how they are wearing, Ive had a similar thing on a Jaguar thought it was bearings, but when new tyres were fitted the noise went.
Might be a good idea to do a bit of temporary swopping round just to do a quick check?

One assumes as they charged you £600 for renewing unnecessary bearings they promptly gave you that money back? After taking it all to bits they would say they were shot as to say they werent would mean they couldnt really charge you I guess?
You ought to have asked for the old bearings back, that might have made them sweat a bit?

[Vicki29]

Thanks very much for your responses. We have rotated the two rear tyres to see if the noise swapped sides but it is exactly the same. The garage didn't give me my money back as they are sticking to their guns and saying that the noise is definitely coming from the gear box. I was hoping to get it resolved and then be able to go back to them and say I have had something else replaced elsewhere and the noise has gone, kind of proving that it was not the gears in the first place. I could kick myself for not asking for the bearings back but I trusted them that it was fixed when I left the garage (like an idiot). I was considering getting the two back tyres replaced but with them being £120 each I don't want to be doing that when it might not solve the problem. I know it's all trial and error though so I might just have to bite the bullet.

[3bars]

Does the noise disappear when braking?

[Vicki29]

No, the noise is there whatever I do until the speed drops to about 28 mph or below.

[Vicki29]

I've now had an ex-mechanic take the car for a test drive and he thinks it is the drive shaft. Does anyone have any idea roughly how much I would be looking at to get this repaired? Also I have seen online that in order to try and get my £640 back from the original garage that replaced (or claimed to replace) my gear bearings I need to get the real fault fixed and get the garage to do a report of the fault and the what the solution was. Is this something that garages will do or is this likely to be another battle I face?

[jpw]

Hi
Did you manage to track down the cause of your strange noise?
I have exactly the same noise that you describe and can't find any solution at all, having just had a mot the mechanic checked all the obviouse, but couldn't find a reason for my noise?
Any help out there folks?