Mini - Cooper :: Shimmy / Clunky Sound And Violent Wheel Shake
Jul 31, 2014
Car: 2004 Mini Cooper, 103k miles
Issue 1: car shake- At about 70 mph the whole car (pedals, steering wheel, seats) has a shimmy. Car has 4 new (balanced) tires and the front wheel bearings have been replaced. I've been told possibly motor mounts.
Issue 2: clunky sound- we have the requisite pockmarked roads. When the car is cold there is a sound of something loose in the back end. Nothing has been found to be loose but the sound is... annoying. I've checked the spare tire and it is secure. What that could be?
Issue 3: violent wheel shake- Not exactly the most replicate of issues. Started a year ago in June - three times total now. When traveling at higher speed (65 plus) for longer times (75 min or more) when I'm not accelerating the steering wheel grabs and pulls to the right. It almost feels like the brakes are grabbing on one side but there's no noticeable wear on the brake pads. It takes quite a bit of strength to hold the wheel straight and when I accelerate, it dissipates. What could that be?
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I took my car in for an oil change and they said I should get the fuel injector and upper intake manifold and valve cleaning treatment. When I picked up the car I noticed a rattle or low pitched ticking sound coming from under the hood. The car has an automatic transmission and the noise frequency increases and decreases with the rpm's. It only happens with the car in "drive". For the seasoned followers, it sounds like the sound we got from fastening baseball cards onto our bike frames to make noise as the wheels turned - just describing the sound. When I took it back to the Mini dealership in Phoenix (who shall remain anonymous), they said I needed a new transmission.
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I have a 2002 Mini Cooper I bought a year and a half ago. The last couple of months when I shut my car off I sometimes hear a buzz sound near the center console and my trip odometer resets to zero, and my LED clock resets to 12 Midnight. Sometimes it happens when you open the door after turning the car off. In the Mini's there is a feature that the windows automatically lower a 1/4 inch when you open the doors, allowing air to escape when you shut the door after exiting. When this happens, sometimes that triggers the "buzz" sound and the reset thing happens. This doesn't seem to effect anything else, its just bothersome because I keep track of my miles with the trip odemeter, and I have to keep correcting the clock. Oh Yeah! one more thing that happens, when i am using the Air Conditioner and slow down after full speed, there is what I would describe as a power surge. All the dash lights go off for a split second then come back on.
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I have a 2004 superduty 250 4x4 with the 6.0. I am having a violent shake in the steering wheel mostly and can feel it in throttle at about 45 to 60 and at 72 there is s growel. Have changed tires, wheels checked all ball joints tie rods wheel bearings ujoints. Don't matter brakes on or off, od on or off nothing changes it. I really don't know what else to check.
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2002 SC430 with 50k miles. I have a set of aftermarket Dolce rims that are 18" with the stock size tires. I have the eccentric spacers on them as well. They have been mounted and balanced. I also have a set of Dunlop snow tires on my stock rims. Obviously I do a seasonal change over.
With either set of tires I am getting a steering wheel shake at 60-65 mph. By 80mph its gone and the car glides perfectly. There is no pulsation in the brake pedal and there is minimal wear on the pads. Below 60mph there is no issues as well.
Tires are wearing evenly. Some roads will make the movement worse, but it always goes away at around 80 mph.
Now both sets of tires were mounted and balanced by the same shop. I assume that could be it...there machine is faulty. But I would like some other possibilities before I try somewhere else.
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For the past few months when the vehicle is cold (by "cold" I dont mean physically cold, just mean it has been sitting all night in my driveway and it's still 90+ degrees outside) and I start driving, I seem to have this shimmy or shake in the tires/steering/steering wheel. Once my car seems to "warm up" (driving a mile or two) it goes away and my car is extremely smooth.
Could it be tires (I've tried rotating)? Suspension? Wheel bearings? I'm lost for even imagining what it could be. I don't believe it is engine/trans related, as it idles/revs just fine and shift perfectly...
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The clutch went out and the repair people tell me to replace the master cylinder, the slave cylinder and other related components to the tune.
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In the past month or so I've noticed some weird behavior out of my car. 2006 Mini Cooper 130K miles on it (still going strong!!) Automatic.
Scenario 1 - Driving in D accelerating at a normal pace (read, not gunning it) the RPM's spike rapidly from 3K to 4K and the car almost sounds like it's redlining. Once it hits 59-60 MPH it drops back down to 3K RPM and the rest of the acceleration is normal.
Scenario 2 - Cruising on the highway at about 70+. Normally start taking the foot off the gas to slow down with traffic and when my speed drops to about 60 MPH the RPMs spike again from around 3K to about 4K. When the car gets below 60 MPH the RPMs drop again. If i let the car come to a stop the RPMs decrease normally without any other spikes.
Scenario 3 - Driving in sport mode (yeah buddy) around 20-30MPH it almost feels like the car is not upshifting and the rpms go crazy. jump from 2500 to about 4-4500 and finally the car lurks forward.
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How to repair a 2009 mini cooper that started misfiring? What is the most common cause for misfiring?
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My 2002 Mini Cooper has been a faithful trooper since we bought it in 2002. It has carried me around at track days embarrassing faster cars at the track (pretty much anything else that shows up at a track day) due to its handling, picked up the groceries, and ferried the kids to countless activities in the last 12 years. It has just about 90K miles. Since this spring it has been giving the impression that is overheating after running for as little as 15 minutes. We've changed the thermostat, radiator and had the head off to replace the gasket and check it for warping.
