Hello all, recently picked up a nice MCS with 77k from an original owner. It was from an old lady. The car is in really good condition. Seems to have been in a flood as both rear mufflers have rust up to a certain point on the muffler. Car starts up perfectly! Everything is nice but two things is weird. First off the shifting is somewhat very difficult to shift. It ENGAGES perfectly but the physical motion of moving the shifter INTO first or second and so on is very difficult. Requires a little more muscle. And the second thing is that the pedal length to fully engage the clutch is very short compared to my mini. My mini has 185k and a new clutch at 170k. Shifting is also much easier in the mini. Is it time for a new clutch and new shifter cables? Help! Thanks.

 

I'd check the shifter cables first for the hard gear shifting. Mine was struggling to go into 2nd and it was the cables. Water gets into them when the protective sleeve (silver'ish, near the transmission) cracks or are torn.

 

Try spraying lube into the shifter cabling sheathing . You can get some in from under the intake box , also lube up the shift brackets..
the shifter cables might be rusted to the point though they need replacing OR you need to check the gear fluid asap because it could be low and if it sat in flood and seals arnt good , you could have contaminated oil..
and if the clutch is very stiff and has a low engagement, yea , its junk and time for a new clutch and possibly a flywheeI.. I wish you luck with it , I know of a mini that you wouldn't have had to drop a dollar into. Ah well though , hope this other mini works our for ya.
some guy from Canada wants my mini now but I'm not even bothering because it's too much paperwork n hassle on my end so i turned him down.
send me some pics. I'd like to see your new ride...

 

It’s been about 3 full days of driving and 1,2,3,4 gears have felt much easier to shift into. Generally harder than my other 04 MCS but it has become easier. 5 and 6 is almost impossible. Apart from a constant ticking sound started to hear, stiff shifting, and random bubbling noises, the car is pretty much perfect! I’m really pissed that this is an issue and it’s almost dangerous as I was on the highway coming back from picking it up and I missed a gear and accidentally downshifted into 3rd instead of 5th. Help is appreciated thanks!

 

With the car off, can you put it into all gears easily?
Can be lots of thing... maybe it might need new fluid, new slave, new cables, new clutch..

 

With the car off, shifting is slightly more difficult. I don’t know when all those parts have been replaced I have yet to receive the receipts for all the maintenance on the car. I want to check trans fluid but it’s freezing where I’m at. Cant even check the oil without having to go back inside to warm up.

 

Rust halfway up the mufflers can just be due to water spray. The upper half of the mufflers don't get wet.

If the car has been in a flood there should be signs besides rust. You want to look for the usual flood water trash, grass, leaves, and lodged in places under the car. In particular around the clutch linkage and shifting linkage. If the water got high enough it might have gotten into the transmission bell housing. You might have to drop the transmission to check for any flood trash or damage (rust on the transmission input shaft).

A test of the clutch and transmission is with the engine warmed up on a flat surface with the clutch pedal pressed to the floor one should be able to move the gear shift from neutral to any gear without any difficultly.

If you can't this can be due to a clutch that is not fully releasing.

And this can arise if the clutch linkage is partially hydraulic. The clutch slave cylinder may be leaking fluid past its seals or the fluid can be bad.

Bad fluid: I had a car in which the clutch hydraulic system shared fluid the brake hydraulic system. Clutch became impossible to engage smoothly. Previously smooth shifting became impossible. Long story short SA found the car was past due for a brake and clutch hydraulic fluid flush/bleed. He recommended this rather than just jumping into the new clutch/transmission money pit. I took his advice. I had this done and after the clutch action were perfect and the shifting was buttery smooth. Might mention the brakes were fine before the flush/bleed and didn't show any improvement after.

 

Not to hijack or interfere...
Interesting mention @RockC , about the hydraulic/brake flush may have a positive effect on shifter/transmission, since (as I understand it), Mini have a shared hydraulic system.
I had my clutch replaced about 12-14k mi ago. The tech said he also flushed the hydraulic/brake fluid. After the R&R clutch repair - there was only a 1/2" of clutch pedal travel from the floor. Brakes were fine.
I found advice here on NAM to depress the clutch pedal with a length of wood and leave it over night. Great advice. It worked and gained another 3/8" more travel.
However, I soon discovered a completely anomalous situation. After a short sprint of spirited driving, twisting the engine over 5.8 - 6.5 rpms (through the gears), afterward it becomes difficult to slide into any gear (up, down or reverse) until the car cools down.
I change the gearbox fluid (MTL 80w) every 6k mi and it is always topped off at max.

You now have me thinking more about having another hydraulic/brake fluid flush preformed.

 

The symptoms you describe can arise from bad fluid that gets hot. Its the moisture in the fluid and it boils and vapor is compressible while fluid is not.

Think you should seriously consider having another hydraulic brake fluid (and clutch hydraulic fluid) flush/bleed done. But maybe not at the place you had the last one done...

 

If indeed the car was in a flood and the mufflers are rusted, it's quite possible the shifter cables rusted as well. You can run into this on older motorcycles that have sat for a while. One other factor, the shifter bushing (at the stick) could be compromised or a combination of both.

 

Where is the clutch reservoir for me to check? I would like to get on flushing the clutch fluid and brake fluid. My brake fluid is pitch black with explains my spongy brakes.

 

Could simple lubrication at the ball joint where the shifter is be the culprit to this? I don’t really want to remove any interior pieces because I don’t want to have to hear any parts rub on other things making noise while driving.

 

I’m pretty sure the brake and clutch fluid are shared so if your brake fluid is black, I would do a fluid flush and the overnight clutch slave bleeding tip that’s often posted whenever there’s an issue.

