so today while leaving campus (crossing perimeter, stopped at a light) i accelerated in first and stepped in the clutch to change to second (4k rpms) and the engine didn't rev down and i couldn't easily pull the car out of first. since my gears are so tall and i live right off the road that i was on, i just left it in first and got home (speed limit is 35 and my first will go to 47mph) and turned the car off.

I can shift through all the gears with the car off no problem, and i still have clutch pedal feel. If i step the clutch in and start the car it will start and not go anywhere with the e-brake (in gear) but you can feel the car jerk like crazy as the clutch is partially engaged.
you cannot put the car in any gear other than the one you had it in when you started the car once the car is on (i havent and will not ram it into a gear)
but when the clutch pedal is released, the clutch grabbs completely and does not seem to slip (smooth accel all the way to 47, minus the start of course)

i havent changed the brake/clutch fluid in ~ a year, and was going to do it soon, but i highly doubt this is due to old fluid.

It could be the slave cylinder i guess, but there isn't any fluid leaking out of the boot (yet?) and i still have pedal pressure.

any ideas?
im trailering it to the dealer today at ~10:am if no one has any ideas/knows what this could be (they owe me .5hrs of labor anyways)
the clutch/flywheel was replaced last christmas break, and the clutch lines flushed shortly after when one of the quick fittings came loose and all the fluid drained out.

 

Check the master/slaves for leaks/failure (hopefully this is the issue)....but I'm guessing the throw-out bearing has failed....
Just a guess, and it is based upon my local MINI mechanic saying that 50% or so of the clutches he replaces on MINI's have usable friction material, but have failed...either from gualled or melted throwout bearing.

 

Sounds like your salve to me. I had an Explorer do the exact same thing when the salve went south.

 

well, talked to a few mechanics and had one drive it and the general consensus is the exact details of my problem sounds more like the pressure plate went south. So we are going to replace it with a stocker and I'm most likely selling the car (going to an r56, and dumping this neon engine.. sorry guys but thats what it is...)

 

You are selling a car because a pressure plate went south? I wouldn't trade my R53 for an R56...

 

Sorry to hear your issues....but lots of 03's were iffy builds....and it is getting up there in years...
BUT I know several folks that had r56's and sold them to buy r-53's.....usually the 05 or 06's.
just something to consider.

 

Hi! New member here! I just got a 2006 MCS and I am totally in love with it, so glad to be joining this community. Quick background on my ride, it's got 32k miles, Alta sport catback exhaust, Alta CAI, MSD ignition and new spark plugs. Other than that it's totally stock, with the stock wheels tires and clutch. Yeaa she's a beaut

I'm reviving this thread because my car is experiencing similar issues as soccerbummer1104's was, where the clutch won't fully disengage. However, my issues just started today where I accidentally put the car in 2nd gear during a downshift when I meant to put it in 4th. I was doing about 75mph at the time (yeaa, real dumb I know!), I stomped on the clutch immediately after hearing the engine spin too much, slammed the brakes and pulled over. My friend said he saw the engine rev past 8000! As I slowed the car down it wouldn't let me shift at all, and once I stopped the vehicle the clutch pedal stayed depressed for about a minute before rising back up slowly and starting to actuate again normally. We started the car up and the clutch slipped until it was engaged normally, but it wouldn't disengage once the vehicle was moving. I drove the car home by rev-matching and just popping it into gear (wasn't that far to the freeway at which point no more shifts were required). It drove fine once in gear.

Luckily the engine appears to have no damage, it started right back up, the temperatures were fine, no fluids leaking. Also the transmission seems to be okay, and shifts smoothly through the gears when the engine is off. There was minimal grinding during my hotshifting as there were very few shifts required and the tranny just popped right into gear once the rpms were right, so hopefully no major issues there.

Anyhow, soccerbummer, what was it that got your car fixed? Any idea what might be wrong with mine?

 

Ok, got my car fixed! Here was what I went through to get it fixed...

I started with a visual inspection, removed the airbox to check the flexy junction between the hard metal clutch fluid lines.

I then attempted to bleed the clutch after fabricating a slave cylinder compression tool from some c clamps and a cross piece. I DO NOT RECOMMEND DOING THIS! I ended up braking the slave cylinder seal in the process, as it turns out the seal will break if you over compress the slave cylinder. If you want to bleed your own clutch, proceed with EXTREME CAUTION. It is wayyy more difficult than on other cars, I honestly wish I had just sucked it up and paid someone $100 to do it, I would've avoided an extra $300 for the slave cylinder repair.

After certifying that I was unable to fix it myself, I took my mini to Mini Werks of San Carlos CA. They're a small independently owned shop and have been working on Mini's since 2002 I believe. They're totally awesome, both guys who run the shop have Mini Cooper's of their own that they race. They replaced my busted slave cylinder and properly bled the system, but that didn't fix the problem. They then took my transmission out and noted that my pressure plate had actually cracked in three places. Yikes! They told me that they had NEVER seen this before in all their years of working on minis, and that I actually should probably contact someone at BMW about it because it was indicative of a manufacturing defect. Oh well, makes me feel better that it probably wasn't my crappy driving! Also they noted LOTS of wear on the clutch, and that the throwout bearing barely moved so that the clutch was probably slipping a lot even with proper driving technique. They also recommended I replace the front bushings with performance ones to help the handling and since they had the front end apart anyway, it was only an extra $300. They also had a ever so slightly used stock flywheen sitting around that they sold me for $110 (my flywheel wasn't in so good of shape, had some heat spots). All in all my bill came out to about $2300 for all the work, which was actually nearly $1000 less than quotes I had gotten from other shops in the area. Also, the guys at Mini Werks are just awesome and really do deserve to be paid for their work. I felt like they were mechanics I could trust, and after having spent a few months doing oil changes at a Midas while I was in high school, I feel I've learned a thing or two about telling the difference between mechanics who do good work and those who don't.

Anyhow, I hope you guys can learn something from my experience!

 

Just to note, my Mini is a 2006 with only 32k miles. The wear on the clutch was odd, I've only put about 500 miles on it. It was previously owned by an older lady, and then buy a guy who's into racing, so somehow between the two of them the clutch got pretty abused. If you're buying a first gen mini, I would highly recommend budgeting for the clutch job as there is not a good way to tell whether your clutch will go out at 32k like mine did, or if it will last to 80k-100k like some others will. I was lucky enough to have anticipated this repair and budgeted appropriately.