2006 Mini Cooper S w/ 4700 miles on it, on my way to anniversary dinner w/ the girlfriend, light turns green, 1st gear, a little gas, trying to shift into second gear, boom - clutch pedal stuck to the floor... so instead of dinner, waiting for the tow truck for two hours (oh, and did I mention in 115 degree weather? ...).
Turns out that the clutch slave cylinder failed. Anyone else have this problem before ?

 

Wow, sorry to hear that. Did you follow the break-in procedure when you first got the car? 4700 miles seems like a very early time for the clutch to go on the brink.

Oh and I hope the gf wasn't too mad at you. I know mine would have been =P

 

U might want to try this ? on the performance mods- drivetrain sub forum.

 

Break in procedure would have nothing to do with the slave cylinder failing.

All in all, it is a minor fix and not any indication of a bad engine or tranny.

 

It was the slave cylinder.. not the clutch.. has nothing to do with break-in

 

SORRY TO HEAR OF YOUR CLUTCH TROUBLE WITH YOUR "NEW" MINI
....THAT WAIT DID SUCK...HOPEFULLY...YOU WILL BE BACK MOTORIN'
SOON....JUST ONE OF 'THOSE' THINGS THAT JUST HAPPENS...I HAD A
NEW FORD F-150...TWO WEEKS AFTER PURCHASE...TRANNY WENT OUT
COMPLETELY....THAT SUCKED..!!!

 

Wow! Some one is VERY PATIONATE about their opinion.

 

Sorry guys, I'm a newbie to the MINI, let alone to manual driving

 

It IS very unusual for a hydraulic item to go bad so soon, but ANYTHING for ANY car can be defective out of the box. Something I know from working a total of eight years at NAPA stores.

 

ACTUALLY, EVERYTHING QWKSLVR POSTS IS IN BOLD RED CAPS. I THINK IT IS BOTHERSOME TO READ AND I'LL PROBABLY BE ADDING ONE MORE MEMBER TO MY IGNORE LIST PRETTY SOON.

 

So...aside from some annoying shouting on the boards...

This exact same thing happened to me last week driving home from work, I have 22K miles, clutch pedal stuck to the floor, was the slave cylinder. Interesting thing my dealer said was that they are replacing these things like crazy, and that currently the part is backordered across the country. In order to get one owner's fixed they actually had to swipe a cylinder from one of their new cars on the lot while they waited for a replacement. The only reason I got mine fixed same day was because someone else was coming in to have theirs replaced and had to move out the appointment.

The guy in the service department said there is something definitely going on with the slave cylinder around the country - he said it might be related to the extreme heat, but I doubt that would be a cause of so many going. Anyone else had this issue? Apparently there are many of us out there.

 

I would surmise something wrong with the seals in the cylinder, or a poor material make-up.

 

Sorry to hear about your clutch troubles - hope the new one lasts for the life of the car. Was there any hint of trouble before it failed totally?

 

 

Thanks for all the answers ! No, there were absolutely no signs for the cylinder failing, what-so-ever.
I did check the BMW pricings for those cylinders, and they show them at a very low list / dealer net price, ususally an indication that they rank this as a problem part, they write it down so the warranty repairs look better in the books, $$$-wise ...
they fixed it within a day, no complaints there. still sucks when it happens, though ...

 

This happened to me in rush-hour traffic about a month ago -- just over 20K miles. Scared the daylights out of me, but the response I got from the service folks at the dealer confirmed it's happening a lot. Somehow that made me feel better. In any case, they had it fixed within a day or so. The clutch is actually better now than it was when I drove it off the lot at delivery. I'm afraid I can't offer any additional insight as to the cause . . . just confirmation that it does seem to be a bit of an epidemic.

 

My slave cylinder went out last night. Backing out of parking spot, went to put it in first and nothing. Had to wait 2 hours for a tow and am now waiting to talk to the dealer. Hopefully, I can get a loaner and get it fixed quickly. I also have to have them look at my leaking engine damper.

 

My local club (MetroplexMINI.org) has had a rash of bad clutch slave cylinders... at least 3 or 4 in the past couple months. Mine went out last week.

 

Just a suggestion, but because this just may happen to you on some 'dark and stormy night' in some undesirable place, there is a solution. Learn to drive without using your clutch.

You can even start from a stop, and shift and stop and pull out again. If done 'properly' you can get to a safer place or even home. If done properly it won't hurt your transmission either.

I won't go into the actual details here because I'm guessing I'm going to get a lot of grief over this post. I will just never sit two hours waiting on a tow truck, especially if I'm not comfortable where I broke down. I'll drive the car and get somewhere else.

Anyone can learn to do this if you choose.

OK, I'm bracing myself for the onslaught of comments.

