Hello Everyone!

I just received delivery of my 2007 Mini on May 4th. And as of today, I've logged in about 450 miles on it. It's been 3 years since I've driven and quite some time since I've driven a stick (just came back from Japan). I live in San Diego where hills are notorious and stop and go traffic is just a way of life.

My situation: How do I know if my clutch is slipping?

My driving Habits: I tend to over rev when going from an absolute stop. At first gear, I'm normally reving around 2000 or 3000 before the car even moves. ...especially climbing hills from a stop. I usually switch gears at around 2500 during 1st through the 4th gear. I then usually switch gears at around 4000 for the 5th and 6th gear.

My Car's response: When climbing a steep hill at 3rd gear, the revs go down and the car stalls and I usually roll backwards. Is this normal? Should I stick with the second gear when climbing hills? In addition, my clutch is not as "sticky" as it used to be. It's a little more broken in. I'm not sure if it's just that...broken in or if it's just broken. In addition, when switching from gear to gear, it's not as smooth as "solid" it used to be. Everything seems to be a little LOOSER and easier with my gear ****. Is this a sign that the car is just broken in? Or that I've just burned my clutch? In addition, my shift **** is extremely loose...so loose that I can screw it back and forth with no effort. Is this normal after 400 miles?

So, do you guys think that I have a slipping clutch? Or is my car just broken in? Are there any tell-tell signs of a slipping clutch with a Regular Mini?

In addition, am I hurting my car with my driving habits? Do you guys have any advice on what I can do to improve the way I drive my baby? Also, does my car require 91 octane? I've filled up the first tank with 91 just to stay in the safe side.

Some odds and ends that I've noticed:
1. The car's engine (or some component inside the bonnet) remains on for a few mins after I turn the engine off. Is this common and normal? Is the engine just trying to cool itself down?
2. When the Air conditioner is on, the engine becomes twice as loud. I've owned new cars before and I've never had an engine quite as loud as my Mini (with/without AC). Is this normal?

In the bright side, I LOVE MY CAR! It's the best vehicle that I've ever owned. With the stick, I feel like I'm driving a little go cart. It's an extremely fun car...even if a stick is not ment to be driven in a place like San Diego. I feel so connected to it and would probably never sell it. I'd just buy a new one in 7 years and keep this one in the garage.

Thanks!

 

Hi beatrix666,

Usually when I have a question such as yours I Google Tom and Ray, in this case, "tom and ray clutch". These are two very funny but also very car smart guys who run a radio program on PBS.

Here's what I came up with:

Dear Tom and Ray: I have a 1988 Honda Civic with a 5-speed manual transmission. The mileage on the car is 75,000 -- all short trips in New York City. A mechanic told me that I need to replace the clutch. I have my doubts, so how can I tell if I do need a new clutch? -- William
RAY: Well, if you've driven 75,000 miles in New York City, that's a good sign, William.
TOM: Clutch wear isn't based as much on miles as on how many times the clutch has been used. Specifically, how many times it's been used to start the car from a dead stop. That -- more than anything else -- is what wears out the clutch.
RAY: So when you drive in Manhattan, you could easily start from a dead stop 10 times over the course of a single mile. Or 100 times, if you're in crosstown traffic during rush hour. Whereas if you drive on a highway, you might shift up through the gears once, and not shift again for 100 miles.
TOM: So even though you've got "only" 75,000 miles on the car, you're definitely a candidate for a clutch job, William.
RAY: But here's the test. Find something that absolutely won't move -- like, for instance, the Chrysler Building.
TOM: Pull your car right up to it, so its front bumper is touching it. Then put the car in fifth gear, give it lots of gas and slowly let out the clutch.
RAY: If the clutch is good, the engine will stall, no matter how much gas you're giving it. Since a working clutch connects the engine to the wheels, if the wheels can't turn, the engine will have to stop, too. And we know the wheels can't turn, because we know you can't push the Chrysler Building with an '88 Civic, right?
TOM: If the engine keeps running, then we know the clutch must be bad. Because if the car is in gear and the engine is turning but the wheels are not, the clutch has to be slipping.
RAY: By the way, just so you know, William, a clutch for this car in Manhattan is about $1,000. Plus another $200 for the ticket for parking on the sidewalk in front of the Chrysler Building.

Here are a couple of other Tom and Ray links on the subject:

http://www.cartalk.com/content/colum...bruary/03.html

http://www.cartalk.com/content/colum...tember/07.html

For what it's worth, my engine does not get louder when my air conditioning is on. I wonder if the air conditioning compressor is binding.

