SO........

My Mini (we call her Charlotte) has a whistle in the engine bay when she starts cold. it goes away when under load or when I rev the engine aggressively. on warm days when parked in the sun I do not get the whistle. below is a video of the whistle. sorry I could not show how it went away when under load as I was by myself.


Any suggestion would help before I shell out the cash to drive from Fayetteville to Raleigh to the Mini dealership.

 

Can you tell what side the noise comes from? Do you have a scope?

 

That's super loud like a bearing on one of the pulleys or the friction pulley. Does it get louder when you rev it? I would get it up on a rack and get under neath it and find out. That would drive me nuts, wow that's loud.

 

I'd would remove the wheel liner and see if you can pinpoint the sound coming from the friction wheel or tensioner. I would start there. That is crazy loud.

 

Get a cheap stethoscope and listen on all sides of the engine.

 

noise goes away away when I Rev the engine. And stays away after the engine has warmed up

 

You need to pinpoint what the location of that noise is. I cant tell where its coming from.

 

I had this exact issue happen to me. Only during cold start & goes away with a few revs. Once car was warm, it would stop completely. Sometimes turning the car off then back on got rid of the issue immediately.

My car was still under warranty, so I took it over to MINI thinking it was a belt tensioner pulley. Turns out it was the valve cover. They have integrated PCV valves that stick over time, causing the issue.

I believe ECS tuning offers the valve cover at a much cheaper price than MINI does. Would be worth considering.

FWIW, I also have a 2011 R56S.

 

Hmmm sounds about right It sounded like a vacuum leak valve cover should be easy to replace. I can not pin point the noise, maybe my hearing is bad, might be worth just shelling out for a diagnosis fee

 

Can't put a price on piece of mind, that's for sure. Keep us posted & hopefully it's a simple fix!

 

Huh, last time I heard a vacuum leak on the VC with an N18 engine it was a hissing noise super loud. I guess I not hearing it correctly. You should be able to tell on the cover itself where the crack is. Pull that front cover off and look for a hairline crack, does make sense if it's on, then off with the sunlight. Likes its resealing. 11127646552

We have them in stock and free ship.

https://www.ecstuning.com/News/MINI_R55_R56_R57_R58_R59_R60_R61_Valve_Covers_2411 0/

 

/\ also 2011 N18 same exact situation... narrowed it down to top side of engine, was almost certain i blew turbo up. took it to the dealer ended up being the valve cover also. mostly made that sound first thing in morning when cold
mine also threw a check engine light i couldnt read/clear with torque app. dont recall what the code was though

 

For what it's worth, MINI/BMW specialist G3 Automotive in Raleigh is much better than the dealer. Ask for Chris.

 

Just an update, these are back in stock now. 11127646552 listed above.