Much thanks to the many useful posts on this website. Five weeks ago, I flew to New York to drive my MCS home that I had ordered three months earlier. Prior to delivery, I had a blast tracking my MINI using the information provided here.

Now I ask for your help/advice. All 3900 miles of motoring have been plagued by an incessant whistle at any speed above 40 mph. I live in the country. . . a trip to the store is a 50 mile commute. Thus, speeds above 40 are more common than not. Living in the country, I had the luxury of easily isolating the source of the noise with a roll of electrical tape, i.e. a strip of strategically placed tape followed by a trip to 40 mph to see if the whistle had been cured was easily repeated until the source was found. And now for the moment you have all been waiting for. . . MINI horn salute please. . . the whistle is coming from the fresh air inlets at the base of the windshield. The noise does not completely vanish unless both inlets are completely blocked.

Now what? The service people at the newly opened dealer in Eastpointe, Michgan (a quick 2 hour drive, hurray!) confirmed my findings and said they didn't know how to fix the problem. I am waiting to here back from them. This noise has made any trip in my car, otherwise a treat to drive, a miserable experience.
Thanks for reading, Jeff

 

Jeff, I had the same problem, 1500 rpms & up for about three days. I made a service appointment and then started to vary my acceleration and pushing the rpms up a little higher 5000 to 6000 for short quick accelerations (mostly entering the freeway, speed to 90/95 through the gears). The great thing was the whistle stopped and I cancelled the service appointment. I hope it does not return!
Good luck! Miles

 

My whistle has nothing to do with engine rpm or how fast I'm accelerating. The engine could be off for that matter, and the car will still whistle. It is purely speed dependent. Air is flowing past something differently than it is in other MINIs. The possiblities are endless as to what is causing the noise. A piece a plastic flashing left behind after the molding process somewhere in the ductwork is my suspicion. I've ridden in other MINIs, none of which exhibit the whistle.

While at the dealer, the inlets were removed on my MCS and the internals were compared to another MCS on hand. No difference could be discerned.

I have been a BMW fan for years, and regularly hail them as the most finely engineered automobiles on the planet. I turned 21 last week, and this is my first new car purchase. You can imagine my excitement acquiring a BMW engineered product as my first new car! Imagine next the sound of my heart breaking and my stomach turning everytime I drive the car and have to listen to this miserable whistle.

Additionally, while at the dealer I asked about a problem with my trip odometer. It randomly switches between miles, km, nothing, or any combination of the two. For example, one mile it may read "miles", then "iles", then "kmil", then "k les" then "k". . . you get the idea. Again, the dealer had not seen this before.

Another note, I bought the leather seats and am very concerned with how they are wearing. I have a 1991 SAAB 9000 Turbo with 230,000 miles on it, and these seats have not worn as much as my MINIs have in only 3900 miles.

Thanks for reading,
Jeff

 

I have the same whistle noise problem but it only occurs with the A/C on in the non-recirculation mode. Turn the A/C off and the whistle noise goes away. The dealer told me its a common problem and had no proposed fix for it.

 

My whistle is purely speed dependent. A/C or no A/C, my car whistles. I have experiemented with the auto climate control in every possible possition while opening and closing vents, and this does not change the amplitude or pitch of the whistle one bit. The whistle is produced only while traveling above 40 mph and, in fact, is loud enough to be audible with the windows and sunroof open. If I would not have isolated the noise by masking every seem on the windshield, I would have sworn that the noise was coming from an improperly seated windshield. In fact, the first time I drove through a rainstorm, I half expected to get wet. I have driven other MCSs, and they are serene by comparison. There are no technical service bulletins for this problem.