Sometimes when it's really hot out or when the engine has to work very hard the electric fan will continue to run after shutting down your engine. Like you said, in cases like that it's trying to cool your engine down. I haven't been experiencing that with my '07 MCS but the weather's been pretty mild here. But then again, if you're engine is having to work very hard to drive your air conditioning compressor, chances are all that hard work is causing your engine to run hotter than normal. If my engine starts to get loud with air conditioning on I'll take it in and have my dealer's service department look at it.

Hope this helps .. Good luck!

 

If you are burning your clutch you would smell it. Use your handbrake on hills and don't hold the car with your clutch. Yes, it will loosen as you drive the car. Riding the clutch will be the most serious problem and the clutch will fail in a few thousand miles. Unsure about driving a six speed then take a few lessons from a driving school

 

It's hard to say whether this indicates a clutch problem. You always have to slip the clutch a little as you're starting from a dead stop. As you rev the engine and release the clutch there's a brief moment of slippage as the clutch engages. The trick is to make it long enough to start smoothly but not so long that you're burning up the clutch.

It's doubtful that you've burnt up the clutch so quickly. If there's something wrong it's probably an adjustment problem - although that could lead to rapid clutch wear. In this case it sounds like you may just be rusty in getting the car moving and you need to release the clutch a little more quickly or rev abit more gradually.

This definitely is not a slipping clutch. If your clutch were slipping the car would not tend to stall. This simply means you're in too high a gear for the speed and incline of the hill. Shift down a gear in this case. If your clutch were slipping the engine would start reving higher but the car would slow to a stop on the hill.

Of course, if you feel like these are substantial changes in the feel of the car and you're concerned about this it can't hurt to drop by the dealer and ask.

 

I also recommend using the handbrake when starting from an uphill.
I don't think you have to put the car against an immoveable object to test the clutch. If you let the clutch out suddenly, the engine should stall. Some say do it in 3rd gear. You can try in 3rd, 2nd, and 1st, I guess.

 

going up a hill try lower gears , like 2 or even 1

 

2nd should be sufficient for most, if not all, grades. Don't people advise against going into 1st while the car is still running at speed?

 

i have an 06, so there may be some difference but I agree that the 3rd gear going up a hill is probably because you need to downshift into 2nd to get more power.

you'll begin to learn when you are in too high a gear to keep going, even if it is just slowing to turn a corner. i've found that in my MCS 6-speed, if I'm in 4th, I can downshift to 3rd to turn right at a corner. sometimes after turning the corner I'm going slightly too slow for 3rd, but if I give it gas, it picks up. however, if I downshifted to 2nd, I can hear that the downshift is causing the engine to brake too much.

in other words... in my experience, my MCS seems to have more tolerance for being in a higher gear and going slow (except when it needs more power to get up a hill, for instance)... and I think this is because it has 6 gears.

another way to tell when you are in too high a gear is too get all the way up into fourth gear and then slow to a stop without downshifting... you'll feel the engine start to "cough" a bit and that's when you need to put the clutch in and either put it in neutral (which is what I do when coming to a stop - i don't downshift a lot) or downshift. this is NOT something you should do a lot... I've done it by accident (not downshifting or going into neutral soon enough), but it has taught me the feel of the car a bit.

one other thing I've found useful... in my 06 MCS, I can almost count on shifting by 10s... meaning I tend to shift into 2nd between 15 and 20 mph, 3rd at 30 mph, 4th at 40 mph, 5th at 45-50 and 6th when I know I'll be crusing along without stopping. I tend to shift right around 3,000 RPMs, although after being at the Dragon, I'm now revving up between 3-4,000 RPMs.

as for the hills, practice using the parking brake. over-revving is okay, i guess, just doesn't look that great if you have a passenger.

incidentally, I had to have my clutch replaced at about 8,000 miles, but it wasn't because of my habits (or so says the dealer). it was the problem that many people have reported with the flywheel, etc. the sign that i knew something was wrong is that when I would start out in 1st gear, the clutch would make a slight screeching noise when I let the clutch out. when the new clutch was first put in (about 3-4 weeks ago), it did feel a bit "tighter" and has since "loosened" up a bit. and no more screeching sound.

all of these are my experiences... and I haven't driven a clutch as a daily driver for 15 years, so I'm just getting used to it again too.