2003 Cooper S can't shift into gear.

Master cylinder replaced. Clutch slave cylinder replaced. System bled with Motive Power Bleeder. Clutch slave cylinder was completely compressed to eliminate all air from lines.

The clutch slave cylinder rod only moves 1/2 inch. This amount of travel seems inadequate, but there is no technical information available to confirm how far the rod should move.

Does anyone know how far this distance is?

 

Did you notice any odd sounds while driving before you replaced the slave and master? When my throw out bearing exploded, I wasn't able to shift at all, even though the clutch peddle felt ok, I had smoke coming out from under the bonnet, That smelt like burning wiring, Turns out that it was the plastic guide on the throw-up bearing that melted during the self destruction, Fortunately my flywheel and trans housing were fine. I bought a clutch kit from Pelican Parts. I' m a novice DIY and I have about 10 hours into it with estimated 5 more to finish it up, I have a car lift and tran jack and its still a labor intensive job, My MCS has 158k,
How many miles do you have on yours?

 

To eliminate that possibility I used a pry bar to depress the clutch release arm manually with the engine running. The throw out bearing does not make any noise when the arm is depressed.

So everything seems to be alright with the clutch disk / pressure plate.

 

FWIW I couldn't get a satisfactory bleed of the system until I used an old-style pump oil dispenser to force fluid in through the slave cyl. bleed screw. There's a youtube clip of the procedure somewhere, and it worked for me.

 

I'm sure you did bleed the clutch slave properly but, in all probability, not adequately. I, and many of us, always dread the job. Do it again, this time, use the MOTIVE just to pressurize but fill the reservoir manually, not through the motive. Yes, it's more work having to pressurize/de-pressurize but less apt to get air bubbles in the system.
DENSMINI is referring to an old trick of "reverse bleeding". You can easily do it by attaching a length of tubing to the driver's side brake bleed nipple and the clutch slave nipple (with the clutch slave in the compressed mode), open both nipples, then slowly depress the brake pedal a few times. This will force air and fluid up through the slave cyl. to the reservoir and purge the system of any air. Of course, it's done w/o the MOTIVE and with the reservoir about half full and the cap on loose.

 

the key to getting the bubbles out: use a turkey baster full of fluid and manually move the slave arm in and out while tilting it all directions. Then install the slave on the car and use the Motive pressurizer to bleed the remaining bubbles in the line. 1/2-9/16" movement sounds about correct. the pedal should start to be firm (and thus move the slave arm) with less than roughly 1" of freeplay.

I've done dozens of slaves using this method. Tried and true. GL