My friend just bought a 09 justa cooper ! Not even 1,000 miles on it... its an automatic and today she was driving on the freeway and she said the car would not engage with the gas! she press the gas pedal and the engine just roared but no forward motion...
she coasted to the side of the free-way and put it in park gear and it made a grinding loud noise!!! then she waited 2 hours for the flatbed tow truck to take her to the mini dealer... they gave her a loaner mini and lefted a message on the machine about a SHAFT???? and they need to replace a shaft??? front shaft ? Half shaft? mid-shaft? drive shaft?
some shaft????
What is your guess? what is a shaft? PS.. do all mini coopers need to be towed on a flatbed? or can they be towed the other way? " Like I always see cars being towed the old-fashioned way"???? you know with the front end ..Up on a chain and tilted?

thanks

 

Sorry to hear about her troubles. I hope they don't give her the shaft by trying to blame her for not following break-in period rules. Everybody knows you can't drive on the freeway until you have your first oil change done at 15k miles. It sounds like the drive shaft. Just a minor adjustment needed, probably.

 

"Everybody knows you can't drive on the freeway until you have your first oil change done at 15k miles."

Really!! Cause I was never told this, did not see this in the manual, and drive on the freeway every chance I get!!

 

Yeah, it's part of the secret owners manual that the dealers keep for themselves so they can wiggle out of warranty claims.

 

Don't mind the 2 Funnies...I would definitely check with the Dealer as to which "Shaft" exactly is being replaced and for what reason...NO it's not your Friends fault that this occured, sucks to be stuck on the side of a Freeway for 2 hours that's for sure!!

Anyway, yes, MINIs need to be Flatbedded to the Dealer...Flatbedded anywhere for that matter, I think one reason is the low profile...but I'm sure someone else can enlighten both of us on other reasons.

Hope everything works out for your Friend and keep us updated on how things go??

 

Did you read the part of the manual that's written in invisible ink? If you haven't, don't worry, the dealer will highlight the important sections for you when they uncover them with their magic pens. Seriously, I hope this is the last time your friend's MINI has to be towed anyplace. I'm sure they will fix it soon, and I hope she got a good loaner MINI.

 

Maybe her car was an automatic and therefore didn't have a manual...

Sorry, couldn't resist.....

 

 

While everyone else is being mean to the poor girl.... I'll give a straight answer, they need to flatbed the Mini because of the mid engine rear wheel drive, if they drag the rear wheels, then the transmission doesn't get the transmission fluid spun around because the fluid is moved by the input shaft to the manual transmission, so dragging the rear end without the motor spinning is a bad way to lose a transmission. Oh wait, that's for the MR2.

No really the only reason to flatbed the mini is because of the low profile, which actually isn't very important because there isn't a long cargo area hanging off the back of the car. Since the rear wheels are just idle wheels all the time regardless of if the motor is running or if it's getting dragged it would seem to me that any reason to flatbed the Mini is for body damage reasons, which I also don't believe is a big deal. If the dealer has a flatbed, so much the better, don't need to be wearing down rear tires when you're not driving.

A shaft is usually a solid cylinder of metal, usually steel, but sometimes it's made of exotic alloys, or in the case of race cars, carbon fiber. And if it was any kind of shaft they were replacing, it was likely a "half shaft", if it was any other transmission shaft, they'd just be replacing the whole tranny.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Half-shaft

And here's a laymans guide to cars, really good stuff:
http://auto.howstuffworks.com/

Read *all* that, and you will know what to ask next time you're in for service.

 

I would stick my tongue out at you, but...