 

I don't know. May not be a separate fluid reservoir for the clutch hydraulic system.

Some of my other cars -- Porsche -- the brake and clutch hydraulic systems shared fluid and there was just the brake fluid reservoir.

The SOP was to do a brake fluid flush/bleed. Techs told me they siphoned out some old fluid -- turkey baster -- and then added fresh fluid. This reduced the amount of fluid necessary to flush out the bad fluid.

After the brakes were flushed/bled the clutch hydraulic system was flushed/bled.

 

Here ya go...


The reservoir for the shared (brake and clutch), hydraulic fluid is located just under the driver side cowl (that yellow thing in the pic).

I have no experience in pressure bleeding the system in these cars. Nor have I ever bled a clutch slave.
Hopefully you may get further advice from some of the more seasoned contributors - should you decide to flush the system yourself.

Good luck and have a safe 2023!

 

My new mini was experiencing a slipping clutch on its way home..
I sofar have gotten out most the old brake/clutch fluid and will do another flush soon to get the rest out , I used a high-performance dot4 and I changed the gear fluid with a full synthetic 75-90. I took the car out for a test drive and it's clutch is no longer slipping. I know its not a definitive test but I can put it in any gear and drop the clutch and it will instantly stall and not ride the clutch or roll forward one bit. Though at WOT , high rpm shifting I felt like I could still feel a little slippage.
I don't know if the slippage yet is from it sitting so long or actually a worn clutch but I guess a little more time and drive will tell. AND if it does need a clutch , I'm going to try an ebay upgraded clutch kit and then ille be able to see if they're usable and actually worth using since I haven't seem anybody else with a mini try one.. my other mini is getting a high dollar clutch kit so it will be a good comparison. Both will be 1x piece flywheel swaps too.
I'd suggest try changing your gear fluid and see if it helps at all. If definitely won't hurt.

 

Its been about 1 month of driving the mini and have realized that on cold starts (30 F around where I am), clutch pedal, and shifting in general is very stiff and according to my brother that drove it, "its as if your moving a stick in thick mud" lol. I really have to use my bicep to shift but after like 5 minutes of driving everything is much much smoother. Clutch pedal is very soft. Would a gear fluid flush do the trick? Also I would like to check my shifter cables and if they need any replacing, I do not want any mechanic to play with the mini. I was thinking of bringing my mini to HELIX in Philly. Let me know what you guys think!

 

Mine was shifter cables, they like to rust and stick then the ball end pops off the pivot point as it separates. I was like all crap i cannot shift.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-advise-3.html

Easy to look up on realoem with the last of your vin. www.realoem.com

Then you will need to know if its condition A or Condition B based off the shifter base. Check yours and that will tell you. I did both at the same time.

 

My other 04 mcs had that issue of the cable popping off pretty easily preventing me to shift into any even number gears. I can only shift into R, 1, 3, and 5. That is only because I have removed my lower engine mount. I had the whole car checked by my mechanic and he said everything seems fine but he's a very old dude and he missed a couple stuff. That being said I am starting to believe it is my lower engine mount. I will lift the car and check it out. Any tips on testing an engine mount especially the lower mount?

 

It's pretty easy to determine a worn lower engine mount (aka: affectionately referred to as the "dog bone"), by looking at the rubber mount inserts.
You may find cracks or splits in the larger end/or worn disintegrating rubber bushing at the smaller end.
My '04 R53 usually eats the smaller bushing first. I don't think I've ever found any splits or cracks in the larger end rubber.
My last replacement lower mount (OEM) lasted 6years/ 25k mi. The small end rubber bushing on my car had just worn (not surprising) out again and I ordered a new OEM replacement and Powerflex inserts.
By many accounts; replacing the stock rubber with Powerflex is said to be "once and done".

I was also surprised to find how a worn lower mount can have such a negative impact on acceleration (i.e: a drive by wire). Although I can see how a worn mount can cause difficulty in smooth operation of the shifter.

 

Will check when I have time thank you!

 

Iiiiiif your gonna need a clutch, I have a barely BARELY used luk oem dualmass flywheel.. I'd swap it for that exhaust if you'd be interested.

 

With a number of cars equipped with a manual transmission all the times I had the fluid changed I never noticed any change in the transmission's shifting behavior. The only time I noticed any change was when as I mentioned in a prior post the brake/clutch hydraulic fluid was past its flush/bleed date. After having this done the clutch's untoward behavior and I believe to be the cause of the transmission's lousy shifting was gone.

However, a manual transmission fluid change has been in my experience one of the least expensive services my cars have ever had them in for. I have this done at a dealer. I did one manual transmission/diff fluid service on my first car. What a stinking mess. Never again.

So if you want to throw a transmission fluid service at the stiff shifting behavior feel free.

 

I agree that changing the oil in the trans probably won't make a noticeable difference, but with only 77k on the car and a little old lady owner, it has probably never been changed since Mini claims it is a "lifetime" oil. You might as well go ahead and do it, and remove that variable. It's super easy as long as you have a pump for your bottle of gear oil and four jack stands.

 

From what I can remember from a quick glance through the reciepts of the car, it looks like there was a "transmission service". I assume that implies the trans fluid has been changed. Happened roughly 3k miles ago. Sounds like the old lady had just started to notice this issue rise. And her first attempt at fixing it was the trans fluid. I don't know what to do. I might just take the air box off and spray excess amounts of lube while someone is shifting to get the lube inside the ball and sockets of the shifter cables. Let me know!