My Cooper had been in the shop most of last week. Some front suspension work took much longer than anticipated due to seized bolts. During the suspension work, the front subframe was lower a little and lots of prying was done on various bolts, and some were also heated up to try to help get them un-stuck.

Also, a new windshield was installed.

Driving the car this weekend, I noticed more / louder noises when starting the car, and what seems to be more air intake noise when on the throttle.

I took the car to a mechanic this morning, and it was put up on a lift, and nothing suspicious was found.

Any ideas?

The windshield seal seems good because there is no whistling sound at speed, and no water leaks when I washed the car.

The sound is a lot like the intake sound on an MCS with the Alta air intake - not the supercharger whine, but the "whoosh" of the air.

 

Whoops, this shouldn't be in the second gen section, and I see no way to move / delete it. Sorry.

 

were the intake tubes all installed back properlly? was the filter removed for anything and not put back???

 

The tubing around the airbox is all attached correctly. I haven't opened up the airbox to look at the filter, but that shouldn't have been opened up during any of the work that was done. But I will look at the filter to see if anything is up with that.

 

Well, I opened up the airbox, checked the filter and the inlet pipe and everything was fine. Closed the airbox back up, and the noise seems to be gone. I guess there was a bad seal somewhere in that area.