Howdy y'all, recently my clutch went out on my '06 R53 so I went ahead and ordered & installed a Valeo Single Mass Flywheel kit and an SKP Slave Cylinder off of Rock Auto. Once I got everything installed I bled the slave cylinder, started it up and now it will only go into gear when the car is off, when the car is raised in the air with no resistance on the wheels, or when you slam it into gear. When its resting on the ground it will try to go into gear, the car will start to creep just enough, but it won't slot all the way into the desired gear. I've spent over an hour bleeding the slave cylinder multiple times without the special tool that is recommended, and we've also gotten it to go into gear when the clutch fork is moved to full extension with a large wrench. At this time I'm just wondering if making the tool to bleed the clutch the proper way by depressing it all the way would be causing this problem, or if I'm looking at something possibly mis-installed when I installed the new clutch. Thanks in advance!

 

It is my understanding (and experience) that you can't fully bleed the clutch slave unless it is completely depressed. Have someone depress the clutch pedal while you observe the clutch slave to see what's happening. Is the slave arm fully actuating?

 

So from what I've seen when the clutch pedal is depressed, the arm extends out around an inch and a half to 2 inches of movement from the slave arm itself- we tested this with the rubber cover on the arm off, and we also tested it with a washer on the end of the arm to see if that would make any difference- which it didn't.

 

The clutch disk can be installed backwards. Sure you got it in correctly? How about the throwout bearing? Put a new one in?

 

As you've probably realized, bleeding the clutch on these cars can be difficult (but only when not done properly).
1. The biggest mistake most people make is omitting the step where you unbolt the slave cylinder and rotate it so the bleed valve is pointing up / pushrod is facing down. This is CRUCIAL!!!
2. It's easy to make a special tool with some pieces of threaded rod and a piece of metal or wood. It's purpose is to hold the piston/pushrod in the fully retracted position thereby minimizing the volume inside the slave. I'm not convinced it does much, but I've always used it and never had any issues. Side note, when removing the tool make sure the pushrod extends SLOWLY otherwise air will be sucked in through the slave seals. Below is one I made a long time ago.
3. Invest in a pressure bleeder, they are worth their weight in gold.
4. Make sure the fluid in the reservoir is completely topped off during the entire procedure. The baffle in the reservoir is tall so even if it's kinda full but not completely full you may not get fluid into the clutch MC.

 

This ^^ fixed a similar problem I had.

 

*Following
Had a weird event happen while driving of which the red brake light immediately came on then went off. Light came and went a couple days then stayed on. A Saturday morning when out to start and the pedal went to the floor. Moved the Mini and found a small fluid puddle coming from the slave. Replaced the slave *(pain in the butt to bleed). Drove it 4+ hours with zero issues. 4th day on my way to work tried to down shift and couldn't get it into any gear. Pulled over, checked, and shifted into all gears just fine. Started accelerating up to hwy speeds, and every up shift got hard to engage. Made it to 5th gear and stayed there until parking outside of work.
Let my shop mechanic look at it and he condemned the newly installed slave and master....Start with these then work backwards.
Well, he finally got them replaced and bled to the best he could, which may not be good enough. Now there seems to be major binding/resistance in the clutch components.
I'm really starting to wonder if the sheer pin failed causing the fork and bearing to go kitty-whompus in the bell housing. :-(

Anyone else experience similar?
*disk, pressure plate, and throwout bearing were all replaced last year/6k miles ago and were working smoothly until the "event."

 

I have some good/bad news regarding my Mini Cooper S with this concern. I towed the Mini home and pulled the transmission. I found one of the dampening springs on the Valeo Friction Disc let loose into the space between the disc and the pressure diaphragm. Seeing as I'm running a rebuilt Thumper Engine TPR2-R Cylinder Head and other parts, I opted for a stronger/more aggressive clutch. The OS Giken STR is now mounted to my engine. It's amazing quality and gripping performance. Making it nearly and on/off switch. But I'm happy with it. The Valeo Kit weights 35.2lbs whereas the OS Giken weights 23.2lbs.

I have photos, but at the moment they are to large memory wise to share.

But again, my clutch stopped working because the disc body failed allowing the dampening spring to get wedged preventing disengagement.

 

 

One more bit to share. I found a super cheap way to bleed the brake fluid. This 500ml syringe from Amazon has been a life saver getting the air out of the slave cylinder let alone the whole system. All you need is an extra small rubber hose that fits tight, pull back on the plunger, and it pulls the air out of the system. :-)

 

Yep! ^^^ THIS^^^ .
I did exactly the same thing using a syringe and fish tank tubing on the slave bleeder nipple in addition to first using a pressure bleeder.
Made sense to me even before using the pressure bleeder to completely flush the hydraulic lines/brakes.
Works great!