I did a full oem clutch change (clutch, pressure plate, flywheel, t/o bearing, guide tube, shift fork bushings, slave cylinder, etc) about 3k miles ago.

Recently I have noticed that the clutch pedal feels fine when the engine is cold but after my 30 min drive to work and the engine is fully warmed up, the pedal gets squeaky & stiff. If you try and push the pedal slowly its feels rough and crunchy like if it was poorly lubricated.

I installed a new oem slave cylinder when I did the clutch change and I bled it the old school way but with the cylinder compressed (the way the manual says you should do it). Do the symptoms sounds like an improperly bled system?

I am thinking of switching out the plastic slave for a different one, possibly retrofitting this aluminum one from an E46:

Similar to how densmini put in an S10 slave cylinder on his car:

I followed the instructions word for word during the clutch change, including the application of the grease on the guide tube outer surface and the t/o bearings inner surface. Hopefully the sound/problem is coming from the outside of the tranny where it is more accessible.

Anyone have any similar experience or advice?

 

do you see brake fluid on your floorboard?

 

where does the squeak appear to be coming from?

 

As in the interior floor of the car? No, I have not seen any. Nothing makes me suspect the master cylinder thus far.

It is coming from outside the car near the slave cylinder. It is hard to tell if it is coming from the slave itself or whether it is a noise from a transmission/clutch component (t/o bearing or fork shaft). But it is something I should probably determine.

 

Sounds to me like the standard problem with the early Gen1 throw-out bearings, which I understand were slightly modified later. Are you sure you got the most recent version?

 

2nd that...


I know with my slave I had to grease the end of the arm where it meets to get it to stop squeaking(marine grease), only worked for a little while. but if it's hard to push that's a different problem

FYI, an improperly bled system wouldnt disengage the clutch fully, you can feel it in the pedal, if it's got resistance all the way to the top, the hydraulics are probably good.

 

My car is a very late build 06, so it had the latest t/o bearing with the rubber liner on the interior diameter. The replacement I used also had the same liner. I'm not aware of any other changes that MINI made to the t/o bearing.

I guess it is pretty low risk that it is a bleeding issue seeing as how the pedal feels fine when the engine is cold.

 

Just wanted to update this thread with the results of my tracking down of the noise. It ended up being the interface between the slave cylinder plastic output shaft and the plastic spherical cap that gets mounted to it. I put a good amount of heavy grease on the interface and now it is squeak/crunch free!

 

I finally got under my car and it seems like the noise is coming from the slave cylinder as in your case, which is a bit of a relief.

Two questions: where, specifically, did you apply the lubricant and what type did you use? My slave has a rubber boot over it like the first figure on 210-4 of the bentley manual.

I assume you were able to apply the lube simply by removing the slave from the transmission while keeping the fluid lines pressurized, or did you have to to go through the process of bleeding the hydraulic system?

 

-Remove the slave cylinder from the transmission (no need to touch/open hydraulic system)
-Remove the spherical cap on the end of the output shaft (it pops off)
-I used a heavy and thick grease and applied it liberally to the ball end of the output shaft as well as socket end of the cap. I don't think the exact specs really matter.
-Reassemble

Here is a pic of the cylinder, the cap is on the bottom right:

 

My Squeak just went away one day and never came back for a year or so until I put a clutchmaster stage 2 in it.

 

Excellent and informative. Makes me feel great, knowing I may be able to repair this myself for little or no money. These are the kinds of answers that I love to hear.

Plus one on the easy fix!!! Thank you for the great picture and the write-up!!