I'll call you in a day or two. If I were having bypass valve issues wouldn't I notice problems in normal driving conditions?

 

Just a thought... this wasn't near The Mystery Spot in Santa Cruz, was it?

 

No. I will post a pic of the hill soon.

 

To get a fairly good picture of how much of an angle this is, take a fairly heavy object and attach a rope to it. Hold the object by the rope, so that it shows what is true vertical, as you stand next to the street, with the street behind you. Have somebody take a picture of you doing this. Make sure that we can see a good piece of the street and can see the rope. Post the picture here. From the picture anyone who understands what I am trying to do will tell you the degree in a few seconds.

Bomboasy

 

Not sure what you mean by normal driving conditions?

With mine the car still runs and will move, and eventually get up to speed, but it does not soung good and has a noticable power loss.

You can check the vacuum bypass valve by looking at the actuation rod and the little lever arm. The rod should be fully extended (towards the left front of the car) and the little lever arm fully counter-clockwise. With mine you could reach down and move the little arm and rod back and forth.

This make sense?

Initially we, Peter and I, tried to cable tie the lever arm to a bolt on the intercooler. That came off on the way home, so I reinstalled a cable tie around the lever arm and then created a cable tie chain of sorts. This now runs semi-directly away from the vacuum bypass to a bolt I installed on the front frame. It has held for the last couple of days and I love driving my car again.:smile:

 

In traffic and on the freeway it rides great. Very quick and sounds great. Sometimes I get a hesitation but I heard that was common in Cooper S. I will check out the bypass though.

 

45-degree grade is very steep and I would be surprised if you won't blink when you face with one. I know I would. Even the toughest of SUVs will have a hard time negotiating it let alone a FWD. The true grade of a steep slope can be very deceiving with our poor vision and psychological perception of the cirrounding references.

Protractor is a simple device for measuring angles. Don't worry about the protractor. Use the method suggested by bomboasy with a heavy object hung by a string and take the picture as he described. That will give us a more objective idea how steep this slope is.

 

Is it me or are we waiting extra long for resolution? I admit to some laziness (not wanting to re-read the thread, since I've subscribed to it from early on) but at the risk of having missed something important, laguna, in your best judgment (or maybe you've seen it happen) don't other cars use this hill, and negotiate it successfully?

I guess it took me more than a few weeks of driving experience, before I could really "judge" whether or not a hill/road/path was navigable by car, but I think "we" are getting hung up on the steepness thing... Sure I want to see this grand-daddy of steep driveways, but what would be the point of designing/building/paying for something that "most cars" can't even use?

Sorry, it's late and I"m surly (and I want to know what the mechanical problem is with laguna's car too),
Tatt

 

This thread is getting the better part of my curiosity. I Google'd to see what is the grade of the steepest street in SF and according to this site is Jones between Union and Filbert which is 29%. There are steeper streets in SF as much as 31.5% but they are one way and you can only drive down on them.

http://personal.udri.udayton.edu/klosterm/asanfran.htm

29% grade equates to only 16 degrees. Angle = tan^-1(grade).

Grade = rise / run. A 29 % grade is 2.9 feet of vertical height for every 10 feet of horizontal distance.

45 degree grade will be a 100% grade. Most stairs are around 35%. Imaging driving your MINI up a flight of stairs paved with plywood. I wouldn't.

 

Yeah, what he said (actually I was just now poking around in that stuff - Quicker on the draw, you are). I'm currently in the camp that's leaning toward mechanical issues being the cause of LC's issue, but the trig lesson is turning out to be fun.

Thanks, from a wannabe civil engineer, that got stuck being a computer guy,
Tatt

 

I am not contenting that lagunacat does not have a problem with his MINI. Judging from his description he may very well truely have a mechanical problem. However we need to have some idea how steep this driveway is. I will be very surprised that it is more than 20 degrees. When one approach a steep street head on from a great distance it can appears much steeper than it actually is because of the lost of depth perception.

