I had posted in August of the infamous 3-2 squeal at 5600 miles which got me a new flywheel. That problem came back briefly after 1000 miles, but went away after I noticed I had "smoked" the clutch in a steep uphill drive with a full car of passengers. Since that time, NO problem. Then just a couple of weeks ago, at 8700 miles, I noticed a "gurgling" sound when the car was in neutral with the clutch out. It went away with the clutch fully engaged. I took it in and that got me a new flywheel AND clutch. The service dept. claimed I must be hotrodding it too much, which I really don't. SO... what's next? Anyone else going through repeated clutch/flywheel fixes? I don't mind as long as it's under warranty and they're fixing it for free, but it's still annoying to have to take it in. Comments?

 

Not that you hotrod but "smoking" the clutch at anytime isn't good.

I've heard of other with clutch problems so you may have experienced your problems anyway.

 

AND.... to make matters worse, I just noticed late last night when it was very quiet that the "gurgling" sound is STILL THERE when in neutral, with the clutch out. I'm wondering if it was even necessary to change the clutch and flywheel at this second time.

 

I switched to an AT after my MT car had those issues...
16,000 miles later and my car is fine.

 

I am having the same problem, they replaced the flywheel and clutch, only to have the noise return after about 2 months. I don't hotrod and have never smoked the clutch. I have to contact the dealer whom is about 250 miles away. I sure hope they will correct it this time.

 

Could be the throw-out bearing...

 

Since I've seriously considered a switch to an AT, I'm curious... How did that work? Was it a lease? Did you lose much money on a trade-in for a new one? If so, at how many miles did you make the swap?

 

who knows when they'll be available, but I'm sure the aftermarket guys will soon have a regular/lightened non-dual-mass flywheel & clutch kit out. I replaced a number of the dual mass flywheels like the minis use while I was working for a Porsche speed shop, they can have all sorts of odd symptoms and failures.

I can't imagine a gurgling sound from that area, maybe a growling from the throwout bearing as was previously suggested ?

Best of luck getting it sorted out, there's no reason, even with a bit of hotrodding, that you'd smoke a clutch. You could have been driving up a steep hill with a carload of concrete bags & shouldn't see any clutch slippage or burning (assuming your foot's off the pedal). I suspect they just missed something the first time they fixed it, it's quite possible your throwout bearing/slave might be binding/hanging up. It could even be a problem with the clutch master cylinder.

 

MINI/BMW has asked me not to post any additional details about that...
...but a NAMmer could always use the "search" to find the historical record.

It was an ordeal but, in the end, both MINI and my dealership (Global Imports) did the right thing.

 

I have a gurgling noise in neutral with the clutch pedal out as well, my dealership said there wasn't anything they could find wrong yet and to let them know if it gets worse. That's at 15k miles and 7 months old on my MCS. Just as long as the failure happens before the warranty is up, I guess.

 

Hi.. I have an 07 MCS and do drive aggressive, however the clutch isnt the issue at this time...

I have /am having a dual surface disc made.. organic on the Flywheel side and puck on the PP side, my thought it that the aggressive wear will be on the cheaper PP side when/if I start to wear. The 5.0s and other performance cars are using this type combo.. so I figure I will have one made for mine!!
I think they are out there under different names.. has anyone tried the dual surface disc?? By having mine made it should cost less than 1/3 of the aftermarket same type I have seen... ?? The Drive line / Clutch mfg, say there will be 30-50% more holding with out increasing the stock PP spring pressures... we will see...yes??

Just me..............................

Thumper

 

I have to same problem, my dealer said it was normal and just a natural sound of the dual-mass flywheel, but I'm a bit skeptical. You know something's not right when people walk by your idling car and say that your car sounds like its in trouble.

 

not to make anyone here nervous, but I had this same sound just before my clutch went out. when the clutch failed, the dealership told me that the sound was indicative of a failing clutch. my clutch was NOT covered under warranty by the way (failed at 25,000 miles. Mini of Concord said it was probably due to "driving in San Francisco". total BS). The dealership I took it to screwed me pretty good, so i suggest taking it in before you have a clutch failure so they don't try to blame it on driver error.

 

@25k miles that's definitely premature failure, not to mention it should be under the 3yr/36k free maintenance if nothing else. I was told everything was covered 'till 36k, then regular warranty until 4yr/48k.

It never hurts to document a suspected problem while the car's still in warranty.

 

Yeah, I'm tending to have the same philosophy: as long as it's still under warranty and not TOO annoying, I'm going to live with it. What I don't want to have happen once again, is to take it in, be without the car for 3 days, only to discover they replaced the clutch and flywheel and the gurgling STILL is there. That's just wrong.
All of these clutch/flywheel issues (3-2 squeal, gurgling, etc.), and assorted little things (auto window noise, sunroof noise, etc.) might be a "first build" issue, and they DO fix them. In any case I'm starting to think I'll be selling or trading the car before the warranty is up. I still have quite a bit of time till then.