Lately when I drive my wife's Mini (2002), I hear a gargling sound which seems to be coming somewhere around the center/front passenger side of the car. I only hear it during the first 15 min of driving from a cold start. It is only noticable during takeoff, speed <20mph. Any thoughts? Thanks.

 

I had a similar issue on my daughter's Honda Fit and it turned out to be the cooling system had air in it. Dealer ran a pressure test, found the crack at the overflow tank, replaced it, refilled coolant, and purged the system of air. Gurgling went away.

Haven't looked at our MINI closely to see if it could be the same thing, but...could be...

Good luck!

 

yup its just an air bubble.

take the car to the dealer and tell them to replace

thermostat
coolant bottle
bleed system

itll go away.. ive now had that issue twice and was fixed no problem.

now they appearently updated the tstat gasket and the bottle and it seems to be OK.

 

Yup. Just need to burp the radiator. Just tap is gently until it urps.
Awww... cute Mini...

 

I hear a similar noise (like water trickling) when I first drive off in the morning....seems to come around the steering wheel or headliner...cant be sure where its coming from....dont think its from rain or anything like that.

 

This also happened to me, I discovered a coolant leak and soon after noticed this sound. Leak turned out to be a cracked Thermostat housing. Housing replaced, noise gone. simple warranty fix.

 

I actually have this noise too, I'll ask them about it when I bring the car in for service