I have a 2008 S Clubman that I bought certified pre-owned with 18K on it two years ago.

It's already gone through the death rattle fix, and had the timing chain etc. replaced after two trips back to the dealer to get them to do it.

Now it needs a clutch at 47K. And they want $2600 for the job.

I have to say, the drivetrain on this generation of MINIs is total crap. I previously had an 04 Cooper S with the supercharger, and it ran better, pulled harder from the line and had nowhere near the issues that I've had with this second generation car. I mean, the oil filter cap is plastic. It's crap!

 

sorry to hear about all the problems. whats the death rattle? is it related to the timing chain?

 

Is that price from the stealership ? sorry I mean dealership ? if it is ask around and find a honest foreign car mechanic and get a price, had a friend recently pay half that for his clutch. If your a member of Sunshine Mini's ask some of them in your area who they use.

 

yea i feel you, i have the older generation mini cooper S R53 and a newer model and all the problems i have is with the newer one, my 02 has over 200k miles and still puls strong and feels healthy and works great!

and thats with a BMW Chrysler partnership, perhaps moving to a prince engine from the pentastar engine was a bad idea....... even though its more advanced it really has some downfalls.


though since you bought it second hand the clutch thing is probably the fault of the previouse driver, youed be suprised at the amount of people who drive a stick and have no idea how to do it properly. when i worked at motor city MINI back in 2003 and 04 their where people bringing their car back every 20K with a burnt clutch and they would ***** up a storm and after they got the new one they would drive off, over reving and slowly engaging the clutch one their way to burning a new one lol!!!

sorry for your trouble!!!!

 

I feel your pain exactly - bought mine used, had it in for the timing chain tensioner (under my used-car-warranty thank god, since it was pre-recall), and I had my clutch give out on me at about 50k. I ended up paying a similar amount since it's non-warranty.

The cost is very likely because it's not just the clutch plate that needs replaced, but also the dual-mass flywheel: which is a $1000 part in and of itself. At least, that's what it was with me, and I know it's a fairly common problem with these drivetrains that the one takes out the other.

And if you're going to continue in the same vein of failures as me, keep an eye on your HPFP and thermostat housing - they were my next to go.

I think I've had all of the "common" failures now...

 

Sorry for your pain, the clutches on these cars are "fragile" at best. At least your waterpump didn't go at the same time like mine did:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/mini-club...seal-deal.html

If you change that clutch and flywheel out, can you post some photos? I'd be interested to compare to mine.

 

Thanks everyone.

I've found quotes from a couple of local mechanics, and they're both cheaper than the dealer.

Do you guys know what the chances are of needing the flywheel replaced? I'm going to have to go ahead with the work, and I'm just wondering what my odds of getting by without a new flywheel might be.

 

If the clutch is actually slipping then you've almost surely got heat spotting on your flywheel. If it's a dual mass flywheel it can't be resurfaced and will have to be replaced.

 

Bring to to Atlanta we can do it for half that price

 

I had my clutch replaced at 48,000 miles and they tried to do it without replacing the flywheel but i had to take it back the next day due to shuddering. The new flywheel smoothed it out. As for the charges, if you are within warranty than start asking for goodwill. Thats what I did. I had to work my way up the chain at the dealership but it finally paid off. Got a $3500 bill reduced to $690ish.