ClubmanS - never had anymore issues after I had mine replaced. Just sayin'...

 

Awwww...relax...all bodes well and I love this car like nothing else before. They made a great product. All vehicles have bugs and fixes. I have been on many forums and they all seem the same after a while, just different models with similar problems and such. Enjoy your minis and get motoring!

 

My clubdoor has the same issues, mostly in cooler (35-) weather but also in warmer weather (55+/-) degrees. Seems the cold weather makes it release slower. And just today in 55 degree rainy wet weather it stuck...oh well.

Thanks for the TSB/Warranty post; I'll request that my dealer re-route the Boweden cable, as neccessary and replace the mechanism as neccessary. An easy fix.

Love all the great info available here on NAM.

 

Otra,

Thanks for the info.

Last month, I had a Clubman S loaner that had the same problem. The dealer mentioned that it was rare for this to happen, and at the time did not know what it was. I'm heading there next week to replace my third [boot] brake light [moisture inside thanks to 21+ straight days of rain] and will find out if it was the same issue.

Regards,

 

I got caught in a heavy rain storm for the first time last weekend. Afterwards I discovered the Club Door wouldn't open. Sure enough, the switch at the bottom wasn't fully extending with the passenger door open. I tried the silicone spray on it, but still operating pretty stiff. I'll just manually extend the switch to open the Club Door until I can get to a dealer.

 

Had mine fixed a month ago when she went in for her first year service. And now a month later back to the same old problem. I again have to pull the button out at the bottom to get the door to open.

I will be on vacation starting Friday and will see both my SA and MA at Mini's On Top in a little over a week and will bring it up to them while there.

This should not be happening.

 

We got some hot muggy weather up here and it just recently started acting the way you mentioned. Hmmm...

 

Button at the bottom door stuck again on mine for the 2nd time- this time the wife didn't tell me about it right away, and by the time I looked at it the switch itself was actually broken. Got an appt to get it replaced, we'll see if it's any more reliable after replacement.

 

I bought a 2008 Clubman last month not from a mini cooper dealership, and my club door was working but now it's not. When I called a mini dealership they told me to stick my finger behind the black plastic at the bottom of the door, which I did and was able to get it to come forward, then was able to open the door with the inside handle. But when I closed it again the handle inside was just extremely loose and would not open again. My black plastic seems like it's not connected to anything. How long did it actually take to fix your door? I have to travel 2 hrs to a dealership and want to make sure they can fix it in the same day. I will make sure they have the parts to fix it before I go.

 

Can't tell you for sure, unfortunately- I just arranged for a loaner and left it overnight, as they were also looking at a stumbling idle for me. I can't imagine it would take more than an hour to do just the door switch, though.

No problems since the repair, so far.

 

It sounds like the bawden cable (an internal cable from the small black triangle on the bottom of the club door, that runs up to the latch/handle) is broken or dissconnected. Should take the dealer about 1 hour to remove the door panel and replace and clean the cable assembly. I'd call ahead and make sure they have the repair kit in, before going in to the dealership since your so far away from them. Good luck!

Tha Clubdoor safety switch failure (cable and button will stick) is fairly common, and they seem to act up more in colder weather as well. I'll bet the dealership has the parts in stock for that repair.

 

Thanks, for all of your responses. I really appreciate everyone sharing information they have on the mini coopers. I'm going to call my nearest dealership and now can explain what I deem the problem is , and make sure they have the parts to fix it before I go. I've never own a mini cooper before, but other than the door problem I really do love my mini cooper clubman.

 

Greeting, all

I would like to share my latest round of club door finding. And hope later production run incoperates the fix already.

Mine is a March 08 production Clubman S, and developed this just weeks ago, and made appointment to the dealership (MINI od Dallas). they did keep the car few more days than expected (another story). However, I did get a loaner (red R57 Cooper with 6k miles ! ) that I would not mind trying for a few more days.

This is what printed on the invoice.
" CLUB DOOR RELEASE LEVER DEFECTIVE VERIFIED CONCERN. FOUND CLUB DOOR TO NOT BE OPENING. FOUND BULLETIN SIM 511108 FOR THIS ISSUE. REMOVED B-PILLAR. REMOVED CLUB DOOR PANEL. REMOVED SEATBELT RETRACTOR. REROUTED BOWDEN CABLE PER BULLETIN. APPLIED SILICONE SPRAY TO BOTH ENDS OF BOWDEN CABLE. FOUND RELEASE LEVER TO CONTINUE TO BE STIFF AFTER REPAIR. REPLACED RELEASE LEVER PER BULLETIN SIM 511108 WITH PART NO.51212754307. VERIFIED REPAIR."

Basically it confirmed the #37 post of this thread. No charge to the repair.

 

Awesome! Mine (feb build 08) just went in for the same thing! Glad to hear they got you settled.

 

resurrecting an old thread... anybody here know how to remove the panel trim from a club door, to get to fixing a dent on the club door?

 

I spayed the mechanism and cable with silicone spray about 20k miles ago. Still works every time. We shouldn't have to do this on a relatively new car, but it does fall into routine maintenance. It is, after all, partly British.

