Mine's an 04 Mini Cooper (non-S) R 50
I had my mechanic replace the clutch with and actual Mini - from the dealer - clutch, and Slave cylinder. He was having a lot of trouble bleeding the slave, so I bought one of those pressurizing tank things and went to him and bled it myself. I am 110% certain there is no air in the system, but it still won't go into gear. I saw somewhere on youtube where a guy did the same thing and the new slave he bought was like 1/4" shorter than the original. He was able to find the right one eventually, but I am not having his luck nor can I find that video again.
here's what's happening: pressing clutch down, arm moves almost all the way. When the mechanic inserts a pry bar he can move the arm an extra 3/16" - 1/4" which allows the clutch to disengage and it will shift.
When he replaced the clutch (pressure plate, clutch plate, throw out bearing) I personally inspected everything inside and found absolutely nothing wrong with the fork or any other parts.
Mini assures me that the slave I am thinking about getting is the right one, but my mechanic assures me the one he installed is the right one too....

Any ideas?

 

The clutch has not been bled properly. It's super hard to do, even with a pump. Mod Mini has a video on how to flush the cylinder.

 

ModMini's video is located here:
This guy is a great repair source.

 

That's exactly what I did with the exact same tools, bottle, etc. I bled it 3 times and got air 2 out of the 3. The last time I bled it I got no air. Should I assume that the cylinder is bled? Why am I able to push on the arm (on the bell housing) and get another 1/4" of movement which allows the car to shift? I know I'm just missing something simple, but for the life of me I can't figure it out.....
Any suggestions would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

Took Mini to a local (ASE Certified) mechanic to have the clutch replaced.....Long story short he couldn't get the clutch slave bled. I bled it myself as per ModMini's instructions and video.....still not engaging fully. Long story short I trailered her to the closest BMW dealer - 74 miles from me. They installed a new slave and bled it but are having same issue with it not fully engaging. They tore it down and found the weld that holds the throw out bearing fork to be cracked. Replaced the shaft/fork. Still no luck. The service manager called me and said the only thing they haven't tried is replacing the clutch kit. I gave them the go ahead on that, but still no good.
They (BMW Techs) and I are at wit's end!
Got a call from John, service manager at the BMW place this morning. He told me he chatted with a very wise old Mini tech last night. The old guy told him he has seen this problem - only once in his 40 year career. He suggested that the hose part of the line leading from the clutch master to the slave has a short piece of hose in it. What he determined was that the hose itself is swelling under pressure and not letting the fluid do its' intended job.
My background is in Mechanical Engineering and very complex hydraulics. I do know that hoses expand when under pressure. It makes some sense to me, but, here again, I'm grasping at straws.
Has anybody experienced this or anything similar?
Thanks in advance for advice/ideas.

 

So you throw your ME with extensive hydraulic experience credential around and that only leaves us mere mortals too timid to speculate as what the cause of this mysterious hydraulic problem could be, yet to to be discovered by the brightest of our kinds. Good luck with your fact finding with the wise and old Mini tech. All hose swells under pressure... but by how much?

 

Didn't mean to offend anyone by throwing anything around....especially when it puts out an eye LOL. All hoses swell, and over time can become stretched out of shape.....the degree of "swell" depends on a lot of things - hose composition, pressure applied, etc.
And, BTW thank you for your well wishes. I truly do appreciate that.

 

Some people are just too sensitive, seems like you were just expressing your thoughts based on your experience, that's what we all do here......

 

Thanks for that! I thought I was on FB for a minute there LOL

 

If you are worth your salt, you don't need to advertise your professional credential, especially in the subject matter that is your purported expertise. May be it is me, being too easy to be embarrassed of my own professional incompetence that I bury my path the best I could.

Back to wrench my Mini pretending to be a self taught ME.

Oh, and a timely photo for my delicate sensibility. No. Not the mechanical thingy, but the sticker.

 

Agreed. Don’t worry about some on this blog that take everything personally.

 

Dude! Lighten up. The guy wasn’t bragging he was just providing justification for his comments.

 

Here is a few tips that may help. Just elemental physics and low tech hydraulics.

• Air is lighter than the hydraulic fluid. Corollary - air will rise to a place where it can hide and just when you are 110% you purged it all. I always doubts my feeling of certainty.
• Air is more compressible than hydraulic fluid.
• Do a search on this forum and this subject has been discussed endless times.

And let me add one observation. A lot of these so called gurus just thieve on the information they withhold rather than sharing. Information is power.

 

Huh?!

 

I think he meant "thrive" rather than thieve. BTW, Tgriffithjr, I'm quite proficient in the English language, spelling, AND typonese…...bragging a little bit here LOL.

 

Update: The dealer had to order the hydraulic line from BMW in Germany. The service manager called me yesterday and told me he had a fully operational Mini Cooper with my name on it that wants me to come pick her up!

I know it's hard to believe for some (me too, actually), but the new line did the trick. Like I posted in mid May, the "old guy" with 40 years as a Mini mechanic knew his stuff. I just wonder how many parts he threw at it until he finally got the right one? Nonetheless I am quite happy and satisfied with the expertise of the place I took the old girl. She drives like new!