As many of you know, the MCS is an oil leaking monster. I took it upon myself to diagnose and fix everything to keep my garage floor free of oil.

Long story short, I replaced the CPS O-ring, oil pan gasket, and oil cooler gaskets. While under the car, I found that my right side CV boot was torn, so I replaced the axle for fear that dirt got inside the joint.

I'm no longer leaking oil, but when I put her in gear for a quick test, things definitely don't seem right. I get a lot of resistance and catching, and things don't spin as they should. Video below is of car in 1st gear. Shouldn't the rotor be spinning freely?


Did I totally ***** up?

 

not sure if this is right or wrong. Could be the differential doing its thing and without weight of tires, it may look goofy. On the other hand, it certainly doesn't look like what one would expect. I bet you didn't look at it before the axle change, right?


compare your job with this video - maybe you can spot something you didn't do

 

Is the other side of the car doing the same thing with the tire off? The traction control may be doing its job because it just feels the "tire" spinning or you might have a slightly warped disc.

 

pburke- I followed ModMINI's guide pretty closely so I don't think I screwed up.

Mib4840- None of the wheels are/were on when I put it in gear. At first the left side was spinning freely, and the right side would move in pulses. I then pried the caliper open to make sure the pads weren't stuck to the rotor. Now both sides pulse.

 

Sounds to me like traction control is kicking in as it should. Computer senses that one wheel is spinning freely so it transfers power to the other, then it senses that the other wheel is now spinning freely so it transfers power back.

 

Here's a video of the pulsing.

 

You should be able to see if the ABS/Traction control is kicking in (brake pads clamping down.) Start with that.

 

On the first video, you can see the shadow of the other (left) wheel spinning when the
right one is not, and vice versa. Try (carefully) with one front wheel immobilized and/or
the traction control turned off. Also, how is it when spinning either wheel with the engine
off and both up, and has it had a road test - anything amiss with real driving?

 

2 possibilities.

A) axel is not full inserted and clipped into diff
B) retaining ring on replacement axel not engaging and the diff is spitting the axel out

It's pretty common. Especially with aftermarket axels

Sent from my iPad using NAMotoring

 

My car did the same exact thing when running in gear up on jacks with no wheels on. I noticed this about a year ago on mine but it has never caused me any problems driving.

 

Is the traction control engaging. nothing to worry about.

 

Withdrawn

 

I had a similar instance in a BMW. It had a faulty wheel speed sensor so I replaced it. Before I did this, the wheels spun freely on the lift. After replacing it, the wheels seemed to catch similar to in your video. I put the car back on the ground and it seems to run fine since. Once it was on the road, it was no longer catching.

 

Its the traction device. No worries, it happens on all minis up in the air with the Traction Device