We've also bled the system thinking it could be air trapped somewhere. My mechanic says that it isn't actually overheating - there is no fluid boil and it isn't using any coolant up. There are no leaks. He thinks it could be a bad gauge. I called MiniMania and they agreed that it is not overheating really and suggested that it is an electrical issue. They doubted it is the gauge and suggested running the engine at idle with the radiator cap off so I could check the temperature of the coolant with a thermometer as the temperature gauge did its thing moving into the red.
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We have a 2006 Mini Cooper Cabrio with 55K miles. The car is a lot of fun, but lately I've run into a problem: when starting movement and engaging first gear, as I release the clutch and engage the engine - the car/engine shakes briefly. Sometimes just a little bit, sometimes quite severely, but always noticeable and resonating through the car. This happens when you apply very little gas (less noticeably) and when you give considerably more gas (shakes a lot more and when it engages - gives an abrupt kick).
This also happens in the second gear, but not to the same degree. Today this happened every time i've shifted into first or second and i'm getting worried that we are in for some expensive repair on a fairly low mileage car.
I'm not new to manual transmission and have learned to drive on a car with a stick. I've been behind the wheel for 20 years with driving manual on and off for at least half the time.
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I just bought a 2005 Mini Cooper with the SES light on. Error message said misfired piston, so got a tune up and an ignition coil. Went off for about a day and back on. Put fuel injector cleaner in. Went off for a day and back on. What to do? In this for several hundred bucks thus far.
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I have 26,000 miles on my 2006 Mini convertible manual transmission. It started making noise while in gear. Took in to my mechanic and he says there is metal in the transmission fluid and that the metal around the ball bearings has failed and that, if he can't repair it, I'll need a new transmission for about 6500.00 Is this a common problem and do I have any recourse with Mini? I am the original owner of the car, but, of course, it's no longer in warranty.
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Why does the ac smell like dirty feet when I first turn it on?
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I'm in the process of buying a used 2008 Mini Cooper S with 44000 miles in good conditions but I wanted to get an opinion regarding a rear bumper crack. Please take a look at the attached photo and tell me what you think, not sure how serious it is or how much it will cost me to fix so I can negotiate the price.
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My 2005 Mini Cooper, manual transmission, has 82K miles. About a month ago, I noticed a loud sound coming from the engine when at speeds above 60mph. Over the next few weeks, the noise started happening at lower speeds as well, 30mph and up. Took it to the dealership and was informed that I needed a new transmission, which came as a great shock to me. Quote to replace is $3,600.
I took it to a transmission specialist for a second opinion. He determined that it likely was the differential causing the issue but that this couldn't be purchased alone as Mini will only sell the entire transmission, not specific parts for it.
Along with the transmission, the dealership also said that I have three oil leaks, need the water pump replaced, air conditioner recharged, control arm bushings and rear breaks replaced. Plus some misc work adding up to $6,500, which includes the new transmission.
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I am considering buying a 2011 Mini Cooper. One of the issues I'm wondering about is that I have been told that the Oil Change Warning Light has to be re-set by a dealership. I don't need the light because I always change oil at 3 K regardless of what thing says, but I don't want to have to pay the dealer to re-set an annoying light. Right now I'm driving an '06 Civic and I can reset that myself (it's not a light, just shows percentage of usage).
The other issue, b/t/w is what to do about a spare tire since I don't plan to pay for new run-flats.
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Just within the last 1000 miles my MINI has been randomly grinding into second gear (6 Speed Getrag Manual for the Cooper S) when turning right. It is a little notchy when traveling straight and beautifully smooth when turning left. When pulling out of my garage the other morning I went into second but purposely pulled the gear stick towards the right side of the gate and it did the same grinding thing that it does when going around right hand turns. It seems as though something is out of alignment? It feels like the shift linkage is not properly placing the internals of the transmission. It happens mostly when cold and once warm the random harsh grinding stops and it goes to simply really notchy.
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I have a 2003 Mini Cooper, and I'm having issues with the cabin blower fan. When it is cold outside, the fan works, but when it is hot outside, the fan doesn't work. It turns out, if I reach into the cabin airbox and give it a boost, it will start spinning again.
My guess is that the grease is old and junked up in there, and so when it is hot, it gets sticky and seizes up the motor. The main problem is on this year, the interior blower motor is only removable by taking the dash off and it is a big pain.
I want to ask if there are any recommended sprays or cleaners I can use on it without having to remove the dash. From the cabin filter airbox I can reach right into the fan's axle.
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My 2002 mini 6-speed stick licks to get stuck in the I park it in when its cold. After driving in that gear for 4 minutes it warms up and let's loose.
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OK, so my "Service Engine Soon" light came on recently. I tried the gas cap tightening suggestion. It turned off. A few miles down the road it came on again. I had a recall/service schedule (2005 model) so waited until I took it in, however the light turned off (again) before I went in. They did a whole service and (I believe) diagnostic and nothing came up. That was about a month ago and suddenly the morning the light came on again. I have some repairs/maintenance scheduled for end of July (gasket value leak and the right side the axles). The car is driving fine, no difference in feel/sounds.
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