When leaving my service appointment at the dealer last Wednesday, it was suggested that I remove the inlets and cover the backs to cure the whistle. I suggested that it was not a good idea to block all fresh air from entering the vehicle. This "fix", perhaps, would be appropriate on a 10-year-old car with 200,000 miles on the odometer, but is not acceptable on a new automobile. . . especially one backed by BMW. The dealer said they would contact MINI for further instruction on how to handle the whistle as well as the aforementioned problem with the trip odometer and that they would call me back. I am still waiting to hear from them.

As a mechanical engineering student, I am absolutely delighted with this automobile (minus the whistle, of course). This whistle, however, makes the car impossible to love and dreadful to drive on an extended trips. Unfortunately, for me, a trip to the grocery store constitutes an extended trip!

Happy whistle free motoring,

Jeff

 

Jeff,
Have you checked to see that the vents in the trunk, under the hatch sill, are not blocked by something -- especially by the infamous MINI boot box? Other Motorers have complained of whistles that are the result of blocked flow-through ventilation (not speed, rpm, or AC/heater dependent). This has been solved by clearing a path to these trunk vents.

These vents need to be unblocked. If blocked, this may be the source of your whistle.

_________________
Indi Blue Cooper w/ Black top & mirrors, sport seats and Prem. Pkg. Christened "Ringo".

 

pdfoot:

Did you try switching the AC recirculation as suggested above?

 

The vents are free and clear. Your reasoning would explain the need for the vent in the luggage partition trim behind the rear seats, however. It is always nice to learn something new.

Later,
Jeff

 

Jeff, I had this problem, I think, when I first got the car in late June.
I posted a query under "whistling windshield" and got some responses, all
pointing to some sort of air deflection problem. I was going to tape the
top of the windshield, where I thought the noise was coming from, but now
it seems to come and go, and with colder weather here in Ohio, I'm not
noticing it. I did notice that it had nothing to do with the sunroof. It
seemed to start betrween 40 and 50 mph and pretty much continued at
higher speeds. If it's a problem endemic to the air intakes, then I wonder
why everyone isn't having it. Are you sure that it's not a problem with
the trim at the top of the windshield?

Hope we find the pesky culprit!

Dave

___________

Chili MC/black roof

 

Dave,

In regard to an earlier post, I have tried the auto climate control in every possible position, including recirculation, and this does not change the whistle one bit. In regard to your post, when tracking down the source of the whistle, I methodically masked every seam around the windshield (including all of the trim) with electrical tape, one by one. In other words, I would tape a seam and then accelerate past 40 mph to see if the whistle was cured, then repeat. Much to my surprise, with the entire windshield masked (quite neatly done too, I must say!) the noise had not abated one bit, forcing me to look elsewhere. Eventually, I made plastic "bonnets" that I taped securely to the fresh air inlets, and this stopped the noise completely. It was amazing. . . like driving in a different car!

I could only pray for the intermittence of your whistle. . . mine does it consistently, regardless of temperature. Most people go to their dealer with the concern that their car will not make the noise when they get there, only to appear again minutes after picking up the car. This was the least of my concerns! Just as the Sun rises and sets, my MINI whistles above 40 mph. With the colder weather, it is even more unbearable, as a closed sunroof and windows do nothing to mask the noise. Listening to the radio is almost impossible. My whistle was audible with the sunroof and windows open; imagine riding in the car now.

I called the dealer this afternoon. It has now been over a week since they looked at my car and said they didn't know how to fix the noise. They said they would have to call MINI and ask them what to do and then call me back. After a week, they said MINI has not given them an answer and that it would probably be another week.

Thanks for reading,

Jeff

 

Thank God for this thread...I thought I was crazy! I'm lucky enough to have the opportunity to regularly take my Mini out on unrestricted portions of the Autobahn and noticed an annoying "whisling" coming from the car at ~ 85 mph or so--the noise goes away at ~ 120 or so.

