Hey there,
I have an interesting problem going on, hoping someone will be able to help. My clutch is not slipping, however very often while driving, it will not let me put the car into gear. I'll be driving along, and the gearbox will start to get very rough, and then will not let me change. If I pull over for a minute, it loosens up and is fine. My clutch is also very spongy and makes a squeaking noise. Also, when taking off from first gear the notorious "chewbaka" noise starts to moan. I'm thinking I need to replace my clutch/pressure plate/ throwout bearings in hopes that this will solve the problem. The flywheel however, my shop told me could not be resurfaced. Is this true? Do I really need to get a new flywheel as well? Also, what else should I have them replace while they have the tranny out, other than the bushings.

 

I have a 02 MCS that I bought June 2011. About 4 or 5 months later, I started having issues with shifting. Just driving around locally, not much stop and go, I would randomly have the problem of not being able to shift into gear. This would happen when down shifting or up. Kind of the same results you described as far as pulling over and letting things cool down. After maybe a month, I was on an interstate going from Denver to Kansas City when the problem started up and eventually I was forced to pull over because it wouldn't go into any gear. I gave it a few minutes and tried to get back on the road, only to find that when I tried to get it into gear, or what I thought was a gear, the car wouldn't move. Everything started up fine, and no codes or lights, but it was like I had the parking brake set, and was trying to move anyway. After having my MINI towed back to Denver to the MINI dealer, they decided it was the clutch. After replacing the clutch, flywheel, and throw out bearing, it still wasn't solved. So they tried a new Tranny. This solved the problem. But, after driving the car that night to a MINI get together, I wasn't able to shift into 5th or 6th gear. Turns out the shifter cable was stretched out and had to be replaced. After the cable was replaced all was fine. I believe the Dealer had no idea what they were doing, and at least one of the repairs wasn't needed. I had a bad experience with them, but I'll save that for another thread.
I would say its one of those three things, but I recommend you take it to someone you trust, or do it yourself if you can. Make sure they check everything possible, before they start replacing things, or else it will get VERY expensive very quickly!!
Good Luck and keep us posted!!

 

thank you for this! I will def have them check everything possible including the shift cable. I didn't even think of that. I really hope it's nothing major. Ughhhh

 

update: my mechanic confirmed the clutch was not engaging properly. Fingers crossed that's the only issue

 

Sometimes the pilot bearing causes big problems in shifting if it goes bad and becomes hard to rotate. The pilot bearing locates the end of the transmission input shaft in the flywheel/crankshaft and needs to spin freely so that when you disengage the clutch, the engine doesn't still apply torque to the transmission input shaft. I had a Toyota 4Runner once where the pilot bearing partially froze and it would creep forward at stoplights even with the clutch fully depressed and shifting was a bear in some gears. As soon as I replaced it, the problem was solved. Always, always replace the pilot bearing when you've got everything disassembled. It's cheap.

 

My guess would be that either the clutch slave cylinder or, less likely, the clutch master cylinder. The reason I say this is because since you describe a "gummy" clutch pedal feel that might be the slave cylinder getting gunked up and not wanting to move or maybe one of the seals has gone bad. This would also be the cause of your difficulty in changing gear because if the slave cylinder is bad it might not be putting enough pressure onto the throwout bearing which means the pressure plate is not disengaging the clutch from the flywheel quite right. This will all put tremendous stress on the synchros in your gearbox if you try to change gear without the clutch being properly disengaged.