I've got 150K miles on this Mini; I've only had it for about the last 10K miles and about a month ago after a long road trip of about 600 miles I came to a stop at a stop sign. When I took off in first gear, there was this screech that sounded like it came from the front left engine area. I've owned many manual cars in my 35 years of driving and have never had a clutch go out. The PO is not aware if the clutch has been replaced ever so I assume it has not.

Lately this screech has been occurring more frequently, but still only after lengthy road trips. I do not feel any slippage with the clutch, but not an expert on the matter. If anyone can offer ideas I would be very grateful, thank you.

Here's the clip to youtube:

 

Dual mass flywheel chatter.

If I recall correctly, this is related to the spring in the dual mass flywheel weakening.

Mine was doing the same thing before I swapped to a single mass conversion. It was horrible when starting out on a hill.

 

Thank you Scotty. I did a little research on the DMF and so far the research is showing the noise to be quite different. The YT videos are showing clanking/crunching type noises; mine is a definite screech on releasing the clutch. Still, I can't be sure whether it's the DMF yet or not, much appreciated for your input!

 

My '02 R53 does something like this, usually only when cold, usually the first start of the day - but not always.
I assume it's something to do with the clutch release bearing. Clutch is fine & I don't think it's ever been replaced.
I've had the car for 8 years, now at 158,000 miles & it's always done it. I don't worry about it!

 

For what it’s worth mine sounded like Chewbacca roaring. Seriously. My passengers used to laugh when the car made the sound.

While the sound didn’t seem to be effecting the performance of the clutch initially, after a bunch of mods the clutch quickly died.

 

Mine has never sounded like that. At around 140,000 is when my stock clutch went, driving 75 mph and went to pass someone, gave her gas, rpm went up speed stayed the same. After clutch replacement smooth and quiet, no noises at all with 16k on new one. I put over 500 miles just on the dragon this year, and I wasn’t out for a Sunday drive either. Definitely something going on in there.

 

My guess would be you are hearing something clutch related. At this mileage on an original part, it could be any number of things: throw out bearing, spring, flywheel, etc... If you have ever replaced a clutch, you know how dirty, dry, and messy it gets in there. All that used clutch dust on everything creates a mess! I would replace it as I do not like to be stranded on the side of the road. Actually, have never been with over 1.5 million miles driven.

Living in Montana, I would definitely replace it - gets cold out there this time of year.

 

I wish I'd found this thread on my earlier searches. I've got exactly the same noise - BTW, this is a 2009 R55 JCW Clubman. I knew I needed to replace the motor mounts so I did that upper right (passenger) and lower mounts. Problem was (still is) there. I replaced the entire clutch about 13,000 miles ago so I was hesitant that it could be the clutch. The replacement parts were all Valeo, which appears to be what MINI actually uses. The only thing not replaced was the fork. But with no other real clues I decided that it might be a throw-out bearing. So I bit the bullet, replaced just it. I inspected the clutch mechanisms as best as I could without removing them and couldn't identify anything really wrong. But if it's the springs inside the DMF starting to fail, I don't think I could have visually seen that. After the throwout bearing replacement, the sound remained.

I came here to post the video of the noise and ask for assistance identifying it. And I did one last search and found this post which I didn't find on my previous searches. Grrrr. I was so close. Oh well, at least this time it should come apart faster. I might not even need to print out my instructions. So time to start ordering parts. This time I'm going to replace the fork as well. Time to decide about DMF or not.

 

I've listened to your video & it does sound quite similar to mine. As I said in December, it's not consistent but hasn't changed for years. I'll hit 160,000 next time out.

 

Yep. DMF chatter. Mine did that as well for a couple of years. Solved when I converted to a SMF.