I had fun today. I was driving along normally. After taking a left turn, I shifted from either 1st to 2nd or 2nd to 3rd (can't remember). Once I threw the shifter into gear, I hear a pop/clunk sound, and suddenly could no longer put any power to the wheels. The engine revved as in neutral, regardless of which gear I put the shifter in.

I'm fairly certain it isn't the shifter linkage since I can still feel all 6 gears + reverse via the shifter. But all of them just give me engine revs with no power to the wheels. Nothing.

It's sitting at a shop down the street right now that services Minis & BMWs. We'll see in the morning if they can give me some good news.

I'm kind of hoping it has something to do with the clutch, because I had it replaced by the Mini dealership not long ago and they guarantee their work for 2yrs. Would be nice if this one was free.

What a hassle. Does anyone have insight on what the issue might be based on the symptoms mentioned?

 

Sounds like the clutch. If you can feel the gears but no motion I think that is probably the best guess.

Sound like your covered though. What kind of car are you driving?

 

Maybe a CV Joint / half shaft---

 

It's an 09 MCS. 55k miles on the whole car, but the dealership replaced the motor and clutch under warranty @ ~45k (less than a year ago).

Nothing crazy has gone wrong with this car that's cost me a great deal of money, but I'm beginning to fear the potential mechanical problems that can creep up. This is why I so prefer old cars. I can actually work on them. I'm nearly afraid to open the hood on the Mini because of how much **** is stuffed underneath.

Hoping this doesn't cost me a boatload.

 

yes that could be

 

I think you nailed it. The mechanic called me this morning with the news. He said that it looks like an axle popped out of the transmission, damaging the splines and throwing metal into the trans fluid. Awesome.

The good news:
I had Mini Roadside Assistance tow the car to the Mini dealership today. I asked the service adviser there if she could open a case to see if the problem could have been caused either by faulty work on their end (while replacing my engine & clutch earlier this year), or by a serious flaw in whatever part initially failed. She agreed to do that without charging me until they determine the next steps.

I am not going to be able to afford this **** if it doesn't get covered. Minis are too damn expensive.

 

A fun update

Mini is paying for everything except a new driver's side half shaft. Apparently when the original mechanic saw the dangling half shaft, he jammed it back into the trans with damaged splines and all. They managed to mushroom the half shaft (or at least Mini techs were convinced of this). Mini techs couldn't remove it without dropping the trans. The techs say that if I'd brought the car directly to them, I likely wouldn't have to pay since the half shaft would have already been out and they could evaluate the issue right away.

I'm going to call the original mechanic tomorrow and tell them what I was told. There was no reason for them to jam the half shaft back in. It did no good. I'm going to do my best to get them to reimburse me what Mini is charging me for the half shaft. We'll see how that goes.

I'm getting a new transmission with this one and I got a new engine 10,000 miles ago. Mini has been a pretty excellent group to me.

 

In for monitoring results. Thanks for the updates!

 

I got the car back. $429 isn't too bad for a new half shaft & gearbox. I have to make a visit to the mechanic I originally took the car to this week to try and working something out with them. They essentially cost me $429.

Glad to be back in my car. The dealership gave me a nonS 2WD Countryman. It just felt awful compared to mine. Too much of a family car.

Anyways, maybe I'll throw an update when I resolve this with the other mechanics shop.

 

That is awesome news. I second you on that deal with the countryman. Nothing beats the classic. I hope MINI keeps the classic look forever