Ditto on all these symptoms. It started for me about 6500 miles. I have almost 9000 now. It is always in first when it happens, and I find sometimes I can control it, with the way I release the clutch. If I have too gradual a release on take off, that is when it seems to happen. Definately a cold thing too. I cringe everytime I hear it.

 

Had the problem as well in my '06 at about 5k. Infamous "ORRTTTT" throw-out bearing/dual mass flywheel/who-knows-what problem. Also associated with a slight rattle sound when stationary at idle, but which goes away when clutch is depressed.

Took mine to the dealer, couldn't get it to "oorrrttt" but the advisor did hear the rattle at idle and said to leave the car, they'll fix it. Of course, shop foreman couldn't replicate, they asked me to pick up my car. Went to pick it up out of the lot with different advisor. This time, she's stone cold on a humid summer day, and she starts squealing like a stuck pig. This new advisor clearly heard it, at least 3 times, and says to leave it again.

Shop foreman, however, again cannot replicate, asks me to pickup the car.... again... I go ballistic, they want me to shuttle back and forth for the third time and still nothing done. They finally agree to replace the clutch assembly after my *****'n and moan'n.

Well now it's seems fixed, no squeal, no idle rattle and 10k... However, I'm very unimpressed with the hassle and yelling it took to get the damn thing fixed.

Another incident like that, and I won't be coming back to MINI... I don't care how fun the car is to drive

 

Anbody able to figure this out with certainty? My wife's 06 MCS with fewer than 3,000 miles has begun to do this on cold and rainy mornings.

Thanks,

Greg

 

Nope, One mechanic mentioned it was worn out clutch squeaks but at 3000 miles thats real unlikely, so until somebody does a show and tell (posting photos)with the squeaky parts, off a low mileage car we will never know. I'm not taking my car apart until it gets worse, now its just infrequently annoying

 

well i don't get to keep the parts to show u guys photo's of them but last week i had a car in with 10k miles the had the noise. and replaced the clutch on it and it fixed the noise

 

Too bad you could'nt just take a few photos. But I do think we'll have to take one apart to see whats squeaking.

 

If it was truly a clutch problem, though, wouldn't we be getting noise and chattering most of the time, regardless of temperature or weather conditions?

Greg

 

not necessarily. take for example brake (pad) squeak. this usually happens after aggressive braking. the pads will glaze and when the pads are cool off they will squeak. but after heating them up, the noise disappears. i'm not saying it's exactly the same problem, just that the friction properties of the material can change with temperature and cause a change in sound.

when the clutch warms up, the squeak disappears, at least for this specific clutch problem. you are right in saying that a mechanically defective clutch should make a noise all the time, but that would be an entirely different problem.

 

I had my clutch and flywheel replaced on my 06 JCW at about 1100 miles. It didnt have the noise before but it does now! I had a noise with the flywheel and the dealer said that for the cost of the parts they would also put in a new clutch. It took about 2 and a half weeks to do. My clutch is now squeeking and I am pissed that i have to take it back and have it unavailable for another period of time. These cars are fun to drive but what a PITA

Josh

 

Well, we washed the mini today and I even sprayed some water underneath to rinse away some road salt. Sure enough, driving off to the store, the noise made a few more appearances when starting off in 1st gear again.

Greg

 

I get a strange noise when releasing the clutch and accelerating. It is the 2 front tires squealing!

 

Well, mine is now beginning to make the noise intermittently on various days, not just rainy or cold ones anymore. So, we'll be taking it in to have it looked at when we get the oil and filter changed at 5k. I cringe about the whole thing because of what others have had to endure with this crap and remembering our MA mentioning that the clutch is "wear item" not typically covered under warranty. I don't think so.

Greg

 

Note that the first oil change isn't until 10,000 miles...so don't be surprised if they say no to that.

 

Just to add more information to this thread, I heard the same noise at around 10,000. Took the MINI in and they replaced the clutch. Noise was gone. Now at 48,000, noise came back. Took the MINI into another dealer (just one closer to work) and they stated that the previous dealer needed to replace the flywheel in addition to the clutch. So, the new dealer did so and the problem went away. As another poster stated, the clutch is now easier to push.

 

Did both dealers replace these components under warranty? Thanks for the info.

