Quick question for R53 owners out there. Check out the attached image - do you have a switch there on your clutch pedal?

 

Sorry, too fat, old and achy to take a look, but I know there has to be some switch there to tell the car the clutch is in when you start it.

 

Ha! It's either the switch there, or the one in this attachment.

After a little more searching, I think I've found the answer. It looks like MINIs made before 7/2001 used a switch in the location in my first post. MINIs made after that used the one in this post...I think...

 

If you press in the pedal you will hear a click. This switch is, as previously stated, for when you start the car and if you have cruise control - it turns off the cruise control just like the brake pedal.

 

Exactly. My reason for asking is my MINI is a conversion from a CVT automatic and doesn't currently have the switch. I've been looking into wiring it in - start inhibiting would be good in case anyone ever borrows the car.

Was just double-checking which switch it actually is, since both are listed in the parts listings, but only the one on the master cylinder shows up on the wiring diagram. As far as I can tell, the one on the master cylinder is the one.

 

You will need more than a switch to make it work. Perhaps a new ECU or at minimum a reprogram unless the installer just shorted out wires somewhere to mimic the switch forever.

Best to just leave it, cars were like that for years until the lawyers go into car making.

 

The best thing is to remember to still press the clutch in when starting the car...

 

the clutch switch is a hall sensor that clips to the clutch master cylinder, but since your car doesn't have the wiring you are in for a a big pain.

 

Yeah, you got that right. Looks like it would require connections to the fuse box, going into the 13-pin connector for the immobilizer, the 40-pin connector for the DME in the engine bay, and a ground on the door sill. I could probably figure out all the little bits needed, but it's probably not worth the massive trouble.

I'm guessing your coding overrides the need for the switch, so it would have to be re-flashed too?

Unless you're bypassing the need for the switch in some other way...

 

Looks like the clutch switch on my '03 is going bad. I have to have the clutch all the way against the floor before the car will turn over. Sometimes I have to push it a couple times before it will let the car start.

Is there a way to do away with the switch? There are 4 wires for the switch. Will pulling the connector out of the switch let you start the car? Or can you short two of the wires?

TIA

Alan

 

You might be able to, but you would need to verify that the Hall sensor in the clutch switch is closing the circuit and it is normally open. It would be pins 1 and 4 for the immobiliser. I've attached the wiring diagram and arrangement of the pins.

If you completely remove the switch, you might also mess up cruise control functionality.

A new switch is only about $40 - I would just go that route.

 

Great Info! And thanks for the quick reply. I'm off for a track weekend in about an hour and want to have a plan B in case it fails on me. So, I'll throw some wire and the VOM in the track box.

If it lasts the weekend I'll spend the $40 and just replace it.

Thanks again,

Alan

 

Thread from the dead: WAS ABLE to START my r53 putting a magnet on mine (thanks for pointing out it’s a hall sensor). I removed and replaced with new. Must’ve been a fluke! Old or new w/ and w/o magnet no longer starting. Tried hitting starter (like the old days)- still nothing. Kick panel fuse 6 ohms out.
whats next? Any feedback welcome! After a week, I miss the driving. Ps: 128k miles so I suspect the answer will be pull the starter. :/

 

Are you sure the battery is good? Maybe was just by chance it started after you held a magnet near the clutch.

When my starter went bad, the symptom was it wouldn't always engage the flywheel on really cold days. I'd get a kind of whirring sound until the starter gear would finally move enough to lock in with the flywheel gear. If you're not hearing anything at all from the starter, might be the starter solenoid, or even the wiring for the clutch switch.

BTW, for anyone whoever runs by this thread in the future, I did end up adding all of the wiring in for the clutch switch many years ago which allowed me to get cruise control back after the CVT to 6-speed conversion. Works fine to do this day!

 

So last week it was cold here and I was getting a weird brief sound in the morning when starting (like a bad low freq blower sound). This happened 3 days in a row. Then Friday evening (2 starts that day) it wouldn’t start.
Your feedback regarding the sound has given me enough evidence I need. Thank you.

 

Hopefully the starter fixes it for you. Sometimes just cleaning the carbon and clutch dust out of the starter will give it a second life. I did that about 5 years ago on mine and it's been fine since.