Anybody have any problems getting into 1st gear after you car has sat over night? Had new clutch assembly replaced 8,000mi ago. Also clutch feels real sluggish when real cold outside.

Any insight on this problem?

thanks

Slave leaking could case this

There is probably air in the line. I'm not sure but I think the clutch gets it's fluid from the brake reservoir. If your fluid was low recently you could have sucked in some air. Usually this goes away on it's own after use. If not you may need to ahve the dealer blead the system.

No leaks.

I have a sluggish clutch pedal in extreme cold too, but it's fine after the car warms up.

It's not cold enough to cause this that often, and I have no issues the rest of the time. So I'm not worrying about it.

Sluggish clutch does go away but not getting it in gear is more a worry for me.

Give your car a few more minutes to warm up in the morning.
Emily (02 MCS) has the same issues when it's cold. When I start up in the morning, I gently pump the clutch, and then, while the clutch peddle is depressed, move the shifter gently into first, second and third before I take off. I also shift with care until she's warmed up.
We have hydraulic clutches, and it's the nature of the beast, I guess.I didn't think it got that cold in South Carolina.
Shows what I know....

Sometimes the shifter won't move smoothly into 1st gear on first try when it's been really cold and I haven't warmed up the car yet. In that case I do a quick shift to 2nd then back to 1st (the transmission in my old Sentra was this way too in the cold).

Lived in Germany for 2 years with the MINI and now on the Cape and I don't have this problem. If you ask me, something is wrong. In Germany I never "warmed" the car up as it is against the law. There is something wrong...

I would have to agree with you, I park my car in a garage. Its about 58 deg. in my garage on a cold morning. Dealership has my car this morning, waiting to see what they say.

Update,

Slave cylinder was leaking, just not enough so see it on the ground. Everything fixed for know.

I don't have this problem either. 2005 R53 S with almost 53K miles. Car is super responsive in 45F weather (This morning here in Miami, FL amazing eh?)

I have the latest OEM dual mass flywheel/clutch kit (Installed about a month ago) plus polyurethane bushing inserts for the fearbox to engine mount


Have it checked.

I was just going to post that the slave was leaking when I saw the first post. When the slave cylinder leaks in most vehicles fluid generally runs into the enclosed areas, not on the ground. I had this problem with my corvette and it drove me nuts. The fluid level should have been going down though, so it is always best to check the level on a regular basis.

best,

I'd be checking the levels of the brake fluid right?

Yep, mine too. Reverse is the same. I had it checked out and they told me it was just the cold weather. So feeling like I had been blown off.....I put a space heater in the garage next to the car just to experiment. Everything was just fine in the morning. Guess it was just cold!

That's what I thought until it was fixed, know it goes into gear no matter how cold the car is.

Yes, here is some info about the clutch and shared resevoir

http://www.clutchwizard.com/mini.htm

Glad you got it fixed. This can also happen if the fluid is old/dirty and has moisture in it, also when HOT out it (water) can boil as well causing similar results. But a leak is/was the first thing to check for.

Regards

Scott.

The big problem is that the boilling point of brake fluid is over 400 degrees and 2-3% moisture (what you have in many 4 year old cars) reduces the boiling point to 300 degrees--that is enough to have suden brake/clutch problems/failure under load.

The same thing happens with the viscosity (important in ABS systems and cluches)--water content changes viscosity. It may be that when the car is cold the viscosity is not within specs for the clutch and once the car "warms" the viscosity changes to acceptable limits for normal operation. (The volume also increases so if the level is a bit low, it will rise.)

Moisture also causes rust and deterioration of the seals and clutch.

I believe there are test strips available to determine moisture content, but changing the fluid at regular intervals is a good practice.

If my car was hard to get into gear when it was cold, I would first check the fluid levels and then I would check the age of the fluid. Putting a heater in the garage removes the symptom but does not solve the problem.

Preventive maintanence is the best tact.

BTW, be careful with the fluid--it is very corrosive and will remove paint and is highly flammable.

thanks very informative Site.

I have 2002 mini cooper s and just recently was not able to shift into to any gears. So took it to mini service and they changed out the clutch, fly wheel, and cables. I picked it up from them and not even a day later and still same issue. They said second time around was because there was an air bubble in the lines of fluid, but since then third time around the car works and then will not shift into gear. Any suggestions because the mini service people must have no clue what they are doing?

Well not sure what they did but did you ask for the old parts back? If it will not shift into any gear it is 1 of 2 things. The hydraulic clutch fluid is low or contaminated to the point of failure as a hydraulic fluid or the throw out bearing is jammed via the clutch fork and it is not allowing it to disengage/engage the flywheel. But if the engine is OFF you should be able to TAKE it OUT of gear and if you rock the car should be able to get it into a gear. If not it indicates to me it is an alignment issue. Whom did the clutch work on it and WHAT did they do? Did they CHANGE the fluid in the clutch and take out and flush the slave cylinder and ensure it was working correctly? It is not a complicated system so either misalignment or fluid issues is my guess. Have them FLUSH the fluid completely with FRESH (at a different garage) and see what that does. Also ensure they used DOT 4 brake fluid as if they mixed dot 4 with 3 or 5(full synthetic) it will have issues.

And air bubbles means they did not bleed the system and if not NEVER EVER take it there again there MORONS IMO....or just very careless.

Good luck

If the shop didn't have the right tool it may not be bleed correctly, start there that is the easiest thing to fix

After sitting in my garage for two years, I finally replaced the driver side axle. Now that it's back together, I can't shift into any gear. It doesn't matter whether the car is running or not. Any thoughts are appreciated.

I have one that is definitely not the slave cylinder. Release fork has zero play with slave cylinder unbolted from transmission. Valeo solid flywheel conversion kit. It's not possible to bolt down the pressure plate if installed backward.... right? I've done hundreds of these by the way. Any ideas?