Hey guys,

I have a 2011 MINI Cooper S 6MT with about 150 miles on it and it seems to clunk when I pull it out of reverse in the morning. Just to give a little background, this vehicle was picked up back in November of last year and garage kept through the winter. Basically, I start the car and let it idle for 2-3 minutes to let the fluids circulate. When I'm ready to go, I clutch in, shift into Reverse, and back out. When I'm at the end of the driveway and I go to pull the gear lever out of Reverse (with the clutch depressed all the way of course), I hear a metallic clunk and even feel it a little in both the brake and clutch pedals. It's definitely not a gear grind sound because I know what that sounds like. This also happens only on the very first start of the day after the car has been sitting for a while. I have experimented and found that just shifting into and out of Reverse without having moved yet doesn't result in the sound. It's only when I shift into Reverse, get the car moving backward, and then pull the stick into Neutral where the noise happens. I'm assuming that the noise is probably the Reverse idler gear being disengaged (at first I thought that it could be a defect in the shift linkage or an improperly adjusted clutch). My question is does anyone else have this issue and if so, are there any suggested fixes? The dealer is a couple of hours away so I would like to avoid going all the way there if it's just the nature of the tranny. The weird part is that right after I get the noise, if I immediately go back into Reverse, move backward a little more, and shift back into Neutral, I can't reproduce the noise. Thanks in advance for any thoughts, suggestions, etc.

 

Could it be the anti-rollback feature? I know that I can feel it disengage in the brake pedal when I have parked sometimes.

 

Unfortunately no, it's not the Hill Start Assist, but I know what you mean about feeling the HSA disengaging in the pedals. The noise is definitely mechanical and only occurs when shifting out of Reverse after moving backward. It's not so loud that the neighbors can hear, but it's definitely a noticeable metal on metal type clunk that I can hear from inside the car. I wonder if it has to do with the tranny fluid still being cold, but if that was the case, 1st gear and 2nd gear would be notchy/difficult to shift into/out of and they aren't.

 

maybe a defective or loose motor or tranny mount?

 

If that was the case, wouldn't there be a clunk every time I shifted? The car is smooth as silk for the rest of the drive after that first Reverse to Neutral shift. I'm totally stumped...I'm just going to start racking up the miles and see if it clears up after the car's been broken in.

 

Abs?...

 

The ABS self-test causing the clunk is certainly a possibility. Does anyone else who owns a 2011 MCS have the same symptoms (if you guys could try it out on a cold start and let me know what happens, I would really appreciate it)?