Today my son was driving our 2008 Mini Cooper clubman S and I get a call that the car won’t move. Starts fine and can shift gears but no movement like in neutral. Clutch pedal feels soft and he said he heard a pop sound. Any clues where to start. Got car back to house and checked a few things. Brake fluid level is fine. Checking on master slave cylinder next. Last thing we did was brakes and rotors all around plus flush of fluid.

 

This would probably get more responses in a generation specific technical forum.

As far as shifting gears, if it is a manual does it feel positive in it's engagement or sloppy? If sloppy, I would suspect the shifter cable came off the trans or shifter, or maybe it snapped. If not, I would look under the car at the driveshafts. It may have suffered a CV axle failure. Jack it up and see how freely the wheels turn while in gear. there should be movement of the drive shafts when you try to spin the wheels.

 

I am guessing the clutch went away!

 

Ya, prolly the clutch fork..

 

I can shift gears normally ... same clutch in or out. I see levers moving on top of transmission. Fixing to jack up car and see what happens with axles. Seems like it is staying in neutral even though shifting.

 

oh... my kid says he heard a pop sound when this happened.

 

Got the car up on the jack stands. In neutral, front wheel turns freely and other front does not move, same when rotating right wheel left does not move. When in gear, I turn left wheel forward and right rotates the opposite way. This may be ok. Started car and put in first and slowly let out on clutch and wheel started to turn with clutch almost all the way out. Do you guys think I just need to try and bleed the clutch master slave cylinder?

 

It could be the differential spider gears have snapped, or if it has posi traction, it could have blown. Jacked up with trans in gear, if you block one wheel, can you still turn the tire on the other side? (the engine should hold it back) If you can not turn it, it goes back to a clutch issue.
This is tough to diagnose online, if you are not familiar, the way the system all works.

 

Update. Bled clutch master slave cylinder. Ton of air in there now clutch feels much better. Car will not start with clutch out and when car is running I can not shift into gear without clutch in. Car is jacked up off of the ground in the front and letting off the clutch pedal, wheels start to move. Thought I had it figured out so dropped it on the ground to test. Nope, still cannot drive it out of the garage. When I had it in the air and tires moving, the speedometer did not move at all.

 

Today I wanted to see what happens when I tried to drive the car out of the garage. Put in 4th gear foot on brake was able to let fully out on clutch with out stalling.

 

My son's 09 clubman S did the same exact thing did you figure out what it was same as your son heard a pop from underneath then wouldn't move

 

Hi, I have an 08 mini cooper s and the same thing happened to it. Did you get it fixed? Can you tell me what it was?

 

Clutch fork if manual trans, got to do the clutch and new clutch fork. They bend and snap in the middle with wear. R55-R61 2007+ 23117568467

https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2007-...h/Clutch_Fork/

 

[QUOTE=xlr8tn;4479558]Today my son was driving our 2008 Mini Cooper clubman S and I get a call that the car won’t move. Starts fine and can shift gears but no movement like in neutral. Clutch pedal feels soft and he said he heard a pop sound. Any clues where to start. Got car back to house and checked a few things. Brake fluid level is fine. Checking on master slave cylinder next. Last thing we did was brakes and rotors all around plus flush of fluid.[/Q OK MY FRIEND HAS 2012 MINI COOPERDID SAME THING WHAT HAPPEN WAS HE PUT BRAKE PADS ON WRONG BOUND THE CALIPER. i ASKED HIM IF IT WASPULLING HE SAID NO.AFTER INVESTIGATING NOT ONLY THE CV JOINT DRIVRS SIDE POPPED OT BUT HE KILLED THE SPIDER GEAR THE POP WAS SPIDER GEAR AND CV JOINT. I JUST REPLACED THE CLUTCH AND CV JOINT BUT STILL HAVE ISSUE WHEN IN GEAR THE AXLES SPIN FREE PUZZLING CLUTCH IS IN CORRECTLY SPIDER GEAR STILL HAS TO ENGAGE TO LOCK UP TO MOVE STILL INVESTIGATING .EVERY CAR IVE WORKED ON WITH MANUAL TRANSMISSIONS IN GEAR WHEELS DONT TURN. I WILL WAIT FOR COOPER MECHANIC TO CALL ME BACK AND I POST BACK TO YOU