hello, I own a 03 Mini Cooper s for quite sometime now. I always have had a tolerable stiff gear change going into 1st or any other gear for that matter. I have had clutch changed about 10k miles ago and recently I have had it getting worse. Getting it into 1st requires a good amount of force when at a red light or anytime I'm not in movement. Any gear is quite hard to get into without adding force. While in motion it still is stiffer than before. It isn't impossible to drive but is annoying. Any suggestions on what can cause this to happen and if anyone has solved this stiffness problem. I've noticed it getting worse after having the oil cooler replaced along with gaskets but I don't think that has anything to do with it messing up. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

Its probably your clutch master cylinder. When it fails, it does not fully move the clutch arm and its a bit like trying to shift into gear without using a clutch. Its not too hard or expensive ($50-80 if memory serves) to replace - check youtube for videos. DO NOT LET ALL THE FLUID ESCAPE, bleeding the system is a pita. Swap the cylinders quickly.

 

Before my first engine swap, it took a lot of effort to shift Olivia. When we re,over the engine, we found the dust boots on the shift cables connected to the tranny were shredded and the cables were pretty well seized. PIA to change the cables as you have to drop the exhaust and heat shield, but the failure point can be inspected to see if they're in good condition.