I've been getting a very high pitched hum, sounding like something coming out of a speaker, at speeds over 70 mph- no variation in the pitch. Turns out it is the recirculated air function. I took MINI out today and got it to start happening on some very nice backroads. Every time is started, I'd turn off the recirc button, and it would stop. Turn it on again at speed, same thing- push recirc, gone. It was annoying at a borderline level, so it's nice to finally nail down what it was. I think I read that someone else had this occur, and that the recirculating function off took care of it. Nice to solve the problem, but why the heck does it occur in the first place? Service manager thinks it might be fan motor. I'm going in tomorrow for a rear seat latch rattle, so I'll be able to tell the dealership what's going on and see what they say. Anybody else hearing this?

 

Interesting problem.
Keep us up-to-date on what the dealership finds.

 

I'm confused; the recirc option is OFF by default, no?

I mean, you have to PUSH the button to activate it...

-Jim

 

I’ll have to try this out. I’ve never heard the sound and have driven over 70 many times. OK, daily.

 

Right, jayoung it's off if I don't turn it on, but for whatever reason, I've had it on before and not been aware of it when this sound occurred. I finally tried this specifically, and sure enough, that was the source.

 

When you turn recirc on, I think you are just closing the vent for outside air - so the heater system takes its air from inside instead.
Maybe at high speeds the external air flow is forcing its way through the closed vent and making the whistle-type noise you hear?

 

I'd be curious to know if dropping the side window a bit to allow more airflow also eliminates the hum with the recirculate on. If so, could this be related to the whistle that some have when the air vents in the boot are blocked?

Thanks
JS

 

Mine started doing this after about 2 weeks. It's a very high-pitched screech that sounds like a fan motor bearing but it sounds the same at any fan speed and only occurs in recirculate mode (or maybe non-recirculate mode -- can't remember). Now that you mention it, it only occurred when I had the entire back full of cargo (a 35" TV, if you can imagine) and had the cruise control set to 90Mph.

 

Looks like I'm going to have to do some test driving to see if mine is doing this.

 

Vespa, this sounds just like my experience, but not at quite so high a speed. Did you have this problem looked at? It's definitely happening in mine when the recirculated air light is on. I'm going in tomorrow. I'll post any results from having the dealership look at it.

 

Dealer looked at MINI today, and heard the sound, said it was familiar- other MINI's were making this sound w/ the recirc button on, and the fix: turn the recirc off when it occurs. Not exactly a problem, no fix, case closed.