Very interesting! Thanks for the heads-up and explanation. This would make sense with why the clicking goes away after replacing a half-shaft only to return a few weeks later.

So now the question becomes...why are our axle nuts coming loose That's kinda odd. And will we have to keep re-torquing the axle nuts from here til the end of time?

But at least we can get this thing fixed! I wonder if my dealer will let me torque the axle nuts at home without it voiding the warranty. Hell...I've definitely got all the right tools. Hmm...looks like I'll be putting a call in tomorrow.

-Dave & Stacy

 

Disclaimer: The following tips are from a non-Mini owning non-mechanic.

You might try some good quality thread lock (read: Loctite) if you have a problem with nuts backing off. Or maybe a lock washer?

 

Thanks for finding this out! Can anyone show exactly where this nut is, and what torque spec it should have? It certainly sounds like something I can try in my own driveway to see if it helps the issue before I bothing going all the way to the dealer.

 

You might consider talking to your service advisor before doing this...just to be sure.

-Dave & Stacy

 

I recently had H Sport springs and a front sway and rear sway bar put on my MCS. I too now have a "click" in the front drivers side. I thought maybe the bushings needed some more grease. To complicate matters I had Green Stuff pads put on at the same time so I am interested if this truly fixes the problem. Keep us posted.

 

I am scheduled to see my service folks friday. I am eager to get this wheel click to shut up. i detected it in april. (Reminder: this will be my second attempt.)

 

ok well a week later and I can't hear anything yet. Well I shouldn't say yet b/c now it's going to start clicking again. LOL So far so good with the axle torque seemed to work. If I hear anymore popping/clicking I will let yall know but that seemed to fix the problem so it's worth a shot for now.

 

May you remain in perfect clicklessness. Good to know something's working.

 

I had the opportunity to visit my dealer yesterday and had a tech take a look. Good for me it produced the sound instantly and repeatedly. He recognized it and said they had seen that about a month ago. He says it is not the brake pads, but most likely some lubrication needed within the CV joints. I confirmed it was not anything to worry about and decided not to schedule a service appointment until it got worse or I had something else to service as well.

I was chatting with others and 15 minutes later the tech walked out and said they had a free bay, they would fix it if I had an hour. Why not. They replaced the driveshaft+CV joints in an amazing 15 minutes!

And the click is gone.

Of course I'll monitor and see if it returns and keep you updated. I have an autocross on saturday, so that will certainly give it a workout.

 

Great guns Josh! That's great news! Enjoy your autocross.

Oh and this wouldn't be the Peabody you're used to waiting for all the time, would it??

 

wildone3c's SA is brilliant!!!!

Update on Molly. I emailed our shop foreman at ou dealer, Motorwerks MINI, with the details of wildone3c's "axle-nut torque fix". I asked if he would let me perform the fix at home (since we're 2.5 hrs from our dealer). He agreed knowing my extensive background in maintaining my rallycar. The torque spec. is 134 ft-lbs.

Procedure:
1) Loosen wheel studs slightly (on clicking side).
2) Jack car up on side that is clicking.
3) Remove wheel.
4) When you look at the axle-nut and the half-shaftm there is an indentation on the shaft where the "lip" of the axle nut gets tapped in to "lock it in place". Tap that the opposite direction to allow you to release the nut. Use a brass drift punch to ensure you don't damage anything!!!
5) Remove the nut completely (this is important!).
6) Now, go under the car and move the half-shaft back and forth to make sure it is seated in the steering knuckle assembly.
7) Re-thread the nut onto the shaft carefully.
8) Re-torque nut to 134 ft-lbs.
9) Tap lip of the axle-nut back into the indentation to lock it in place. Again...use a brass drift punch to make sure you don't damage anything!!!!
10) Re-attach wheel/tire.
11) Lower car.
12) Take a test drive to see if click is fixed.

YOU MUST USE A TORQUE WRENCH TO TIGHTEN THE AXLE NUT!!!!! I cannot stress this enough. If you don't have a torque wrench and the proper size socket or if you''re not mechanically inclined, I would suggest against doing this. Just take it to your local shop and it will take 5-10 min.

I performed this procedure on Molly this evening and all of her clicking is GONE!!!!!!! Took me about 15 min. I'm still not entirely sure why this is fixing the problem, but I'd b interested to find out if this is going to be a permanent fix and why it happened in the first place. Also, it would be interesting to find out why it only happens on some MINI's and not others. Kinda weird.

Anyway, bottom line is that we're click-less now! We'll keep everyone posted on whether this is a permanent fix.