 

I know it's an old thread, and that there are a couple. I've read them all, a couple times each. My situation was unique though. at the bottom of the interior trim part of the door, there is a clear lens and light bulb facing downward. And, despite all of my demands that the kids not slam the car doors (that kind of stuff takes time, I hear) that little light popped loose and got between the door and the sill right at the bottom latch. And if you take a round screwdriver to the top latch and slide it in like the door is latching onto the bar, you'll see that the door will not release if there is even a little pressure pulling back on a closed latch. Amazingly I was able to pull the lens out without damaging it or the bulb. But the metal socket for the bulb didn't fare as well. I'm still replacing it.
However, now, the top won't release without me pushing on the door (right at the top). Which means the top of the door is pulling back a little too much on the closed latch (which is how I found out how the dropped lens started this whole problem).
I suppose the door can be re-aligned. I would hate to think that driving around for a while with the lens pushing the bottom of the door out would result in, once the bottom was fixed, the top of the door springing away. The door seems to have too much metal for a plastic lens to warp it even a little. I think maybe a few hundredths of an inch on the top, towards the body, is all that is needed.

Just in case anyone else gets so lucky.

 

Did you fix it?? Husband has spent the entire day trying to figure something out and then we read this and its the same thing that happened to us. Seems like the door needs to be aligned! Seat belt got jammed in the door and we think that is what messed it up.

 

I did not, I'm kind of living with it right now. But even though I can get both doors to close (I did that by removing the trim around the club door's striker on the roof of the car, and moving the bar outward by loosening the two torx bolts) the club door obviously sits out too far on the top because I get noticeably more road/air noise from the window/weather stripping. My next step is to incrementally slide the striking bar inward in steps, trying to find the sweet spot where the doors seal and the club door can be opened easily. I'm not even thinking about loosening the door... if it gets that far, I'm taking it to MINI. But it's not on the front burner right now, it works.

 

The triangle tab thing that sticks out is a safety interlock that prevents rear seat passengers (often kids) from releasing the Club door until the right-hand door is open. If that sticks the Club Door will not release.

 

My door will not open without pushing on the top of the club door (from the outside) and then opening the inside. The Triangle piece is not working (it use too). Taking it into Mini tomorrow bc I have a young son I have to get in and out of the car!

 

Update: Needed the upper latch assembly replaced as well as the Bowman's Cable. They had to overnight the part. around $400 for the repair. Riding around in 2013 Clubbie so can't say I am unhappy at the moment :D
I will be so happy to have the door fixed!

 

I realize this is an old thread but I have a great fix for the suicide door sticking problem. This is my first post after much lurking on this excellent forum. My wife's clubman had the sticky door for many months now, eventually it stopped working all-together.

The spring-loaded tab at bottom of door which must be pulled out to release the door stopped springing out at all, and no amount of futzing with it would work. The plastic hinge mechanism was all smashed to bits and tore away from the spring-loaded-hinge. My solution was dead simple. Sorry no pics, but its easy to imagine:

a) completely remove the bulbous bottom door latch (just the bulbous portion, not the whole mechanism). Pry it away, loosen the clip that holds the wire in place and free the wire.
b) We need to slide a crimper on the wire so the large cylinder shaped wire-end has to go. Use wire snips and snip it right at wire junction so you leave yourself max amount of exposed wire to work with.
c) Wait!! before you snip (b) above, ensure you have needle nose lockvise on the wire itself so that when you do clip, the wire doesn't spring back into the door panel (don't worry it did happen to me, just loosen the 4 hex bolts that hold whole mechanism in place and work it back/forth the wire will protrude again).
d) Slide a crimper onto the wire, try yr best not to fray wire as its a hassle to thread the crimper on. I used 1/16" crimps I found at Home Despot for $1.99 pack 10. They look just like dis:
http://www.boaterbits.ca/sailboat-ha...ping-1-16.html
e) Feed the crimper all the way up the wire to the max position, closest to the door, pull the wire so its fully extended. Crimp the crimper into position very tightly.

Done. Now the wire is PERMANENTLY extended and the inside latch can be activated ANY time the passenger door is opened. Yes, if you are reading between the lines now whatever "safety" procedure was intended by the two-step process (pull plastic latch, reach in and activate suicide door) has been defeated. The plastic latch is always "on" so all you need to do is reach inside the door and pull the latch. But the door still operates normally, it catches and locks in place when you close the door and opens when you release the latch. The only step missing is the annoying reach down and fiddle with the spring-load.

I am dubious what benefit the two step process had, I guess it was intended to say "there is a responsible adult outside the vehicle who will now allow rear passengers to exit." But my 2010 Honda Element had dual suicide doors and they didn't have any double-latch system. Once the front door was open, passengers could open their own door from inside OR outside.

 

Reviving this dead horse.

I've got a 2/9 ClubmanS that I've had for almost three years now and just last night the door started sticking. Never had a problem with it.

Reading through this thread, I tried spray lubricant and working the black piece in and out and no luck. I can't pull it out any further. It seems to be coming out as far as it's supposed to.

After playing with it a while, I've discovered if I put some pressure at the top of the clubman door and use the inside door handle/release, it works every time. I don't get it. I don't see any obstructions or anything.

Thoughts?

 

broncobuddha, Could it be the top latch failing? All of the latches on the clubdoor are electric, so when a switch fails, it fails totally and suddenly for no apparent reason.

I had a problem with my club door when I bought the car last summer. The whole door would shake when it was closed and made a rattly sound. I found that the top latch was inop, so I found a replacement used top latch online and replaced it myself. (not that bad of an R&R job, just keep track of how the wires all route). Instantly the door latched properly and tight, no more jiggles or rattles.

Your problem sort of sounds like the opposite, as in that the latch may be sticking closed, but when you pull it just right, you overcome the spring action and can pull it open?