It's possible that this is my imagination, but the clutch in my 2003 Mini seems to require a lot more effort to press than it used to. The car has almost 96K miles on it now, with the original clutch. I've had this car almost 2 years.


I bought the Mini as a fun second car, an economical work commuter, and to drive through the winters. My main car was a 2005 Mustang GT, and compared to the Mustang, the Mini clutch was super-easy to press.


A few weeks ago, I sold the Mustang and bought a BMW M235i. I've been having a blast driving that thing around, and it has the lowest effort clutch I've ever experienced. But when I drive the Mini now, the clutch feels like it belongs in a heavy duty truck.


I think I need to test drive a used Mini for comparison, because it could be that the BMW clutch is so easy, and the comparison is just making the Mini clutch seem like it's harder than ever.


But, if the clutch effort has actually increased, what could be the reasons?

 

After driving different cars with lighter clutches for a few days, my R50 feels heavy for the first few minutes of driving. That could be all it is IMO.

 

http://atlanticmotorcar.com/mini-coo...utches-go-bad/

I've been doing some research on r53 clutch issues and found this. My clutch has an intermittent noise known here as cluch farting. The effort might be slightly higher than normal, but not by much. The noise has my attention, however.

 

Read about clutch and clutch replacement here. Another option is the transmission fluid. The MINI Cooper and Cooper S specifies the use of 'lifetime' fluid. This means that the fluid is designed to never be replaced. I'm not a believer of lifetime fluids in general. In my opinion, the transmission fluid should be changed every 30,000 miles or about once every two years. This number is a rough estimate, and may vary depending upon your use of your MINI (track vs. street).

Could try doing a fluid change first to see if it changes the way the pedal feels and then go from there. For a DIY on how to do the fluid change, click here.

-Luccia

 

Zero chance of making a difference in clutch pedal feel. It might sell some transmission fluid for you though.
Thanks for trying.

 

It's an option that the OP could try. Thanks for your input though!

-Luccia

 

Especially since the clutch uses the brake fluid reservoir and brake fluid to move the clutch.

 

The heavy clutch is the pressure plate, try someone else's car to gauge it, but don't ignore it as it will a) blow the release bearing, b) wreck the engine due to excess crankshaft thrust washer wear which occurs pretty quickly, and occurs more if you sit with your foot on the clutch at lights or hills etc.


The clutch squawk some say is the release bearing, but I'm unsure for certain, on other cars it can be the springs in the friction plate (if there).


Anyway, on fluids? it won't affect the weight of the pedal, but check the oil level anyway perhaps, it is surprising how many can be really low. I don't think it's checked at pdi, and the dealers won't bother later if no leaks seen.


Just my2p

 

Yeah, I wouldn't bother trying a fluid change. Typically, the greater effort is caused by greater friction between the throw out bearing and the guide tube, which tend fail on these cars. Unfortunately, the only fix for this is removing the trans and replacing the parts (as well as the clutch kit, while you're in there).

 

In my experience with R53's, the shift fork bushings wear out over time and significantly increase pedal effort. It appears the R50 transmission uses similar bushings, #11 and #12 in this RealOEM link, assuming that's the right transmission.

The bad news is you'd have to remove the transmission to replace these $1/each parts. :(

I'd also heed Eric's advice, as his experience is extensive.

 

Does the guide tube get lubed? I had a mechanic tell me the bearing and tube need to be dry otherwise there is a chance of clutch contamination. It's hard to believe a small amount of the right lube wouldn't prevent this from happening.

Thanks.

Coop

 

It should be lubed.

 

I've got a high effort clutch with some squeaking. It feels great when cold but becomes high effort and squeaks as the car gets warm. '05 MCS 96k miles otherwise perfect shape.

But I have not heard of a clutch taking out an engine with it? Can you elaborate on that? Last inspection the mini specialist said it's probably throw out bearing possibly due to the fork bending and causing weird angle. But no way to know without dropping trans which means basically new clutch.

How can that sort of thing wreck an engine??

 

my car had 94000.00 miles on it ,, clutch was grabbing high and hard to push ,, it was the stock clutch ,, after pulling the trans and inspection the clutch it was clearly time for replacement ,,the disc had over a .100" worn off compared to the new stock one and I bought the complete kit from pelican ,came with the all the small parts needed ,fork bushings, slave cylinder etc. ,,you will be glad that you replaced it,, it will be like driving a new car,, the clutch will be nice and light to push as long as you go with the stock replacement,, don't go with anything else,, gmonde

 

I found out what the issue was, the hard way. I was driving about 1/4 mile from home the day before Thanksgiving, and when I pressed the clutch pedal to slow for a stop sign and make a right, there was a "clunk" noise and the clutch didn't disengage all the way. I was able to shift into first and kind of do a rolling stop through the stop sign, turn around, and limp home in first gear. Pulled into my driveway, and the clutch wouldn't disengage at all, so I just turned the key off.

Had it towed to a local shop, and they showed me the parts when they had it apart. The release bearing was in pieces, and the pressure plate had several fingers broken off. Both of these things caused the high effort. The cost to fix was $350 for the clutch kit, $50 for BMW spec transmission fluid, and $950 labor. Total with tax about $1400.

Now that it's fixed, the difference is night and day. It grabs down low like it's supposed to, is really light effort, and it is a pleasure to use again. First time in the rain with the snow tires on, I actually got wheelspin unintentionally when taking off from a stop light - it's putting what little power it has down to the road properly!

This car is a 2003 with 97,000 miles. It had two previous owners. My daughter bought the car from the original owner when it had 40,000 miles on it. She learned to drive a stick with this car. I had taught her from the beginning, including the best practices, and from what I saw, she was not hard on it. But who knows what happened in the five years and 45,000 miles she owned it? Plus, I have no idea how the original owner treated the car.

I actually learned the throwout bearing was bad a couple weeks earlier. I had brought the car to respected Mini shop in my area because the heat had stopped working. The problem there was a leaking water pump and low coolant. He replaced the pump, and also replaced a noisy right front wheel bearing. Once the noises from the pump and bearing were gone, he noticed the release bearing was noisy, and told me it would have to be replaced. But since I had just spent $1800 on the water pump, wheel bearing, a broken headlight housing, an O2 sensor, drive belt, and oil change - he said the clutch and release bearing work could possibly be delayed a while longer.

Lesson learned - when the release bearing starts making noise, it's better to fix it rather than have it fail while driving.

 

Thanks for the update, the TOB will make a rattle and after a while will finally come apart. Sometimes you can feel the rattle of the throw out when you press in the clutch to a certain point and let off a hair , that's how I could hear and tell mine was bad. Otherwise you will hear that rattle. Mine lasted and I changed it out before it fell apart, but I hear you that stinks. I am glad you have it fixed now.

 

The release bearing noise in mine prior to it totally failing was more like a whine or whistling sound rather than a rattle. It happened whenever the clutch pedal was depressed. Not really sure at which point of the pedal travel it happened, but the noise was certainly noticeable during every shift.

 

Mines been making noise for about two years, makes a pretty good whine noise now. Hopefully I'll have the money for its replacement soon, been real loud for about 6 months now.