Hi Guys,
I have a 2009 Clubman JCW R55.
I've been having a whining noise the past 1.5 years and I finally have a couple of weeks to figure out the problem.
I initially thought it was the friction fully. The one that works off the crankshaft pully and engages the water pump. Well if you disengage the friction pully with the pull strap, start the car and push the pully a little to the left it doesn't hit the crank therefore doesn't spin. The sound is still audible in this case. Unfortunate!

The free spinning of the belt tensioner seemed to be ok.
Those were ruled out.
So I took the belt completely off and started the car. Low and behold the whining sound is still there. So it's the crankshaft pully!
But I thought the crankshaft pully has no bearings to run off it. Would it be the seal? Something internal?
Any ideas on this one would be appreciated.

Thanks in advance!