Been searching around and can't really find any posts about this issue. My 07 MCS sounds like it has a little cricket in the top/middle section of the dash. The sound comes and goes and has gotten a little louder and comes more often over time. It definitely goes away when I turn the climate control fans off. Just turn off the a/c doesn't make it go away. Any ideas what he'll it is and how to make it stop? BTW... I'm outta warranty, so hopefully this is an easy one? Please?

Here's a sound clip on my drive home:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WbsWc9lzQGU

Sound like the above?

 

The sound is very similar in pitch. In my case, it's much lower in volume, not as rhythmic, and definitely coming from the climate control. In the vid you posted, it says its coming from the rear. My sound is definitely coming from the dash middle, whether the car is moving or not, happens whether the A/C compressor is actually running or not, and engine reving does not make the sound change or make it go away. The only thing that makes the sound go away is turning off the climate control completely off.

 

does the noise change with climate control fan speed?

 

That's the weird part. My answer is sometimes. Increasing the fan speed will either make it squeak with more frequency, it might slow down, or it stops for a short bit before starting up again. The squeak isn't 1:1 with fan speed. The only sure thing is that turning off the climate control fans stops the noise.
I'll try to get a recording of it tomorrow and then post it here.

 

try popping out your micro filter and looking into blower housing, i have seen weird things get sucked up in there and cause noises from rubbing on blower cage. if you dont see anything it may be bearings of the motor itself?????

 

Thans for the idea. I'll see if I can get that opened up this weekend to isolate the sound.

Here the recording I made:

Yesterday I found that setting the climate control fan to manual will make the sound go away as long as it more than 4 bars high. Set the speed to to three bars, and it comes and goes, set it below three and the chirping comes back like you hear in the clip.
Also, I THINK it sounds more like its coming from the top of the dash, centered just left of center, towards the driver's side. Nothing I've tried, no touching or pushing on the dash, revving, shaking or any other thing will make this go away other than turning the fans off or set to 4 bars or higher.

 

I went over a rough set of railroad tracks the other day and it has been making this noise since. I'm pretty sure it's the blower fan. It stops when I turn the fan off or go to speed 2 or higher. It must be rubbing on something.

 

Well, guess I'm not the only one. What year is your car? Do you have the Nav system?
IT sucks. Its quite annoying.

A little background on my car...
I bought the car last year used from a non MINI/BMW dealer, and bought an extended warranty through them up to 100k miles. The car had about 9k miles left on the MINI Manufacturer Warranty, and came with the extended 100k maintenance and service plan, though I didn't know that at the time. About a month after purchasing, I noticed the death rattle and took it in to MINI of Sterling. They ran the key, told me about the extended service, and scheduled the routine oil change and inspection of the timing chain. The car had been serviced there since day one, and was in every 10k for an oil change. They found the timing chain was way out of spec and replaced all the parts, no questions asked. I drive A LOT, about 150 miles/day. I'm past the MINI Warranty now by 15k.

So I take the car in for routine service. The "Service" light turned on just shy of 65k miles. Figured I'd talk to my SA about the "cricket". Of course, on the drive in, the noise was nowhere to be found... But I thought ahead and I brought that recording I made on my iPhone so I could play it for my SA. He was like "what the hell?" I get a call later that day that they want to keep the car over night. The mechanic heard the sound too, but had no idea where it was coming from. He said it's definitely not from the engine compartment though, but wants to be sure. I told my SA that it sounds like its coming from the air blower.He said that since I don't have the MINI warranty anymore, that most third party warranties don't cover fishing for noises coming from the dash. If I did authorize searching, that I'd most likely have to pay for the diagnostic hours.

I call on Friday afternoon for status and a time when the car would be ready. I was told that it was being prepped for release. I asked if they fixed anything. The customer serivce rep read through the ticket. She said that the mechanic wrote that the chirping is coming from the DVD Nav system and is normal! Huh???? Since when does a nav system chirp like "normally"? I'm gonna talk to my SA on Monday morning. I also I need to take a good look at my extended warranty and see what they actually cover. I may be screwed with this one.

 

Mine is an 07 63,000 miles. Car has gone down hill quickly since 60,000. I am sure my sound is from the blower and started as soon as I went over the railroad tracks.

Now I have the cold start rattle the clutch rattles at stoplights when in neutral and the clutch out and it has also started having trouble starting when cold.

junk!

 

Yeah... I got the hesitation on cold starts and sometimes on launching too. I asked them to look at it, maybe the crappy HPFP is acting up. They said that they saw nothing.... uh-huh.... whatever....
I'm due for my monthly shade tree oil change. Probably going to replace the fuel filter in the rear as well and see if it helps any with the hesitation. Even though BMW says it's a "lifetime" filter, from the pics I've seen here on NAM, those things get real nasty after 50k.

 

Well I had been ignoring the fan sound but your post made me look into it some more. I found this post and may try getting to it to put a little oil on the bearings when it warms up a little more.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...when-cold.html

 

OMG.... thank you!!