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Maybe your Mini clutch is working fine. Maybe you’re starting to notice that the master cylinder fluid is going down slowly. Maybe the action just doesn’t seem the same. Maybe you are hearing some noises you don’t remember hearing before. The following are some quick checks even a beginner can do to make sure a clutch keeps operating correctly or to point one towards areas that may need some attention.
This article is intended for pre-verto clutches although much here will apply to the later, verto clutches as well. (You have a pre-verto clutch if the clutch slave cylinder sitting on top of the flywheel housing is mounted horizontally. If it tips down towards a stubby clutch arm, you have a verto clutch.)
By the way, at the end of this article you’ll find part numbers for many of the items mentioned.
From Pedal to Clutch –Inside the Car
The beginners’ guide to the clutch parts that you can examine and fix follows a path from the pedal on through the clutch housing to the throw out bearing. If you have a workshop manual like Haynes covering your car (you do have a workshop manual don’t you?) you can follow along in the pictures, or, even better, print this out and go out to the car.
Start at the pedal. That’s the one on the left, unless you have an automatic! Mini pedal assemblies are pretty long wearing. Unless you’ve been storing your Mini in a swimming pool or it has run over the 100,000-mile mark, the pedal usually will be OK. Occasionally a drop of oil or other lubricating fluid wouldn’t do any harm. If you can grab the pedal and rattle it around, it is probably time to get down there and take a closer look. (Hint: take the seat out. It makes it SO much easier.) There is a bushing and a shaft that might be wearing where the pivot point is on the pedal.
While you are there, take a look at the pedal pad. Time to replace it? Not a good idea to step on the pedal and have the pad, and your foot, slip off at an inopportune time – which would be any time you need to step on the clutch pedal! Here’s a money saving hint. Rotate the pad 180 degrees and put it back on. They only wear on one corner so, unless you’ve let it wear out completely, you’ll get twice the life. Even better, once both opposite corners are worn out, swap it with the brake pedal pad. The other corners are worn out on the brake pad. Four times the life!
Since you’ve been grubbing around with the pedal and the pad, did you notice if the pedal arm was a little moist? You might need to shine some light in there. Is there a black mark on the carpet where the pedal arm hits? This is a sign that the clutch master cylinder, which sits above the clutch arm in the engine compartment, is leaking. Not a good sign. It will need rebuilding or replacing. If you’ve been checking your clutch fluid and it has been going down, this is one possible reason. Also, if you’ve noticed that the clutch seems to engage much closer to the floor, but that if you pump on the pedal it engages where it used to, this is a possible reason.
The Rest of the story here!
