With the car in gear, driving down the road, I can put my foot on the clutch and press down about half an inch and th clutch starts to slip. Basically, the pedal is almost at the top of its stroke. When I take off, the pedal is getting higher and higher before the clutch is completely engaged.

Is there any adjustment in this system?

I fear the clutch is slowly wearing out and possibly needing replaced.

 

not trying to be an A##hole but he mini clutch is a SAC clutch so pedal height never really changes much. one day you just dont go anywhere.

 

Cruising along in 4th or fifth gear, depress the clutch, rev the motor to 55-6000 and release the clutch real fast. If it doesn't engage immediately and kind of gradually hooks up, it's near the end of it's life..

 

What does SAC stand for? Just curious.

I had a Ford Tempo with an adjustable hydraulic clutch. To reset the pedal, you pulled it up with your foot, then pumped it a bunch of times. Pedal was reset.


The clutch still hooks up nice and sharp. I wont worry.

Thanks for the input.

 

I've heard that the MINI has a Self Adjusting Clutch, but I've never heard any details about it, or how it works.

I've noticed over 3 years of ownership that (like Kennedy) the engagement point on my clutch has moved up very noticeably. So that, now it engages near the top of the pedal range.

This leaves me wondering...
Is the SAC just a PR rumor from MINI, or does the car actually have some kind of self adjusting mechanism for the clutch? If so, how does it work?

If the clutch is supposed to self adjust, why is my engagement point on my clutch moving toward the top of the pedal range?

I too am trying to understand if I'm going to need a new clutch soon.

 

Uh if yr out of warranty, consider a clutch and flywheel a little more H/D than the OEM unit, and will prob cost less. Since the dual-mass flywheel cannot be turned, MINI replaces both the clutch and FW at the same time to the tune of around $2,600, depending on local labor cost in yr area.

 

I just had my clutch replaced by the dealer. I had no idea how high the pedal was engaging. now its almost to the floor before it catches. definitely took some getting used to.

 

Self adjusting clutch is somewhat of a misnomer here. It's a hydraulic clutch & doesn't have any adjustment possibilities.

My experience with clutches of all kinds is that the engagement of the clutch gets higher & higher as it wears. Eventually it will start slipping. You will usually notice it slipping in high gear first.

 

How many miles on it, just wondering...

 

Well, only about 17K, but here's the thing... I used to *launch* with every start, until I noticed what it seemed to be doing to the clutch. Now I'm more gentle and hoping it'll be good for a while. I just wondered if that change in the engagement point meant what I thought it meant. Seems like it does.

 

Sounds like what I used to do to some extent. I have taken it easy for the last 5k miles and it has been fine, keep in mind i only have about 20k though.

 

The OEM organic clutch disk can sort of 'heal' itself slightly as it wears. The pressure plate and flywheel, however do not and can develop hot spots that will lead to slipping and possibly your engagement point change. Those changes in the metal surfaces are perminant and will only get worse.

This stresses the point of having a good teacher when learning to drive manual, so that you can avoid damaging internals.

 

I learned to drive a stick over 30 years ago on big-block V8's and never had problems with clutch wear. But I think that coming back to a manual transmission after almost 20 years, on a car that has very different driving characteristics, is part of the problem.

Back in the day, the torque curve was very different. You could engage the clutch at RPMs above the stall point, and the engine would pull consistently as you applied the gas. With these little guys, you need to slip the clutch and keep the RPMs up slightly to get the same feel at take-off. Also, because torque is lacking at low RPMs, it initially felt like I was near the stall point if I launched at low RPMs. It took a while to learn that I could normally take off from a stop at pretty low RPMs (way before the engine delivered any torque). Then I had to learn to ease up on the gas pedal as I got rolling to maintain an even rate of acceleration as the torque (super charger) kicked in.

When I started driving this little car I expected the same 'feel', and drove it the same way I drove those V8's. I didn't think there was a problem till that engagement point started creeping up. I'd still prefer to drive it the 'old' way. I like the way it feels. But, I don't want to replace my clutch every 25K. So, I'm adjusting.