So as I posted in the R58 thread, I am the proud owner of a 2012 R58S 6-spd M/T with 39K miles as of 5 days ago. I love it. It runs well, I haven't heard any extra sounds "clunks, bangs, etc" and as far as I can tell and from what the maintenance records show, it's been decently well taken care of.

I live in Chicago and it had been somewhat warm since I've bought it (40s-50s-60s) until last night, when it dipped into the mid-20s. I went out to drive it this morning and had difficulty putting it in 1st gear as I was pulling out from a stop. With a little extra push, it went into 1st and then eventually 2nd. At the next stop sign when I started again, it went into 1st just fine, but when I went to put it into second, as I took it out of first, I could feel and hear a grinding sound in the shifter as I tried to take it out of first.

As I drove on, I had no more difficulties other than some general difficulty putting it into 1st and 2nd until I went to return home after the car was sitting for about an hour. As I was coming to a stop at a stop sign, I put the clutch in and took it out of 2nd to put it in neutral and felt the same rapid grinding in the shifter. The same feeling as when you try to engage a gear without using the clutch.

Above 2nd gear, and prior to this cold weather day there aren't any problems. I don't perceive any slippage of the clutch at all and I don't hear any other noises (rattling, etc). Additionally, when the engine is off I can shift into each gear with no problems.

My thoughts that it is most likely related to the Slave cylinder/hydraulics or that perhaps I need new M/T oil.

Does anyone have any other thoughts?

The dilemma is that this car was purchased through Carmax and although I did get an extended warranty, this car would be covered under the 30-day warranty which is more stringent and generally requires that you take it to Carmax for service within the 30 day period. I really don't trust Carmax to accurately diagnose and fix whatever the problem may be and would rather take it to my MINI guy...but free is free and if they decided that the clutch itself needed to be replaced, it would be covered under the 30 day warranty, unlike the extended warranty.

Does anyone have any experience with Carmax servicing MINIs/suggestions?

Thanks so much

 

Hello,

Sounds like its the salve cylinder or maybe the shifter cable. You might still be under MINI warranty on the R58 , i would give them a call and see if you are , is so get it over to them asap before the time frame period runs out. My R58 2012 just went out of warranty.


Most of the time carmax will send the MINIs to the MINI dealership as fixing them is over the level of tech control at carmax.

 

Thanks a lot for your reply! It would probably be getting close to the end of the 4 years, although the build month is June. I'll probably start at Carmax and see what they say. Based on the temperature fluctuations it seems like it's some sort of fluid-related issue.

Thanks again!

 

Welcome, check with MINI first, if it under warranty take it to them, if they find out its something else , like abuse or something that would fall under carmax warrenty

 

I purchased my 2007 MCS from Carmax 3 years ago and they fix everything I compained about within that 30 day window, Carmax never gave me any problems even though I was trying to find things wrong with my Mini. If Carmax is unable to fix it, (timing chain components) they will pay to send it to the Mini dealer. However CarMax doesn't do a really thorough job of inspecting the cars that they sell.