I posted this in 2nd gen on accident. its an r53


this is a video of the sounds my car is making. Clutch in it goes away clutch out it comes back.

I am assuming that it has something to do with the pressure plate or the throw out bearing.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=POebxoDfhWg

 

My car does the same thing. AFAIK, it's either the throwout bearing or the flyweel. Not sure either sound is actually a problem.

 

Your dual-mass flywheel is jammed, and acting like a solid piece. You may also notice a brief Chewbacca yelp when starting out in first gear. The only way to reliably fix this is to replace your flywheel, and while you're at it you might as well do the clutch, since it's a boat load of labor to do the flywheelectomy. There isn't any immidiate harm done, other than the embarrasing neutral rattle, so you can save up for a job that'll cost you the better part of $2k with flywheel.

 

Thanks for the input. I am taking it in Monday morning for a "clutchectomy" throwout bearing, pressure plate etc. .. the whole kit. The flywheel will be resurfaced but not replaced. I am replacing the stock clutch with sachs... I really don't know that much about it, the mechanic (not MINI) recommended it. He is probably pretty reliable since he has done this same replacement 15 times and counting. I live in northern Northern California, so that is a lot of MINI clutches gone bad in this area.

 

skooter, i just had my clutch job done along with a new pressure plate and throw out bearing. its been only 3 months, and that same sound is back again. the throw out bearing is made of plastic, hence the sounds. mine sounds exactly like yours, but i think its something you learn to live with.

 

Really, it's like the thing about the male vs female mosquito - if it was me (and it is), I'm planning for a replacement, but waiting 'til it needs it (i.e. - slipping) - plan for the worst, hope for the best...

 

I get the same sound when idling, when I press the clutch in and release it, it goes away (most of the time). It sounds a bit like a diesel idling, of course not as loud.

Hope its not something that will create more problems, I don't have the $$ to pay for it.

 

I have the same exact noise... did you get this fixed?

 

Yes I did get it fixed with a new clutch kit. It was a bad throwout bearing and worn pressure plate. It was replaced with a Sachs so hopefully the problem is solved. I will post pictures of the worn out parts tomorrow. I was amazed. The interesting twist to this story is my mini was not the only one in the shop with a bad throwout bearing at less than 50K. The mechanic said he has seen quite a few with the same problem. By the way, it is not a MINI dealership. I don't think waiting to see if it gets worse is a good idea. What happens if the throwout bearing goes?

 

Mine has only done 25K and sounds like in the video above.

 

Here is a VERY quick video of the throw out bearing. The mechanic made it sound like the clutch was about to "grenade" at any given moment. I am not convinced that is the case, but I can drive with my stereo blaring and not have to worry about an noticed tranny explosion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Ndk-aHL9G8

 

Stuff will break, spring teeth on the pressure plate, TO bearing, clutch can disintigrate: basically stuff you would replace anyway. I'm not saying you want this to happen, there is a chance that scattering stuff around the bell housing could break other stuff as well, like damage the flywheel or even break the trans case itself, which would obviously be undesirable. Usually with TO bearing failure, you get a bunch of stuff at the bottom of the bell housing and that's it. One time I did have a car with a bigger problem. It had an aftermarket flywheel, and one of the pressure plate locating studs worked its way loose, and rattled around the inside of the bell housing until it broke through to the gearcase, causing terminal failure of the trans. This was a situation where the clutch continued to work, even without the stud (which is for mounting purposes and not to hold the PP to the flywheel) in place. The car was driven until the stud punched through to the gearcase. Normally when there is a TO bearing failure, your car is dead in the water and you won't continue to drive it, preventing worse damage from occurring.