So the other week I was just driving along and all of a sudden my clutch pedal starts acting funny, almost like it wasn't actually doing anything to the pressure plate. Next thing I know I'm trying to pull away from an intersection and I can't engage any gears. Push the clutch to the floor and nothing, almost as if I was trying to select first without clutching in at all. Then when I finally got it home it starting making a horrible screeching noises with the clutch pedal depressed. So I went ahead and removed the transmission to take a look. Now I figured maybe my TO bearing had gone a little bit like a lot seem to do, or at the worst my pressure plate had failed. Needless to say, I am glad it wasn't the pressure plate (I'm going to replace the flywheel clutch and pp anyways since I'm in there), but I was pretty surprised how ****ed the throwout bearing actually was.

How many miles?

just a hair over 93K

Seen several go out like that.

Chinsy throwout bearing, real flimsy piece of shyte. It cost me @$900.00 for a local yokel to replace it (and the almost pristine clutch while he was at it).

Sniper: How much did it cost you to replace it?

I'm doing the work on my own in my garage, so labor is $0, but while I'm in there I'm upgrading to a Fidanza lightweight flywheel, Spec Stage 1 sprung clutch kit, new flywheel stretch bolts and I'm replacing the throwout bearing guide tube since mine is a little beat up and rather than risking it not working and having to tear it all down again I'm just going to spend the $45 to replace it. So I think when all said and done it's like $750 or so when you shop around.

My wife's '03 R50 TO bearing looked a lot like that when it went out at about 83k or so earlier in the summer. Same symptoms with the problems shifting and screeching and all. We were 300+ miles away from home on day 2 of a PSMINI weekend drive that we hosted when it started making noise on the "visiting wineries" portion of the drive late on a Sunday afternoon. Earlier in the day there had been a "spirited driving" portion, but we don't think that had anything to do with it.

Went from working perfectly to being completely unable to shift out of gear in 4 hours. Thought I had a picture but I think I actually have the TO bearing in the garage. Our pressure plate fingers showed signs of excessive heat and I do have pictures of that. Will post some tomorrow when I take one of the TO bearing. mantysman got a deal at $900; we dropped 2 large and then some.

Val

Whenever I see that someone has paid $1000 or more just in labor to do a clutch or throw-out bearing job I think back to a conversation I recently had with someone who worked as a mechanic in one of the local MINI dealerships but left to open his own shop. He told me that one day he and a fellow mechanic had a race to see who could do a clutch job the fastest. Starting with the car on the lift, each could do the complete job in 50 minutes or less!!

That's encouraging.

My TO bearing makes noise pulling away from stops when it's cold. If it's not covered under Powertrain warranty (aftermarket, purchased when I bought the car), than I'll be doing it myself. I'm a non-automotive mechanic by trade, so it should be interesting, to say the least.