The other day while driving though a parking lot a noticed a strange whinning sound that seemed to change with the engine revs. The first thing I did was turn the air off, and the noise went away. It seems to only happen at low speds, but I asume that it happens all the time but I only hear it at low speeds for obvious reasons. Any idea what is happening? everytime I hear it I just hear $$$

 

My first guess would be a slipping serpentine belt. How many miles on your MINI now? Ever changed out the belt? Could be a worn out tensioner or could be the AC clutch acting up. I'd start with the cheap & simple stuff first.

Good luck...

 

The belt has not been changed sense I lived here, it would be time to do that. I hope its not the clutch, but I should start with the belt. Now that you say it, I think that was my first thought too. I am loosing it in my old age...

 

Maybe you caught that losing it thing from hanging around with old farts.

Bring it on over to breakfast tomorrow for a test drive.

 

I would love to bring it by for a test drive, but I cannot afford the gas after the wedding.

 

i have that same issue. However mine will not go away when i turn he ac off.
Actualy its more prevalent with the radio and ac off.
I think its the timing chain. I think it could be from the Poly engine mount i added I noticed it after i replaced my cam. Theres no way that the tensioner could not have been re engaged.

 

i just had my pulley belt changed to a new one, now i have the noise, so there you go preventative maintenance can bite u in the butt sometimes, damn i knew i shoulda had danny change it

 

10 to 1 it is your super charger..... I had a squeel coming from my engine.. Took it to my mini dealer and they told me nothing was wrong with the car and the noise was because of my after mrkt pulley... and iw as stalling in traffic because of "bad gas".

I took it elsewhere to have checked and my belt tensioner was bad. I had that replaced-still had the noise...
This week, stalled again in traffic, took it to a non-dealer mechanic and it is my super charger... My gears are missing 4 teeth and the bearing is shot.

I did not know that the super charger is a 'non-repairable' piece of equipment of these cars that eventually fails - might be 18k miles might be 118k miles (mine has 51k). How nice BMW makes a car that is made to fail quickly - must be why they are turbo now..
There is a good article in MC2 this month on replacing the super charger - about 2500 bucks by the way. I am getting the 1fastmini electric water pump put in inplace of replacing the supercharger (around 1500 bucks) I will keep you posted on the results.

 

eew mine isn't really a squealing noise more like a whirring whining high
pitched noise. The noise itself is pretty soft road noise drowns it out at 20 mph. Other wise the car feels great. I'm hoping its my tensioner. The noise increases with rpm not boost if that makes any sense.

 

i just had danny of mini corsa put in an rmw cam, jcw injectors, and replaced my supercharger belt and now im noticing this same noise that speeds up with the rpms...im due for a Jan tune in 2 days and i need this problem fixed beforehand. could it be the belt that was replaced?

 

Did Jan give you any ideas to what could be causing the noise?

 

I took it back to danny and it ended up being something loose on one if the valves

 

Something a little more specific would be a great help to others with the same symptoms. I'm just saying...

 

johny_drama, ever figured the whining noise out? I have similat issue, see my post: RPM realted whining noise. I am about to go to town on minidk

 

Any updates on this? I have the same noise and it is NOT the supercharger because that was just replaced.

mb

 

reviving this thread.. any updates from people with the wine? Mine sounds like its coming from near the pulley area of the engine.. SC fluid and gears are good as i flushed and rechecked.. my thinking is the tensioner pulley which looks a bit loose - will replace + a new belt next week.

phil.