R53 gearbox away?

[miker916]

Hi all,
I'm after a bit of advice. Drove my cooper s to a local independent with a suspected wheel bearing problem. Symptoms are a constant droning noise that changes slightly depending on road surface. Sat with the mechanic while we took it out - 'its you're rear offside bearing' was the diagnosis.
Got back to the garage and he put it on the ramp to confirm, no noise when he spun the wheel (no noise on any of the wheels when spun).
He then got me to listen at the gearbox while he rotated the front wheels, you can hear a 'ticking' noise, its like wheel bearings clicking in their housing. (its a quite noise).
The new diagnosis is the bearings on the diff/gearbox are knackered, requires a reconditioned box @ approx £750.
My cooper s is an 05 and have confirmed with BMW it does have the LSD.

The gearbox does not have the MTF 94 oil in to cure the groaning noise on full lock - yet - I was going to do that at the weekend.

Does it sound like I have a knackered gearbox?

Cheers
Mike

[Mon the fish]

Unusual for the R53 gearbox to go. What mileage have you done?

[john]

it would be the first one |I have heard of

[miker916]

It's done 59000 miles

[Gismo]

There's a distinct difference with loading when checking for a faulty bearing, simply turning the wheel on a ramp compared to when out on the road with all the weight of the car on the wheels is a different matter, i'd seek a second opinion.
It's difficult to diagnoise on the forum