Been reading across forums and net, and not convinced that I've not been had by a local shop that didn't know what it was doing. Small town Louisiana. Clutch been sticking, but not terribly so. Get ready for road trip, 40 miles in, smell something; 65 miles in, pull off to check. Go to engage clutch, it goes to floor. Able to speed shift into second, then fifth to get back home. Throughout all -- no other noise, smell, whine, issues. Drive right into the only local shop that seemed willing to work on Mini. They proclaim clutch, oh so bad for you. Week later, good news, it's the fluid slave that blew and sprayed all that viscous stuff on back window. Fix this, and maybe no clutch. Two weeks pass. Gee, we need a seal off a hose cause yours was cracked even after we got new cylinder. Week passes, oh, got part, having trouble bleeding lines. Two weeks again, um, we have bad news -- it must be your clutch because we can't get it to go into gear. Two more weeks -- yes, we're over two and a half months in -- you're gonna need a whole new transmission. We can see ball bearings coming out. Talk with nearest Mini dealer. They think worst is the clutch failed and shattered around making it all dramatic. Call back to shop -- um, there's a hole in the transmission, that's how we see the problem. Another week passes, go there and see the gash in the bell housing. They're quoting 8K to do the job.

A) For a 97K Mini that has not had any mechanical troubles, does this make sense?
B) Plead ignorance, but how did it drive so easily the 65 miles home, but now that it's been at shop all this internal damage is there.
C) Did the shop screw up while trying to fix it and cause the damage themselves when they were struggling to bleed/check clutch?

And most important, anyone got ideas on where to go from here? Rebuild or ship to scrap?

 

I wonder if your next step should be to get the car to a shop with experience working on MINIs. It can get pretty expensive paying someone who is using the book, "Auto Repair for Dummies".

 

My thoughts are that it is possible that you caused more damage driving on it when it died, you should have called for a tow instead. Sadly if the clutch failed completely, it could have destroyed the bell housing as well. You could have also lost all the fluid in the tranny and burned it up by driving it. I have a feeling you are not being taken but they are finding the damage as they tear into it.

 

Driving a broken car can save a tow, but cost big $$$$ in parts...
there was a similar thread where the throwout bearing failed, and took out the bellhousing...
was getting fixed by a diy'er. Sounds like some simlar symptoms/dammage.

 

Yeah, I was thinking about that thread as well. Ouch!