Hello all, I've been doing some surfing on the net for some help with my issue. I was driving my 2007 Mini Cooper S the other night and when pulling into my friend's driveway I thought I was stuck in the mud but my car just wouldn't pull. Just before that I had missed 1st gear, it's manual 6-speed, and hit 3rd when turning and just let it power through it. I started smelling something that smelt like I did a burn out but of course I hadn't. To list what is happening now, my car will start, I could change gears normally with clutch pressed in, but NOT when I let off the clutch. There is no grinding noise when changing gears. I can put it in gear and let off the clutch and it does NOT stall out. My car won't move forward or backward, lights do come on when going into reverse. As I was at my friend's house her husband came out to help me check and he thinks my clutch is just burnt out, he doesn't work on mini coopers but tinkers with his own cars in his backyard. He could get it to very slightly move forward, and backward in reverse, by revving it up high. It sounds from the revs that it's in neutral as it revs up fast but could be wrong there as I'm not 100% on the speed it revs up in neutral as I don't pay attention to that since I don't do that. I run it a good bit but I don't sit and rev up at every sport car I pull next to. Got a mechanic friend going to look at it but would like some other input as well. Thanks in advance.

 

Mileage and have you ever changed the gear oil?

 

sounds like the clutch

 

+1

 

An old test to see if a clutch is good on a car during a test drive is to get up to 3rd gear speed and slide it into 5th. let the clutch out and bring the gas down smoothly to the floor and hold it there. If the clutch is going out, it's going to slip. This test is used because it's quite hard on a clutch. Sounds like yours was on it's way out and that 3rd gear hard pull at 1st gear speed did it in.

 

I think the smell you smelt was the clutch/flywheel getting cooked...
Smelled like burning brakes right....the smell you sometimes smell on long hills comming from trucks.....
Since the last thing that happened was that....i'm guessing the clutch failed....
Might be worth looking at the linkages, etc...but when a car will not move after having been in the wrong gear and smelling that smell....USUSLLY the clutch is gone.

 

Like others said, clutch. What's interesting about most modern clutches is they can go from working fairly ok to not working at all quickly..

 

Although unlikely you could have also broken a CV joint/axle. The car is sending all the power to the broken axle (because of the open diff) which isn't able to turn anything. Smell could have been grease on hot exhaust components. The exhaust runs right under the passenger side two piece axle. It's more likely it's a clutch issue though.

 

It has just at 80k on it, bought used and haven't changed gear oil, I personally don't know how but I do know how to change the engine oil/filter. And yeah my brother's mechanic friend is luckily able to work on Minis so I'm lucking up there, if I can find the right clutch kit he'll put it in for about half what the mechanics book tells him to put it in for. I've been searching online and found several now I just need to narrow down which one I need exactly. And yes the smell was like burning brakes. He was able to get under the car and check and few things, definitely need a new clutch regardless so that's step 1. Thanks for the input though, was thinking I wouldn't hear anything here for a week or so, lol never had much luck on any forums before, good to find an active one.

The main difference I been finding in the clutch kits has been one comes up as 7.87 diameter and the other comes up as 9 diameter. Both seem to say for my 07 Mini Cooper S but not all list if it's for the turbocharged or supercharged and mine's the turbo and I been told it matters. Anyway thanks again, now on to surfing the addon parts section for some christmas day dreaming.

 

everything sounds clutch related and not mechanical to the trans, I think if you are not too sure you can call around and have a mechanic come to give his 2 cents at the place the car is stuck at. Maybe someone on here knows of a Mini friendly place in your area that can give it a look see?

 

clutch. the smell, was the plates on the clutch slipping on the flywheel, didn't grab hard enough because it was spinning too fast.

From what i've heard, the mini clutches usually dont slip, they just stop working. You drive along, and all of a sudden, no clutch.

But, just a thought, have you tried to drive it lately? usually if a clutch gets burned up pretty good, it slips bad, but if its fairly low mileage and not too worn, it may start to work after its not so hot. you should check it again and see what happens. More than likely you'll have to replace the clutch.

 

the difference in the diameter of the clutches, may have to do with being a JCW? not positive, but just throwing it out there.

 

In 2007 the gen1 supercharged cabrio, r52 and cooper cabrio was still in production as your gen2 hardtop was made....that is why they list BOTH a gen1 and a gen2 clutch for 2007 and 2008 cars...

 

awesome Zippy, that makes sense now that you say that, they had a turbo option or s/c option in 07.