My 2003 Mini needs a new clutch and the dealer says it was faulty usage and not covered under warranty. My son has been driving the car for about 5000 miles and I have never known him to ride the clutch. I drove it a week ago and did not notice any signs of clutch wear. Can a clutch go that fast?

 

Yes it is possible. Ours went out at 23k, and was in fact due to misuse. My wife claims not to have known better.

If you don't believe the tech have them show you the clutch plate... If it's all scorched and burned up, you have no recourse even if you take it up with MINIUSA the claim will be denied.

 

Oh yes, a clutch can get knackered a lot faster than a few thousand miles. However, 10,000 or less would indicate some fairly serious abuse.


You may want to have a nice talk with whomever was driving that car. . .

 

Ok, perhaps a silly question.

But what would be abusive clutch usage versus non-abusive?

 

Drag racing, clutch drops, riding the clutch, slipping the clutch on every gear during shiftup, etc.

 

I have over 43,000 miles on my 03 (most of them are hard miles) and I just got a new transmission (under warranty) and if I wanted them to they said they would put a new disc in if I paid for the disc but it looked like new. I have worked in auto parts for about 18 years and have seen some bad clutches. I looked at mine and said put it back in. Riding the clutch is bad for it and also revving the engine too high and letting the clutch out slowly. Also, hills, like in San Francisco, are bad for it as you burn it everytime you start up some hills.

Earl

 

Sorry to sound dumb.... but I don't know what most of that stuff means. I've been driving a stick for many, many years.... my last clutch was still going at 103,000 miles... so I guess I don't know what that means cause I'm not doing it

But if you could explain... I would really appreciate it.

 

ok, may seem like a stupid question, but, what does a clutch slipping feel like. This is my first manual, I am up to 34k miles, and am starting to wonder if I should start worrying or not.

 

How much does a new clutch for the MC or MCS cost?

 

As stated abuse of a clutch is , high revs,4500+ rpms,at a stand still and dropping the clutch,takiing your foot off it fast.Usual results in some wheel spin.
Whats worse is letting the clutch out to slow,RPM does not matter much.Real bad from a stand still,but also hard on it while shifting.
Also when cruising don't hold your foot on the clutch pedal,as even slight pressure can cause the clutch to disengage a bit and slip,use the foot rest!
I find the clutch to be very light in a MINI,meaning it does not take much pressure to depress it.So if you hold your foot on the pedal you could be riding it a bit.
On flat level ground you should be able to get rolling with no throttle,with a smooth fast release of the clutch pedal,not a normal way to get going,but you should be able to do this.
If your clutch is slipping,or going bad as it were,you can tell by getting into 2nd,well any gear really,and while at about 2000 rpm floor it,if the revs go way up but you don't move faster with the revs,it's time to have it looked at.

 

hard to distinguish from a stumble?

When the clutch does engage if slipping, will it jerk?

 

No,revs will go up,but forward motion will be slow,kind of like driving on ice,except no wheel spin.And you may smell something,that I only know how to describe as "clutch"

 

hmmmm, guess I won't know till its too late!

Ahh well, thanks for the effort though

 

No,you will know,if you have as many miles on your MINI as you say,you will FEEL it.And if your not sure,your dealer tech. should be able to tell on a road test.
I think that if you don't burn out much,shift fast,not hard,but get into gear,you should not be having any clutch problems at 34K.

 

I know don't post after yourself,but,in stop and go traffic,don't upshift so much,let the motor rev,gas is cheap compared to a clutch or tranny.

 

For those whose clutch went out early, which ECU software version are you running?

My car was built in Sept 03. It came with V35.5 from the factory. With that version, as hard as I tried, I felt I was destroying my clutch. It was basically impossible to drive the car smoothly. I was worried enough that I asked my dealer if that was how the car was supposed to behave.

With V36 though, everything was different. The car was much easier to drive, and it doesn't feel like I was killing my clutch.

 

I killed the clutch in my very first car -- a '77 Oldsmobile Starfire.
My dad didn't tell me to keep my foot off the clutch when I wasn't using it! I learned my lesson and have never burned out a clutch since. My last car, a '90 Miata, had 128,000 miles on the clutch and it was still good.

I'm a very good driver. <spoken in my best Rainman voice>

 

To all of you concerned about the condition of your clutch...

Unless you do the things lot describes, don't worry about it. An abused clutch is VERY easy to spot after they disassemble your front end and look at the clutch. The disk will be obviously worn and heatspotted. I know this from experience with my own abused clutch.

It is possible for a clutch to fail due to manufacturer's defect etc... and this failure may even cause the clutch to slip. But if there is no heatspotting, or evidence that you do autox or do anything else that causes abnormal wear to the car then you have nothing to worry about.

According to MINI of Sterling they have in fact seen clutches fail prematurely due to manufacturing defects. Those repairs have been covered by warranty. When my clutch was replaced they had every intention of covering the repair under warranty, that is until they took the car apart and saw the condition of the clutch plate.

 

A good equation to remember:

Clutch + teenager = $


The two most dangerous times for human beings are learning how to drive a stick and learning to play Bridge. Both have resulting in violence way too many times!

 

i hear mahjong is pretty terrible for that sort of thing, too...

 

It is $2,000 for me! Thanks to all for the info.

 

Of all the deadly sins of clutch abuse, riding the clutch is absolutely the biggest killer of them all, IMHO... By even resting your foot on the clutch pedal while driving, you are slightly engaging the clutch, which allows it to slip... building heat, wearing off the puck material, etc.

My Grandad replaced a clutch in my Grandma's VW every 5,000 miles for about 5 years before he figured out what she was doing... riding the clutch...

If you teach someone to drive a manual tranny right, teens are as good as anyone... Just teach them good driving habits (e.g. no riding the clutch, don't freewheel around corners, don't sit at lights in neutral, etc.).

 

What's "freewheeling"? Is that driving around the corner w/ the clutch depressed?

 

Okay I'm confused what is wrong with sitting at a light in neutral?

 

Yeah - I was always told: if you're going to be sitting somewhere for an extended period of time (light, traffic, etc) put it in neutral and foot off the clutch... Whats the issue with this?