I'm having the same clubdoor issue. It started a week-and-a-half ago. The problem is-sometimes it opens and sometimes it wouldn't. I've tried playing around with the triangle thingy in the bottom, but it does not always help. My service appointment is 2 weeks away. Another problem I'm having is my car tends to get jerky/jumpy. It occurs mostly when traffic is stop-and-go, or when I try to slow down or accelerate slowly. I'll have service look into this also. But in the meantime, I'm wondering if anybody else has this problem.

 

count me as a member of the faulty cable club. mine started malfunctioning about 3 weeks ago. that day i found the silicone fix thread and tried out a batch of WD-40 followed by some silicone spray which fixed it right up.

then last night it stopped working again. i tried some more WD-40, but the operation is hit or miss. sometimes it works now, sometimes it doesn't.

needless to say, i'll be visiting the dealer in the near future. good thing mine is only across town...

 

I came back from Moritz today with Buckley all fixed for now. They adjusted the suicide door and cable. Of course it also needed to be lubricated. I was dissappointed they did not replace the cable. They gave me a politician answer when I asked why they did not (reply with no clear meaning). Hopefully there will not be an issue in the near future. I was in a loaner half a day. It was a automatic Cooper S. Pretty quick but the suspension was very stiff and it did not corner like the Clubbie. Oh well, the S is not for everybody. Now back to enjoying my Clubbie with working doors, Stephen.

 

Your Cooper S loaner "didn't corner like the Clubbie"?!!. I'll bet it didn't! When I had my Clubman in for service I also got a Cooper S, and it cornered like a slot car! I took my favorite clover leaf entrance ramp at about 20 mph faster than in my base Clubman! Yes, it was a rock-hard ride, but a blast to drive!

 

MiniClubman, my silicone spray bottle has that "food quality' on the label. I guess it's so I can eat the spray while waiting for the fix. Mmmm! Silicone.

I have an appointment in a week and sent the Svc. Manager dealer links to this thread.
My dealer's service manager said no one had brought in a Clubman with this club door issue yet.

 

Maybe it's the service manager's first day, or he has amnesia. This is probably the single most common Clubman issue.

 

Clubdoor parts backorderd...let's see how long this takes.

 

Add me to the failed Clubdoor "Club". Ours failed to open for the first time ever about 1 hour or so ago.

The door stopped working with no warning. Tried to fiddle with the black plastic latch at the bottom of the door and would not open after 3 or 4 tries. It felt like something "snapped" inside the door mechanism.

It seems this is the same exact problem everyone else has had. Very aggravating to say the least.

I am going to try to lube the latch with some silicon spray and see how it goes but the part may need replacement eventually.

I am going to give my SA a call tomorrow to make sure they have the part on hand before making the 30 mile drive up there.

I can't really complaint. The car has been flawless and I knew this issue had to happen eventually.

Has anyone has had permanent success with just lubricating the latch?

 

Someone mentioned using WD40 for a fix like this. Don't. WD40 is not a good lubricant. It will attract a bunch of dirt and make things sticky, which in this case is bad.

WD40 is great for use as a penetrating oil, freeing bolts and such, but, was designed to get water away from metal (WD=water displacing, 40=fortieth formula tested) which it does extremely well. If you use it, wipe as much off as you can and apply a good lubricant, like the silicone stuff mentioned.

FYI, food grade silicone lubricant is for machinery in food processing operations. It is supposed to be 'inert', ie, it won't hurt anything if you swallow it. I wouldn't test it Kinda like water pump grease.

charlie

PS glad I know about this as ours hasn't had the problem yet.

 

I went back to the car a few hours later and the clubdoor is working fine. I haven't done anything to it, so this leads me to believe that I may be having a lubrication problem with the safety release latch assembly.

I am going to spray some silicone (Not WD40) in the morning and see if it stays OK or the problem returns. At this point I am trying to avoid a dealer visit if I can afford to

We took delivery of the car in late February and not until today the door got stuck when I tried to open it. We do use the door a lot, so I guess this was bound to happen sooner or later.

I'll report back if the door jams again.

 

I think as we get chillier this winter, we'll see more reports of this.

 

The cable was sticking on mine. The dealer lubed it and the problem went away.

 

Just bumped up an older thread for you that might come in handy: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ighlight=cable A number of Clubman MINIs had to have their cables replaced - both in the USA and in Europe.

 

Had my cable and latch replaced because of a sticking club door issue about a month ago. NOw the little black latch at the bottom stays stuck, even after repeated lube attempts. Bit disappointed, but not distressed. I just have to reach down and release the latch by hand until I get her in for the first oil change in a month or two. Soooo...the theory that the new parts are better is pretty much out the window, unless they loaded mine up with new old parts?

 

No worries. JUst pumped the heck out of the black latch with silicone spray and it is important to note,that you need to move the black latch forward enough to see the tiny cable and hole it goes into at the bottom of the club door. That is the area that needs the silicone most. Move it back and forth a few times and voilla, done. It appears to be a rain issue that makes it stick. Small hole, small cable, gunk gets in it and ya have to flush it out with the silicone. I can live with that.

 

MINI obviously hired a Volkwagen designer somewhere along the line...

 

Might as well pile on to this issue- happened to us the first time this weekend. Thanks to the info here I was expecting it. Tugged the little triangle out and it opened right up, will hit it with silicone asap.

Oh, and my family has settled on naming the car "Gizmo"

 

Alphawave, I think Mini hired an old school Benz designer that was involved in creating the WWII Panzer IV.

 

VW Toolkit=Duct tape, spit and a screwdriver. We're Panzers equally equipped?

 

This happened twice already with our LiB clubman.

 

Happened again to us last night. Arrrrghhhh!!!

This morning I grabbed a can of spray silicone and literally bathed the latch on it. It was still hit or miss. I figured you have to allow the silicone to "set in" for a few hours. So I called my wife and had her test opening and closing the door 3 times. Guess what? Now its working!!

My dealer has no Saturday service appoints for several weeks and it is a hassle to bring the car just for this. I am just gonna keep an eye on it and tonight spray some more silicone in there and let it sit overnight.

I can't even begin to reason how MINI managed to screw up this clubdoor mechanism to begin with? It is just a standard door latch for cryin' out loud!

 

Get them to replace it. Hopefully they won't have to go with that 3 times a problem routine...and only then will they fix it.

 

Definitely I plan to do something about it. Just right now taking the car back to the dealer (Even with a supplied loaner) is kind of a hassle. If it gets really, really bad, then I'll have no choice.

I will spray some more silicone and make sure the "visible" area of the cables gets a good bath too

We'll see how it goes.

 

I hope it heals itself!

 

I hope so too. But I don't think I am going to be able to circumvent getting the cables re-routed for very long. Fortunately, it is an easy fix. It is just right now my schedule is very demanding and taking time to get the car into service is not something I need right now.