-Dave & Stacy
http://www.smsrallysport.com/

 

VERY helpful. Big THANK YOU for posting for us, D&S.

Would an axle replacement mean a retorquing of the axle bolt? I suspect the answer is yes.

 

GMINIO:

You betcha! That's exactly what it means. And this only fixes the problems temporarily. We found it so weird that they would replace a half-shaft and the problem came back. Turns out that each time they replaced the shaft, the nut was removed and a new nut was put back on. Over time, something changed causing the click. Once you remove and re-torque, the click is gone. For how long? Who knows!!!!

So in short, it does not appear to be a half-shaft issue at this point. The next step of fixing the problem is to figure out why the click is developing in the first place. This is where MINI and MINIUSA come in. I would hope they would be interested in determining what is causing this and won't just chalk it up to "a quirk of the MINI".

-Dave & Stacy

 

Thanks for the instructions D&S. I'm still confused as to where exactly the bolt is that you mention...could someone take a photo of it?

Did you experiment to see what tourque it was at when you removed it? It would give an idea to see if it was loosening up and if more tourque or some locktite would prevent it in the future.

I'm still clickless so far.

 

Apparently the Head Tech and Service Advisor are aware of this thread. So, I didn't have to say much, tho I did. It's a good atmosphere, even though they just voided a good friend of mine's warranty. I heard right away and via the confirmation call I had made this morning, that MINI had released a bulletin regarding the click just after my clutch was replaced. Ironic. And the bulletin recommended… (drumroll please) ... replace the flywheel! So I begged them to please please please be sure it's not on the axle/wheel/brake end before going at the powertrain again. But really - whatever fixes it for good...

Now, haven't your dealerships gotten this bulletin???

 

Hah..if it returns and they want to disasemble everything to get to the flywheel, I'm scraping together pennies and having them swap in an LSD while they're at it. :D
Or maybe one for our trouble...

 

yes gmini the service people do read your posts

 

Ok well I don't know if this is bad news or what. I riding around thursday evening, with my windows down and I heard the popping again!!!!! Not as loud but the exact same thing coming from the same drivers wheel. So I called my sa and he said to bring it back to him and he was going to replace the nut and maybe keep my mini for a day or so, so they could test it out. This did fix the problem for a week, so obviously it has something to do with the axle nut or something connected to it. As D&S said, it is now a matter of finding what causes the problem and mini fixing it. I will let yall know what happens. I have an appt this coming thursday the 21st.

 

omg Gminio, I had to jump a friend off thursday night and I didn't realize till I looked at your vid of the rattling noise, but when I opened the bonnet, my mini was making the same exact noise. Not quite as lout but very noticable. It wasn't coming from the supercharger though. On the left of the engine if you look about 3 or 4 inches left of the supercharger and about 3 to 4 inches up you will see a plug going into the head. Not sure if it's a fuel injector or not but It was vibrating very badly along with the rattling so I wiggled that for a couple of seconds and it stopped. I havn't heard it again but I also told my sa about that so they are checking that out thursday as well. Here's a couple of pics of the plug if you can see them. Sorry about the quality. I was at work and only had my cell phone with me. Keep in mind too my mini is an 05 not jcw.

 

YES, YES! I am experiencing the same problem; clicking at the driver's front wheel! I'm not sure how long mine has been occuring, but during yesterday's run w/ 80+ Mini's, I noticed a click during 1st and 2nd gear.

I'm going to book an appointment tomorrow and explain to them could be the cv or the "re-torque axle nut" problem. Thanks for sharing this problem-I thought I wouldn't find anything in the search, but boy was I wrong!

 

One thing our shop foreman mentioned was that back in the 80's he used to build road-race VW's for VW of America. They had issues with half-shafts due to low axle-nut torque. Essentially the torque spec. from VW of America was too low to cope with the additional power/torque the IT cars were putting out. So...after much experimentation they settled on the torque that was around 40% higher than the factory spec.

His comment was that there may be a chance that MINI will up to torque spec. on the Cooper S's at some point. We'll see what happens.

-Dave & Stacy
http://www.smsrallysport.com/

 

Well I am extremely envious that you have located a source for your squeaky rattle. I would have benefitted greatly from that knowledge. The pics are not loading for me (edit: are now). But next ime i have my car (still at the dealer) I'll have a look.

cheers,
john

 

yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! (but admitedly kind of eerie.)

 

that would be an interesting response to this problem.

 

Is everyone's car clicking on the drivers side?
I have a rotational click, but it's coming from the passenger side.