I have a weird sound too and it only happens when the car is not completely heated up meaning it wont happen unless you wait at least 20 minutes for it to cool. It happens only at idle and it's this weird JJRrRrJRJJrR annoying sound! The sound kind of oscillates but the frequency is quite high, it's gotta be something that turns with the engine I guess but I am not experienced with these things. The only thing I can think about is, it's a belt slipping? I have the smaller pulley, is that the cause? ops:

I have about 11.5k miles on it and it just started a few hundred miles ago all of a sudden and now it happens every single time I start it up (unless i just drove the car 10 minutes ago). It's just a really annoying screechy kind of sound I could hear quite easily on the inside even with windows closed and anyone outside wonders what the heck is that? What can it be and what to do?

 

I'm not a mini owner yet (I'm in the thinking about it stage), but I have an Audi A4 1.8T that did something similar to what you describe. Sounded like an extra pump on startup that I hadn't heard before. An airy sound, almost like a vacuum or a small turbo. On my car, it was the secondary air injection pump, which is a device that recirculates the exhaust gases through the catalytic converter to heat it up more quickly when you first start the car. This is purely a device to enhance emissions performance, and has nothing to do with the actual driving of the car. It only turns on when the engine is cold.

I spent a long time trying to figure out what this was in my car, and I didn't worry about it too much as it didn't seem to have any effect on the way it drove. However, it did finally go bad, and in order to avoid the check engine light, I had to pay roughly $800 to get it fixed (oddly enough it happened just after warranty). Turns out the pump went bad because of a bad valve, which would have cost substantially less to fix had I gotten it squared away earlier. Drat!

I have no idea whether the minis have secondary air injection or not, but if I were you I wouldn't wait until your warranty expires to get it checked out.

 

I also had a Passat 1.8T (identical longitudinal engine configuration and same b5 chassis) but I don't believe I ever had a problem with that pump. Well, the least I know is that this sound didn't happen on that car, so this is still stumping me. This morning again I opened the bonnet to see/hear what's going on better when I started up the car, and the damn sound goes away a few seconds after the bonnet is open.. weird I say! About the drivability.. I can't detect any changes at all in engine behavior.

 

I think I have the same problem!!

I posted something just the other day about it. Now, I assume you've heard a belt slipping in cold weather before. That makes a VERY screechy type of sound. This is NOT the sound my Mini makes when it's cold and until I hit the gas, etc... The sound I hear is more like a flute whistle or a whine (but not the power steering whine). Is that what you're hearing?

This ONLY happens when it's like below 45 degrees out, and when the car is cold. My sound acutally changes pitch when you press the gas slightly, and goes away completely if you press the gas hard.

I'm not really answering your question here, but if we have the same sound, maybe someone in here will read this and help us out?? :smile:

Sean

 

I'm having a similiar problem but mine is the opposite. It happens after prolonge driving. When i come to a stop with the clutch in no noise but when I let the clutch out there hi high pitch noise. It aslo goes away with just alittle gas.