After having my car tuned up, the MINI independent dealer said that my clutch has "blue hotspots" on it because its not wearing evenly (actually i can feel this when i drive, while i am on the last bit of fully releasing the clutch, the car jerks a bit). He said that this is something I should take up with the MINI dealer, and might be able to get it under warranty if they are nice. I have a 2005 (warranty ended 6 months ago) but I am under miles (only 47,000 miles, warranty i think is 50,000 miles). anyone have experiece with trying to negotiate this situation? I am I destined to fork over the 2500 dollars to fix this?

 

I doubt they would have replaced it even if you were within the time limit.

But I'd still take it to the dealer and give it a try.

 

Clutch is more wearable item, so this would be a hard item to get covered. They might help you out on something like a water pump, alternator, or even transmission... but since your clutch is designed to wear out with normal use, I think you're out of luck.

 

If you have any mod at all, no matter how small, they would not even consider doing the clutch under warranty for you. In their eyes, mods mean you drive hard and put unnecessary wear on the car/clutch.

 

Wow, even something as small as an intake?? I guess that shouldn't surprise me...

 

Out of warrenty....if 100% of the mataince was done by the dealer, no mods, etc, maybe they might cut you a deal on labor...but since it is a wear item, and it is as much possibly caused by the driver and driver habits, as a manfacturing defect, I would say you are out of luck. It is just part of owning a car....some things are gonna break...nothing is perfect!

 

It's worth a shot. My dealer made a case for me with MINIUSA about a barely out of warranty failure.

 

yea, i have no mods what so ever. bone stock. i guess its worth a shot, just have to pay for the inspection fee for the dealer first (since i had it diagnosed at an indepedent place). I hope they offer the same generosity as you received and make a case for me too! (plus, i have driven my honda manual for 8 years now, and havent had any such problems...how frustrating!).

 

Curious... is there an opening or aperture through which one can visually inspect the clutch surface? I thought the only way to see it is to remove the clutch since the friction surface is on the inside.

My Mini is at the dealer right now. The clutch also squeaks with pedal action (in and out). It happens only when the engine is warmed up, never cold. Will see what they say.

Hope they (Mini) help you out.

 

I forgot that they're going to try to charge you just to take a look at it. So I retract my earlier advice to take it to the dealer.

Keep in mind that the likelihood of the dealer taking care of this for you under warranty (an expired one at that) is extremely low (less than 1% imo).

 

I'd say you give the dealer a shot still. My situation was similar to yours, but this happened when my car was around 25k miles.

What happened was I rode the clutch on a uphill accidentally in traffic, so when I turned off the car, I can smell something was burning. Even after several days later, that smell was still there. I took it in to the dealer and they said my clutch (or flywheel, iirc) has hotspots. I explained to the SA that I've been driving a manual for a very long time, and it has never happened to me. My previous car was a E36 M3 with over 100k miles and this never came up. The SA said that he will have to wait until a rep from MINIUSA takes a look at the car before they can finalize a decision whether to cover this under warranty or not. After about two business days, SA called me and said that they will replace the clutch under warranty and consider that as a courtesy from MINIUSA.

I guess I lucked out?

 

What year did they replaced your clutch? I guess during the BOOM years?

 

Around mid-2006. I know it's around that time period because the place that I worked in Downtown LA have a circular steep uphill in the parking structure prior to entering.

 

I hope the MINI dealer in Virginia will offer the same courtesy (despite hte warranty complication)! and yes, the previous independent dealer pulled everything apart to see the hot spots. i will drop it off in 2 weeks and see what happens and let everyone know! im keeping my fingers crossed

 

How can you make this kind of specific statement when many folks have had warranty work done with mods in and out of warranty?

 

I have the same problem. Sometimes when I drive, as I am starting out in first gear and then when I change to second gear the car shudders. If I get the revs up it doesn't do it as bad, or maybe I don't notice, but it doesn't do it all the time. My warranty is up in about 3,000 miles. I guess I should get this in, or is this something they may not even cover under the warranty?

 

oompa,
Your best angle on this is to get this addressed under the TSB's there are a couple that address this and related issues. do a little more digging on your own and try to nail down all the TSB#'s I think the most relavant tsb is TSB # SI M21 04 08 dated September 2008....If you can get your mechanic to give a writen opinion on the matter stating that the defect is consistent with the tsb that might help you make your case. They wont just make a $2500-$3000 repair without a bit of a fight, so be prepared to make an evidence based case to your dealer

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https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...o-quickly.html

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