2009 MCS w/75k miles

Today on my way to work my clutch did not feel as it normally does. The depress and release of the clutch seemed to be dampened more then normal (slower acting). When I arrived at work I pressed and released the clutch many times and the pedal seemed to get stiffer. Now the pedal is completely locked up in the up position. I know this is a hydraulic clutch and it seems to be like it's hydrolocked. My questions are, could this be a throwout bearing? pressure plate, or clutch gone bad? Has anyone else experienced this problem?

 

Could be many things. If you look on the front of the transmission you can see the clutch slave cylinder. You should be able to see if you are getting any movement there. Could be a pressure plate gone bad. I'm guessing you can't start the car because the clutch is stuck engaged?

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This is just a guess, but I would put my money on the throwout bearing, guide tube or combination of both. I hope I'm wrong & you find an easy fix.

 

I've seen this before and it was the actual clutch fork broken. We recommend replacing it with every clutch job now.

 

Where about does the clutch fork break? I've pulled off the clutch slave cylinder and am going to look inside with a scope to see what is going on, it would be nice to know where about the fork breaks.
Thanks

 

they usually break right in the middle, but at this point it doesn't matter what you see inside as it sounds like the trans is coming out either way

 

Man that is forked up.....

 

OMG that's too funny!!!!!! I can't stop laughing !!!!!!

OP sorry about that, I hope that you can resolve your issue unfurtunally is one of those parts that where you may as well just change everything in there while your at it, clutch,TOB if is still alive,fork and fork bushings guide tube etc...

Good luck

 

I pulled the clutch slave cylinder and was able to get a hooked screw driver on the fork. It was loose and rattled around. It's broken. Today I tore down everything except pulling the axles off the transmission and pulling the trans. Any suggestions on getting the axles out of the transmission?

 

They should come out fairly easy. In my case the passenger side came out super easy but the drivers side was giving me a hard time so I opted to leave the shaft on when I removed the tranny, it was a bit more difficult to put the tranny back not impossible (you'll need a friend) I did not removed the struts or hub/brakes etc they were all in place.

 

The passenger side axle just pulls out once you unbolt the bearing carrier from the engine block. It may need a bit of persuasion with a small lever but it's not held into the trans with anything so it should come right out. The drivers side is held in with a circlip. Just put a pry bar between the axle and the transmission case and give it a good pop. They come right out.

 

Well, I got it all apart tonight and here are some pictures to show you where the failure was on the clutch fork. A couple of questions too.

How does the clutch look for 65k miles? It's an aftermarket SPEC stage 2.

I plan to buy a new guide bushing, clutch fork, pressure pin, throwout bearing, and clutch.

Do I need to buy a flywheel or get this one resurfaced?

This is my first clutch, how vital is a clutch alignment tool?

 

Here are a few more pictures

 

This took me about 7 hours total to get it completely apart including rolling it out of the garage two different times to pressure wash it. This was the first time I've had the mini this much apart. Here are a few more pics of the progress. I like the open wheel look of the last picture, it gives it a cool go-cart feel.

 

Like I said before not the first broke one I've seen.

 

Clutch Alignment tool is vital, some clutch kits come with one but not all, I'm not sure if you have a dual mass Flywheel or not but I hear that DM FW can not be resurfaced,at least on the 1st Gen, I'm not sure. just make sure that when you install the clutch disk that it is facing the correct direction, it should say gear box side or like the one shown in the pic. FW side.

 

Help! Anyone know the proper torque specs/procedure for bolting on the flywheel and torque specs for the clutch bolts?

 

This is for a 1st gen, I don't know what year is your car but it will give you an idea

It's a good idea to use all new bolts when mounting the flywheel back onto the engine. For the Cooper S, torque them using a criss-cross pattern and torque each bolt to 90Nm (66 ft/lbs.) (for Non-S, torque to 80Nm (59 ft-lbs.)).

For the clutch pressure plate

torque the pressure plate bolts to (M8 bolt) 23Nm (17 ft/lbs.) (for M9 bolts, torque to 28 Nm (21 ft-lbs.).

This from Pelican parts

I would suggest getting a repair manual since you will need more info.

 

Thanks for the info, but it's a r56. I'm guessing it's very similar. Right?

 

I'm guessing that it's close but is better to get the specific torque, those are delicate parts that is better not to get wrong.