Clutch not covered under warranty???

[gregsmini]

Originally Posted by hoonu

Greets, fellow sufferers.

I've been reading and posting on the various clutch problem threads. I have an '08 Clubman, (Non-S), with 49K, 90% highway miles. Last week, backing out of a parking spot, the car bucked and stalled, like I had dumped the pedal. Since, it's had a lot of chatter pulling away from stops, going forward or reverse.

2) Since I'm out of the new vehicle warranty,

THX!

Are you sure you are out of new vehicle warranty?

From MiniUSA website:

4-year/50,000 Mile Limited Warranty
At MINI, our commitment to quality, durability and customer satisfaction is clearly demonstrated by a 4year/50,000 mile MINI New Passenger Car Limited Warranty

You say you have 49k on your Clubman. I would confirm with dealer that you are out of warranty before driving and putting any more miles on your car. You will turn that 50k mark soon and it will definitely be too late!!

[dorkdog]

Hi,

I love my mini but with 18K miles on the clock I'm afraid to let it go any further than it already has - it's a bit intimidating having this clutch thing hanging over my head every mile I drive. I'm beginning to wonder if it is worth it.

I do like the car though - it's a lot of fun!

[hoonu]

Originally Posted by gregsmini

Are you sure you are out of new vehicle warranty?

From MiniUSA website:

4-year/50,000 Mile Limited Warranty
At MINI, our commitment to quality, durability and customer satisfaction is clearly demonstrated by a 4year/50,000 mile MINI New Passenger Car Limited Warranty

You say you have 49k on your Clubman. I would confirm with dealer that you are out of warranty before driving and putting any more miles on your car. You will turn that 50k mark soon and it will definitely be too late!!

Thanks for the info. I did discuss it with the SA at the dealer, and the answer was that the clutch plate and associated parts are considered wear items. If it was a failure and had it happened during the free maintenance period, I'd have been "covered." Unfortunately, not at 49K. BUT, read below for the "happy ending."

Originally Posted by dorkdog

Hi,

I love my mini but with 18K miles on the clock I'm afraid to let it go any further than it already has - it's a bit intimidating having this clutch thing hanging over my head every mile I drive. I'm beginning to wonder if it is worth it.

I do like the car though - it's a lot of fun!

Yours is a non-S, correct? Mine too; from what I read, failures on the less powerful car are pretty infrequent. Mine turned out to be temporarily glazed; I was able to re-scuff it, and now it works smoother than when new. So, Motor on!

[Ben-Jammin]

I'm so glad I found this thread :D

Here's another story to add to the clutch-ter-fukt pile...

A few facts... I have a '07 MCS hardtop w/ 37k miles. No modifications other than a JCW exhaust and some coil over springs to drop the ride height. I have been driving/owned only manual cars for 14 years. This is my first new car experience with dealers and warranties. I went to South Bay Mini/BMW in Torrance, CA.

I noticed the clutch slipping, similar to those described by others on this thread, on 05.18.11. I didn't know what to make of it at first and decided to continue driving till I could get time to head to the Mini dealer. I figured nothing serious could happen because I've had clutch problems before and they're usually a "slow painful death" with well over 90-100k miles on the car. However, the clutch went out on me 2 days later. It was after hours, so I had them tow it to my place and used another car in the meantime.

I finally found time to take it to the dealer on 05.27.11. I described what had happened to the SA and he looked up my warranty. I'm well under the mileage, but am slowly approaching the 4th year. When he saw the warranty date, his exact words were "Well your warranty already expired in October 2011, so yeah, it's not going to be covered no matter what" I looked at him with a straight face and asked him, "Are you sure it can't be covered under the warranty?" It took him a while to realize what year it was, but he eventually told me that the transmission would be covered and not the clutch. The only way to tell would be to open the car up. This is where I should have been concerned, but I'm a newbie when it comes to handling a (to quote dorkdog) "stealership"

They cracked open the car on 05.28.11 and the SA told me the warranty doesn't cover it and the repairs are going to be $4100 with parts and labor. I (very idiotically) authorized the repair and the car will be fixed by tomorrow 06.01.11.

Following the advice of people on this thread, I've decided to follow these steps in getting my repair costs covered by Mini USA or the dealer:

1. When I pick up my car, I tell the SA my concern w/ such an early failure of the clutch.

2. Speak to the manager about the issue and the type of service I received from his SA.

3. Call Mini USA. Make reference to NAM and the several complaints from the users about early clutch failure and poor service concerning the warranty.

4. Make a claim with BBB Auto Line and contact the AG (Thank you Sklape)

Wish me luck tomorrow and if there's any more advice I can get from anyone, let me know

[koitus]

5. If all the above fails, do NOT have the dealership fix your car. Go to a reputable non-dealer mechanic. You'll save a crapload of money.

Good luck, Ben-Jammin!

[tbaker]

Good luck. Let us know how it goes.

[Juancho]

Ive only had my car for 800 miles, so no clutch problems here. Before I bought my car, these boards scared the crap out of me! But someone reminded me that people aren't going to post here just to say "Hey, just checking in. My car is running great! Thanks!" You're gonna see a lot of issues on these boards because of all the information and knowledgeable people here.

If you are concerned you're not driving your manual trans properly, look up some how-to's on the best practices. I had a Jetta before my MINI and drove it to 105K miles. I used to beat the hell out of that transmission. Downshifting and compression braking was part of my daily habits. I would come off an exit and drop it into 3rd to slow down because I was 'saving wear on the brakes.' This is how I was taught to drive manual, so I always thought this was common practice. When in reality, better to have to get one extra set of brakes over the life of the car than to get 1 transmission. I don't drive the same in my MINI though. Rarely do I downshift to brake. Mostly when I do it's out of old habits, but Im quickly learning not to do that.

This post is mostly for the worriers out there, who may be thinking that 9/10 MINIs are gonna have issues. All of these posters having issues w/ their clutch before 75k is totally unacceptable, and I bet in most cases was faulty hardware more than user error, and the dealer should cover it if it's still under warranty. But I wouldn't be afraid to drive my car because of it. Just drive it as you normally would and if something goes wrong, just arm yourself with all the info on this site.

[onefish2]

The clutch on my 09 JCW hardtop with 28,000 miles starting slipping over the past month. Except I did not know what it felt like when the clutch slips. Lucky me as I have been driving manual transmission cars for the past 20 years. I have a 94 Acura Integra with 150,000 miles sitting in my drive way. It still has the original clutch.

When the clutch slips power is built up but not delivered to the wheels. I saw the RPMS on the tach shoot up from 3000 RPMs in 6th gear to 5000 RPMs. There was also a horrible burning smell. I would step off the gas and apply pressure to the gas pedal more slowly and all was OK. Never an issue as I went from 1st to second to third etc. Only saw this happen in 6th gear when I would want to speed up quickly...like to pass someone.

I was out driving one night and the clutch totally went out on me. No power to the wheels at all. So I had to coast over to the shoulder. I had my car towed to Prestige MINI the next day not really knowing what I was in for.

I read through this thread and a few others. Its really a mixed bag as to how this gets resolved. I was very lucky as the next day I got a call from my SA stating "come pick up your car its been repaired."

They told me they gave me a one time good will repair and that they covered it under the cars maintenance plan. The entire clutch and assembly were replaced. So much for the other threads where people posted that the dealer would not help them out because the clutch is wear and tear item.

I was told that if I had to pay for the repairs it would be around $3000.

A big thank you goes out to the service department at Prestige MINI... Thanks!!!