My car (05 MCSC) started making a very high pitched chirping sound, mostly at idle. The sound seems to be coming from beneath the intercooler. Based on my searches, it sounds most similar to a problem somebody else had with a bad intake manifold gasket.

Given that I'd just had my car dyno'd and the power was very low (136 max HP w/ 15% pulley, ECU remap and CAI), I'm wondering if I may be having the same issue.

Is there any way to tell for certain that I have a bad gasket and more importantly, should I avoid driving the car until I get it to the dealership?

TIA for any feedback.

 

The broken intake mainifold gasket was probably my post. I didn't do the testing myself, but the service department claimed they sprayed carb cleaner around and the the engine would flare. They troubleshot for a while replacing the bypass valve and a few other thing until they found the cracked gasket.

my symptoms were: squeeling at idle and pretty loud. almost like a belt slipping. at speed, there was a whistling sound that i could change the pitch or eliminate by deceling or accelerating. at stop and idling i could reve the engine and the squeeling would stop and then reappear after i let off and the engine returned to idle.

 

Yes, it was your post that I found. The symptoms you describe sound exactly like what I'm experiencing. The noise was so loud at idle today, at first I couldn't believe it was coming from my car.

Can I ask when you first noticed the problem, did it get worse over time and was it chronic or intermittent? There were times in recent weeks when the car just didn't sound right, but today it was very loud - there's no denying that something is wrong.

 

That's a tough question. was it always there? I think to some extent, but it definately got worse over time. the idle noise seemed to get really bad overnight. Similarly I found that the noise was so bad I didn't think it could be my car. It was definately happening for months before I took it in and I noticed a huge jump in power after it was fixed. I told the service they could easily hear the exact whistling if they were next to a wall. The engine noise would echo bad well and you can tip the throttle and let idle until you hear exactly the noise.

It took my dealership a while to find and they had a regional MINI engineer come by to look.

 

It wouldn't hurt to check the boots/clamps on the IC. A misplaced boot or loose clamp can cause similar symptoms. Get out the torx & a can of carb cleaner...

 

I would concur. That was the first thing the dealer suspected on mine and it's an easy at home fix.

 

Thanks guys! I checked the torx bolts around the IC today and so far, knock wood, the noise seems to have subsided. Nothing was terribly loose, but a couple of the bolts did need tightening.

I'll keep listening and if the problem returns, schedule a trip to the dealer.