Greg

 

I'm going in Monday for some of the symptoms mentioned above; my clutch pedal feels "crunchy" once it warms up. Ever since having the slave cylinder replaced about 7K miles back, the pedal pressure has been reduced. But the "crunchy" feeling is new. So they're going to re-bleed the system, take a look at the slave cylinder to make sure it's not leaking, and also look at the flywheel assembly (developing some chattering).

Wish me luck

 

Mine did that too. After sitting for one week, it made the chewbacca noise. Haven't heard it since. (I drive it daily, no noise). 4,400 miles on it.

 

Just had my 04 with 34,000 miles at the dealer today and mentioned the clutch squeak/bark. They said they thought it was something (I don't remember what part he said) slowly leaking on the clutch. Thus when you start driving after a period of time long enough to get enough fluid dripped on the clutch it slips a little and barks. After one or two barks all (or at least enough) of the fluid has worn off and there is no more bark. Of course they also couched this by saying the clutch could be worn out and that is not under warranty but if it's this leak it is still under warranty. I get to find out in a few weeks when I take it back for some other work as well. I'll let everyone know what my problem was but they seemed pretty confident it was this leak. Seems at least one dealership / mechanic has seen this before.

 

I to have had the same sound happening in my car for sometime now. Has not gotten worse but will happen every now and then when I start from a stand still. It seems to happen when I let up on the Clutch slower.

I read a thread a while back that was saying it was a Flywheel issue.

MiniManhattan was sure it was my clutch so they replaced it although the sounds still persist.

Check out the link below.

It has been said that when replacing the clutch the flywheel should be replaced as well inorder to eliminate the issue.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=99016


Let me know what you all think.

 

Still does it occasionally, and has even begun squealing/grinding in reverse as well. ugh Few thousand more miles before it goes in for it's 10,000 mile checkup, so we'll hold out until then to have it addressed.

greg

 

I just had the same problem and the dealer replaced my clutch, flywheel and presure plate under warranty, I just picked it up today!

2003 25k miles

 

Had ours done recently at the dealer--they installed a new flywheel and a "remanufactured" clutch. All warranty work, no issues. We experienced the problem from a couple thousand miles. The problem was reported on two visits, but they were unable to duplicate it. Noticing that the problem usually occured after the car had been sitting for a day or two, we left it at the dealer when we went out of town with the request that they just let it sit in the lot for a few days (dropping it off on a Friday helped) and not charge us for storage. I told them they could keep it for a couple of weeks if necessary, and that their techs were free to drive the car as much and as often as necessary. They did reproduce the sympton (the squealing noise) and get a subsequent approval from some 'area rep' whose approval is requried.

Since a MINI dealer is not going to give you a loaner for a few days while your car sits so that the symptom can maybe be reproduced (especially for a warranty problem that is very expensive to the manufacturer), I think that having a work around for your transportation ahead of time makes a big difference. It shows the dealer that you appreciate the difficulty of diagnosing intermittent problems and recognize their documentation responsibilities to the manufacturer. This establishes a cooperative relationship with the SA and the dealer, rather than an adversarial one. True, it was inconvenient, but preferable to paying the couple thousand dollars the repair costs at retail.

 

I just heard the dreaded "Chewbacca groan noise" on my 06.

It did it after a wash, sitting for a week in the garage.

I backed the car out of the driveway with no weird noises, and idled down the street to the stop sign. Proceeded from a stop and suddently Chewie groans at me. My wife was like, "What the F#@$??" It did it one more time at the next light, and hasn't done it in the last two days but the car has not been washed or wet, since.

Car is a Sept 06 build with just 4900 miles. (it's the red one in my sig)

We also have an 03 with 46,000 miles and no issues at all.

 

yeah my dealer said no to that and i almost have 7000 miles she said a few miles under and they might be able to...man i want them to just give me the oil and the filter and i'll do it myself. btw where do you guys get your oil filters, its my first time working with a non-canister type oil filter. i got a purolator ( pep boys) and it was the only one that would fit. it doesn't look too good.

 

i've had this problem as well, my car only has about 7000 miles on it and it seems to happen on cold starts and when i don't drive it for a long while. My dealer has yet to look at it, has anyone shown this forum post to their dealers? because i know that some dealers go on the forums to work with thier customers. I bought the car from south bay, however i get it serviced at Irvine, (California) i've had numberous bad experiences at Irvine and maybe i'll take it to southbay to get it fixed.