YD

 

With most of the slave cylinder problems that have happened of late, it isn't a complete failure of the hydrolic system... just a leak that causes sloppy clutch performance and causes the clutch to engage over the course of 3-5 seconds, even when you have your foot on the pedal. In this case, the car is probably still driveable... just not 100% safe. I'd rather drive it to a safe location than leave it on the side of the highway.

My tips for driving w/ a bad slave cylinder.

1. If the clutch drops to the floor and stays there, shift to neutral and pull over carefully.

2. Llift the pedal, either by hand or with the toe of your shoe.

3. Pump the pedal several times in rapid succession to pressurize the system. If the pedal stays down again, call roadside assistance... nothing here is gonna help you.

4. The key is to keep off of the clutch as much as possible. If you hold it down for any length of time, it will depressurize completely and the pedal will stick to the floor again. Wait until you have a good bit of free road in front of you and then clutch-in, shift to 1st, clutch out as quickly as possible. Accelerate hard, lift off of the gas, pull the gear to neutral (no clutch) and then pump the clutch 5-6 times quickly.

5. For each gear change, Clutch-in and shift up, release quickly. Pump clutch again 5-6 times and release. Keep doing that (pumping before and after each gear change) until you get to a safe location.

6. Don't downshift... just pull the car out of gear into neutral and use the brakes to stop the car. Leave the car in neutral when stopped with your foot off of the clutch.

7. Get to a safe spot as quickly as possible. Once it starts to go, you have a limited time until things get much worse.

 

agranger... thanks for the tips... i hope when my mini arrives, I never have to follow these steps, but if it means getting my mini out of a dangerous situation, I will. (if I can remember them!)

I have to say, this problem sounds ridiculous for a brand new car. if there are so many of these slave cylinder problems, why isn't this a recall or technical bulletin?

p.s. - this is not a good post for us Mini-in-waiting almost owners to follow

 

done that! But not in my Mini, the clutch cable in my Mustang broke. In bumper to bumper traffic. It was a pain, but I made it home.... Just takes some technique and some patience....

Matt

 

The key is to keep off of the clutch unless you are pressurizing it by pumping. Make your clutch-in/shift/clutch-out as quick as possible (holding the clutch down depressurizes the system) and pump quickly before and after shifts to keep the pressure up.

I agree... this crap shouldn't happen to a new car (10 months old, 14k miles), but there have been a lot of slave cyl. failures in the past few months. I've heard of part backorders in some areas of the country.

They are cheap parts ($30 or so), so I've thought of buying one to keep in the garage. Just like when I carry an umbrella, it never rains; maybe if I have a spare slave cylinder, it won't go out again.

 

you don't need the clutch pedal at all! Starting is a PITA though....

Matt

 

I agree it is a PITA, and it shouldn't happen with a new car, but a lot of things shouldn't happen in life, but they do and I think it is wise to be prepared with a little knowledge so you aren't stranded with your wife and kids in a situation that could become unpleasant.

If you don't think you can do this, then don't. I will not take any responsibiltiy for any damage that happens to your car. I have broken a lot of clutch cables and bent a lot of parts and have done this many times, just like Dr. Obnxous and many others have surely done.

As we all know, a lot of people aren't very nice anymore. If I was in a nasty place, I wouldn't care what I tore up to keep my family safe. But done properly, you won't hurt anything. Here is what I do.

For this procedure, it doesn't matter what your clutch pedal is doing. You do have to have a clutch (not the pedal, but the clutch) that is engaged. If the actual clutch blows, then this won't work. What we are talking about here is a clutch that is working, but you can't release it because the slave or master cylinder is blown.

If the engine is cold, slip the xmission into neutral and start and warm up the engine. Each time you start the engine you will have to push the clutch pedal in to engage the safety switch if it has one. On old cars, this is not necessary.

Turn off the engine. Slip the transmission into first. Start the engine. The car will start rolling immediately and the engine will start and you will be moving under the power of the engine. If only getting off the road or a very short distance to get to a safer place, then keep the revs under control and steer to a safe place. When you are ready to stop, pull the shifter out of first and back to neutral if it will move easily. If it won't just turn the key off.

If you desire to go a greater distance, then accelerate nicely in first, and as you are letting off the gas, tug gently on the shifter. It will slide out of first. Now while coasting, gently pull toward second, just a nice steady pull. Don't force anything. You may have to play with the gas pedal to get the engine speed just right, but when right, the shifter will slip into second. Give it more gas and go faster. Keep doing this through as many gears as neccessary, but if you make it to third, then you can just stay there until you need to stop.

To stop, pull the shifter into neutral and use your brakes as usual. Turn the engine off, slip into first, and when ready to go again, turn the key and start all over again.

Just never force anything. With a little practice, you could drive across the country this way. Not fun, but you are not sitting on a lonely highway on a dark rainey Sunday night either.

OK, I'll shut up now.

YD