At first I thought it was the tires since the noise sounds a lot like rubbing on the fenderwell on a car that's been lowered too far but afetr an extremely thorough inspection of teh wheel wells and tires by me and the mechanic at teh local dealer there's no indication of wear or rubbing at all... Moreover, the noise is still there w/ the raace tires on too (lower profile and definitey don't rub). I've tried all teh climate control positions, sealed everything around the front of the car w/ 100 mph (metal foil) tape--the real stuff, not duct tape--took off the windshield wipers (and sealed the holes), covered teh split in the chrome trim at the base of the windshield , took off teh front plate, etc. and the noise is still there--definitely speed dependent vs engine load or anything else.

The only time it went away was the day I took it in and teh service manager went w/me for a test drive. I'd washed the car immediately prior to going so the only thing I can surmise is that a seal somewhere was moistened just enough to swell or something and "fixed" the noise! :impatient

Two days later and the car's now fully dry and guess what...the noise is back!

I'm going to try to seal the vents at the base of teh windshield tomorrow to see if that works... thanks for the ideas in this thread! If that doesn't work I'll try the fender flares and every other piece of trim I can find.

As an aside, I found a piece of ~ 1" diameter hose ~ 6" long laying in the passenger floor board. Dealer says it's part of the duct work that pipes air into teh glove box. Hmmm... He says it'll be fixed under warranty, but I want to track this other (related?) problem down too to get them to fix everything at one time.








BTW, so far the fastest I've had the car was on a noice long downhill stretch between here and Mannheim! Almost a full minute at 142 mph (indicated) and several times cruising between here and Stuttgart at 130+ for 10-15 minutes at a pop! I love Germany!

 

I'm struggling with the same issue. Getting some ideas (but no definitive answers) here. Common subject between the threads, I see.

And Rob, you're right -- autobahn bliss!

 

OK...it's definitely the windshield or A pillar trim... I taped up the cowl vents and drove down to Sembach for a function and the noise was still there. Afterwards, I taped up the entire windshield and trim along both sides (leading edge os teh A pillar) and HOORAY! The noise is gone!

I'm heading out to the garage now to pull the tape off one side and go for a nice mid-morning run on the A63. I'll go to a couple of turn around spots and progressively pull the tape off until I find the culprit.

I'll post results later.

I kind of suspected it was the windshield since the noise went away after washing the car (swelled the seals?)...

 

...it's the windshield seal. Pulled the tape off teh A Pillar leading edges and still no noise; pulled it off the top and still no noise.

Pulled it off the bottom and... Still no noise!:impatient After I drove another "lap" though I started to hear it again. I think removing the tape temporarily "pulled" the windshield up against the seal on the bottom edge of the frame and it took a couple of minutes at high speed to break it again.

At least I have something for the dealership to look at this time!

 

Bottom of the windshield?

 

Yes

 

Hmmm. Will have to try that, too.

 

The noise shows up in the background of the video, here.

 

Fellas, I'm curious to know what the service advisors have to say about this issue, if anything. Has there been a TSB put out for this issue?

Cheers!!

 

My car makes a whistling noise when I go 80+mph... It sounds like it's coming from the middle of the dash (around the vent?). It doesn't whistle at lower speeds, has nothing to do with RPM, or the recirc... I took it to the dealership and of course, they can't reproduce the sound. =(

 

.

 

at 80+ mine also has developed a whistle

2003 MC

 

Padfoot,
I believe your problem is caused by a sloppy rubber seal that is beween the hood the box area under those vents. Just take one of those seals out and if it changes the whistle it means that one of those seals needs to be replaced. One of those seals is probably seating just loose enough to cause a great whistle when there is a pressure differential between the engine compartment and the vent box.

 

there is a service bulletin on this exact situation

 

2 areas of interest for you guys to check:

-The seal that goes between the firewall and the fresh air vent can be warped and not sealing proper, This causes a whistle.

- there are holes under the hood around the hinge area that are plugged off from the factory, they are black in color, if missing they cause a whistle.

How do I know these areas can cause a whistle, lets just say a lot of time spent in diagnosis.