High pitched whine from engine at idle?
 

At idle there is a loud whine but gone when engine is revved. I read that an R53 member found it was a bad gasket from the intake manifold? Though it's not consistent. Sometimes it whines when engine is turned on, or has been driven and is parked. Sometimes nothing.

The electric water pump has been known to make that noise. The pump also runs after you shut down the engine.

I'm getting the same noise, and it has also been intermittent. It happens at idle after a long drive, and right when I'm about to park/shut down.

The only problem is the noise has gone away for the last two days (Thurs-Fri) after previously happening three days in a row (Mon-Wed), and I have a dealer appt. this coming Monday :mad:. Oh well, I'm bringing it in anyway and hopefully they'll find the problem. I'll be sure to mention the water pump, as after reading a couple of different forum threads that seems to be the common issue.

I'll post if they find anything interesting.

Thanks, I appreciate that, but in the mean time, here is a brief video of our issue. - photobu ket

Thanks, I appreciate that, but in the mean time, here is a brief video of our issue. - Photobucket

Yes, that sounds like the problem. And thank you for making that vid, I'm thinking of bringing it to the dealer w/me :thumbsup:

Brand new 2008 Cooper S with less than 1,500 miles.

Loud squeaking noise similar to slipping belt was diagnosed by dealer to be water pump and pulleys. After parts were replaced the noise stopped only to return today less than 150 miles since repair.

Taking it back tomorrow.

Update - dealer could not diagnose the problem. Didn't help that the Mini stopped making the noise completely for almost a week now (and she's still humming happily along at idle, *knocks on wood*). Oh well, at least I have it documented as an issue if it ever happens again. :o

That is WEAK!
New Country (Rich) stated he had never heard of such an issue on the phone. He mentioned it could be the sound of the turbo (yeah right) and what not. I'll be bringing her in Wednesday morning.

The service manager at mine thought it was an intake leak ( ! ) but the technician traced it correctly with the stethoscope.

The tech said that it was the first R56 he had seen with this problem but I suspect there is more out there driven by people who are not perceptive to mechanical ills.

It is at times intermittent which adds to the complexity of getting it to the dealer when it is at its loudest and the round trip for me is 100 miles. Fortunately, if there could be a bright side to this, the sales manager is very understanding and accommodates me with loaners.

Yeah i had that
Here is the video incase: Mine was intermittent. Happened after the car really warmed up and was changing in idle rpm and also when it was really cold outside. In the video I had to rev to get the idle to drop and vary because it wasn't warm enough.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb4k1lwidL8

The dealer replaced the water pump and it is fine now. About a month later it started heating up outside and returned. I was going to get the tensioner replaced, but now it has completely stopped. Must have needed to break in.

Yeah I feel dodgy bringing in the car and have it work perfectly fine and when I drive off the sound comes back. I guess the least I can do is bringing in the vids. Checkercoop - did you get your car back within a day? I'm dropping it off bright and early in the morning.

Yeah it took a few hours. I just waited there for it. It did kinda suck tho because they put on a remanufactured water pump. It feels weird to put old parts on my car when it only had about 5000 miles at that time :roll:

The car was in for the third time in as many weeks for the same water pump/pulley problem.

The service writer listened to the noise and I made him promise to give the car to the tech before the car cooled down and stopped making the noise.

Sure enough he did not and six days later they had done absolutely nothing to the car which off course will not make the noise unless it has been driven for fifty or so miles.

How do you spell pi*#ed and what are the lemon laws in FL?

Attn. MODERATOR: There are several threads on this water pump/pulley noise problem. Is it possible to group them together?

That is really annoying. Did you have a word with the service writer? Is it about time you spoke directly to the technician? They ought to compensate for that lost time. Damn that is BS. I'm taking mine in tomorrow morning, I'm going to show them a video in case it doesn't squeak at the moment.

I'll update when I get a chance.

I brought the car in this morning and things turned out as I anticipated. The Mini didn't make a single squeak. So I showed both the service writer and technician my video. Once the techinician turned the engine off there was a slight squeak - they'll try to work off of that they said. I hope I'll get a phone call from them later today and I hope I can return to pick it up fixed.

Mine does the same thing but it is so brief that the service writer claims he can not hear it.

The noise is coming back though and once it reaches the previous high level I am taking it back only this time I will not turn the engine off until the service writer brings the technician and the sales manager to the car to witness that the noise is present.

I hope hat this will be the last time because step number 4 is the Lemon Law.

In case yours get corrected please post how they did it and what parts they used. It would help with my case. Thanks.

Will do

I called to get an update and nothing yet. They haven't heard any thing and when they turn the engine off, that isn't enough of a clue to work on anything. Basically no progress. I will have to leave it there for the day and the service writer will call me tomorrow.

I heard the lemon law is quite complex and isn't as simple as one might think. There would be a lot of catches. Like 'the mechanical issue does not affect the drivability of the vehicle and depreciate its residual value' or something liek that. I've considered the lemon law many times for my parents Mercedes Benz R class - that vehicle is a POS. You can get the same exact new car or you get the amount you financed for?

