We're at our wits end. Our '06 MCS slowly got harder to shift. Then impossible. There was no noises, like when a throw out bearing goes. It didn't feel rough or shudder. It felt as if it needed adjustment (Yes, I'm old). There was no slipping.

First, I researched: (We have the big Bentley book)

• Replaced master
• Bled
• read the Pelican part's tut
• Replaced slave
• Bled (pressure)
• Bled again, waited over night
• repeat
• Fricken' repeat

It just doesn't seem to disengage fully.
I'm an Electro-mechanical Designer with certificate in Mechatronics (includes semester hours in hydraulics/pneumatics). WTF are we doing wrong?
Q: What should be the distance from the slave mount face to the fork lever at full extension?
We can't determine if it's air, cylinders, or a bad fork without understanding this dimension.



It doesn't seem to go quite 90 degrees to slave. This is with a stick flooring the pedal, again, waiting over night.

When compared to the old slave, it appears the more travel is possible. I can't seem to move the lever further with the tools I have.
As a tech, I need dimensions. If anybody knows them or recognizes this as short, that would help. Pulling the tranny would be difficult in our circumstances. Paying someone else to do it would be impossible.

Thanks,
Gary

 

I'd suggest also inspecting your shift cables. If they have play or are binding you might want to replace them. It's not a bad place to inspect if you're having a hard time shifting and nothing else seems to be the culprit. I posted our shift cable replacement below for you to take a look at. You can also go to the bottom of the article and leave a comment. Our other MINI guru may also have some additional input for you.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

 

What do you mean it won't shift? You don't need a clutch to shift gears while you are moving, or stopped with the engine off (although it makes it a lot easier). If you can't get the shift lever into a gear slot, that sounds more like a shift linkage problem as the previous post suggests or something has slipped inside the trans. Easy test: engine off, put shift lever in gear (rock the car back and forth a little if it won't go at first. Now have someone depress the clutch pedal while you try to push the car - if it moves, the clutch is working, if it won't, the clutch is not disengaging. If it won't go into gear nohow, it's not the clutch.

 

Right, w/o engine running - easy. Drove it today w/o a fully functional clutch. We had to switch off once or twice to get from 1st to reverse and visa versa. Syncros did the work on the road. My fear is the fork. My hope is the slave. So, our logic is that if the slave is not fully extending because the release bearing is cocked and jammed, there would be resistance at the pedal. Like blocking the slave to Dx the master. Which does check. The pedal goes to the floor without resistance. The rpms drop, no dying, car wants to creep.
Under the car, the lever is either sticking where a bent/broke fork is pushing on one side of the bearing and resisting, or I ain't got the leverage with my limited resources to actuate the lever further.
Q: If the lever locks up prematurely, shouldn't there be corresponding pedal resistance?
Q: Are we correct in our research that the pictured lever and push rod are not fully extended?
Thx,
GDP (tablets suck, I'm going to my big box now)

 

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I have been searching the internet as I have the same problem.

I have replaced bits, bled it all, and still have the same issue and wanted to ask if you found a solution.

Thanks.

 

Jay,
It ended up being a worn throw out bearing. If you don't have the "Bentley" service manual, it will be difficult to get to. For us, we have very limited resources and live a mile and a half down a dead-end dirt road without a garage or carport, but we were successful. For a while it appeared as if our Mini had exploded in the driveway/parking space. It is important to mark where things are mounted before removing them so as to avoid alignment problems on reassembly. This works. Which parts will become evident. We have no leaky seals and it hasn't given us any more trouble that-a-way. Fear not. It can be done. Tina, my wife, set up a table onsite and we laid out all the tools we needed and she handed them to me as needed. Good organization sped things up.
Our big problem was that we wanted it to be a bleed or cylinder problem because yanking the front end off, the trans axles, and part of the under carriage was too intimidating. A lot of time and parts/fluids money was expended hoping for an easy fix.
We still love our Mini even if the A/C compressor bearing is whining now and Tina has blown the stereo.
H.D. Thoreau thought that we become slaves to our possessions. The moment you own something, it owns you. So true.
Good luck,

 

Thanks for the info, it's got to the point where I am thinking of removing the gearbox to check... But I had a new clutch and throwout bearing about 8k ago so I am very reluctant to think this could be the issue with mine... It's a strange one for sure...

Thanks again.

 

Very nice of Dreamer to jump right back in after 3 years.