I have a 2007 Mini Cooper with a manual transmission and approximately 45,000 miles. I started noticing a high pitched whining noise when the car is in gear. The noise goes away when I drop it into neutral. Has anyone experienced anything like this before or have any idea what the problem is?

 

Is the noise while under throttle? Under engine braking? Both?

 

It's both - Pretty much whenever I'm in gear there is the whine but when I put it in neutral the noise goes away. Oddly enough, however, it seems to start after the engine is warm (It takes a minute or so of driving before the noise begins) Not sure if it has anything to do with it but I live in College Station Tx where it's been 100+.

 

sounds like a noisy throw-out bearing. Does it go away if you push the clutch just a little bit?

 

If its specific to 2nd gear could be a trans bearing. Take note whether the whine is speed variant or engine speed variant, if you hear it more on accel than decel. So if you speed up it has a higher pitch or the whine stays consistent?

 

If it were a bad throwout bearing, I would expect the noise to only be prevalent when the clutch pedal is depressed.

 

+1