I think I would push really hard that a whine at idle would definitely lower the value of the car because it would make a buyer think something is wrong, and definitely think it sounds like a POS. I know when mine was whistling at idle, I could see people look and wonder what was wrong with this brand new MINI's engine :impatient:

You guys are correct in that the lemon law, which varies between States, may be complex and time consuming but it has the advantage that it opens up a direct line between the manufacturer (OEM) and the complainant and eliminates the selling dealer which in many cases could be a big plus.

The car is sent to a third party facility where it is worked on by the OEM's field service representatives and this is another big plus as these people are not only better qualified than dealer personnel but are more likely to have first hand knowledge of the problem.

If this effort does not correct the problem then the OEM has options to resolve the issue and this is where one should obtain legal assistance so that the regional/national service office is forced to turn this over to the OEM's own legal department in order to respond. This is the point where the negotiation will take place and the deciding moment for the OEM is the legal time/cost vs. the pay out/recovery for the car.

In most cases it will be cheaper for them to pay out the customer since the car will be resold at auction (lemons have to be identified as such if sold at a dealership) and recover a good portion of its original cost. Some OEMs charge back the dealer if found that he did not properly inform them of the issue after the third time so that they can fend off the lemon action by sending their service representative to review the case.

In my case I would prefer to have the problem corrected so that I can go about my business but I will make full use of my options if it comes to that.

The other day the car was idling while on line at the Mayport ferry and somebody came up to warn me to turn the engine off that was about to seize! Half an hour later the service writer after hearing the noise "walled" the car for five days and then had the audacity to tell me that there was no noise.

Note: "walling" a car means parking it at the wall while the customer's patience is being tried. Walled cars are not worked on and the purpose is to have the customer live with it or take their problem elsewhere.

Wow, Ian, sounds like a tough time. I am having similar problems except that my dealer is still on the up and up. I have an 08 MCS. At 1200 miles I started it up one morning and for about 20 seconds the engine ran with a loud clacking noise until I shut it down. I restarted, it clacked for another 2 seconds, and then ran as usual... except for a newly developed valve tap (that I could hear but not my wife). So I brought it to the dealer and explained what happened. They poked around for two hours and called me. The service advisor's diagnosis was there must have been an air pocket in the oil line that pretty much bled itself out, doing some internal damage to the engine. One bit of detective work they did was drop the oil pan and look for fragments (sort of like reading tea leaves). They took photos and emailed then to Mini corporate. After some back and forth about what to do -- I argued that I didn't want a brand new car with and engine that's already been torn down for deep repairs -- the service advisor called and said that Mini wanted to replace the engine. Yes, replace the engine! My guess is that the damaged engine went to Mini's research and development...

Anyway, it took four weeks for the new engine to ship by boat from Germany. So at that point the dealer had the car more than I had. But they did provide the loaner car and are paying two of my car payments to make up for it. Well, it's something.

But my story doesn't end with getting the car back. That was a great day and I did appreciate the level of honesty and service they provided. However, 50 miles later I had to bring it back because a vacuum hose for the fuel was improperly installed. No biggy, but yet another day of headaches and without the car.

Then -- here's where the story gets a bit nutty -- my wife and I are on our first bona fide road trip up through the Catskills, Adirondacks, into Canada (Montreal) and back down through Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut to home. It was just about at the New York/Canada border that our engine went from the water pump whine discussed in this thread to a grinding clatter. So we shut it down. Stuck in teh middle of frickin nowhere. We were lucky that we stopped right then because the belt had just broken and I could feel that the water pump pulley was loose! Clearly the bearings (sp) in the pump were shot. It ruined our trip. The car had to be towed approx 200 miles back south to Albany and left there. It was July 4th (a Friday this year) so no one would be at the dealership for three days.

Anyway, there is no doubt that the noise you all are hearing is likely the water pump problem. In fact, according to the dealer near Albany (great people there), the cause might be an unevenly torqued down water pump pulley doing the deed. It's not long before it wobbles and beats the hell out of anything it's attached to.

The dealers we've been working with have been very straight-forward and as generous with time and compensation as they can, but I do feel like I have a spanking new car (2300 miles now) that is a LOT of fun, but that isn't reliable. So I'm in the same boat: do I start moving toward getting it replaced or what? I just don't know. What does all this mean in terms of resale value? More importantly, will I ever have piece of mind in this car? I mean, really, I could buy a lame a** Ford Focus and at least know that it won't break down...

A tough spot to be in with a car I really like.

Today Rich at New Country Mini voicemailed me and gave me an update.. No Progress. He said they're 'trying' and the technician Mike will call me tomorrow for another update.

I really have no clue if they're doing what they can but Rich seems to be a real sincere guy so as of now I have no choice but to leave it up to them. They haven't been able to hear the noise yet. :roll:

mine whines. really obvious if a car is in the lane next to me on either side. never noticed it before.

i guess that would be issue #3 on my list of things for the service people to look at when i eventually come in.....

This is quite the conundrum isn't it?