 

Here's another reference point as far as slopes go. This past October I climbed Yosemite's Half Dome, which entails hoisting yourself about 600 feet up a pair of steel cables anchored into the granite, which is at a slope of 45-50 degrees. There's a 2x4 across each pair of iron posts to rest on, and believe me, if those weren't there, this would be absolutely impossible for anyone without rock climbing experience and abilities. At that slope, it's barely possible to stand up, and the thought of climbing that slope unsupported is insane. This is purely for reference; we might as well talk about something until more news comes in from San Francisco! See those little black dots? Those are people. Ain't no MINI getting up that slope without a winch!

 

No! Those little black dots are over-achiever JB/JB MCSs.

 

It is a driveway. Other cars use it and have no problem. One, the owner of the property, 65 y/o partial disabled woman who drives a 83 Toyota. She was extremely surprised I couldn't get my 'little' car up. And yes, she told me no one has ever had a problem before.

Like I said I am no math wiz and I am probably wrong on the grade.

As for length of time for a resolution. Work has been crazy and have been much too busy to make this a priority.

 

Wow that's some picture! I finally saw the "ladder" on the face, and the black dot most of the way up - the "rungs" must be the 2x4's you mentioned...

I am SO dying to get to Yosemite - FYI "Outside" magazine recently featured an article about girl-climbers (female rock jockeys, not people who climb girls) that featured some really nice photos taken @ Yosemite...

Other vacation plans, or more accurately plans to make plans, were very recently nixxed, so we might just get to do our long-awaited trip after all.

Been "out west" a bunch, but never to Grand Canyon/Yosemite/Yellowstone.

LagunaCat, I completely feel your pain, about being very busy.
Tatt

 

This street is about the same grade, though I think the street is steeper. Though until I can get back there and take photos...http://www.american-poster.com/sf-street.jpg

 

That's a great picture, made me think of Karl Malden's cop show from the 70's too.

By appearances, cars can power up that sucker, as you probably already know. I wouldn't want to subject the clutch in my old '67 VW microbus to it on a daily basis though.

Tell you what - I been meaning to make time to get over to the dealership too. My guy's got loaners, and they're open til like 9pm, and all I need to do (but have been too busy to do) is call up and set it up. Let's agree to leave work early one day soon, drop off the MINI's, pick up a loaner, and continue as normal until our various issues are resolved. What say?

I'm sure my "resolution" will be less interesting, since I'm only concerned about a couple rattles (where did i PUT that list???), but still... if this idea motivates...?

Tatt

 

Your MINI should be able to make it up to that grade on a public street. It would be a nonsense for your dealer to say that the car does not have a problem if a capable driver cannot drive up that street. At most you just have to keep it in 1st or 2nd.

Did your engine stalled or the clutch keep slipping when you fully released it while the engine did not stall?

 

Here is a view of Filbert looking down. After looking at both these photos I would be surprised if 'my' hill were steeper. In fact these streets are MUCH steeper. I will be in SF in a week or so, so I think I will give this one a go. One way street you say? I learned to drive in Boston, in a cab no less.

 

Good Google skills Zociac, but keep in mind he was going up a driveway.

So lagunacat, how does it compare to the following images? (Thanks Google Images!)

(http://www.betterhousesbetterliving....s/chap04e3.jpg)


(found at http://weblog.larrydburton.com/wp-co...-engineers.jpg)

 

Where are you located Tatt?

It is funny that I am getting a lot of questions on the slope/size/grade of this hill. I guess I would be concerned too but for the comment (often repeated in this thread) of the SF Mini service advisor stating that Mini's and steep hills = torque problems. To me that is the bigger picture and the one I want to tackle. Who cares what the grade is if the service advisor in SF is stating it IS a problem and the same guy telling me that there is nothing he can do for me? Have all of you read the complete thread?

PS. also, same service advisor stated it is not a problem in the 05's-as far as he knows.

 

You really shouldn't have any problem driving up any of SF's steep hills. I have done them many times in my Cooper. You need to keep the rpms up and go in first only. I used to drive my VW Vanagon all over SF. It had less HP than a standard cooper and weighed a whole lot more, and only had 4 speeds.

 

I get up steep hills in SF in second gear at around 2.5k. Only off idle does our MCS need a little help. Once it's past 2.5k I shift into second and climb up steep hills around 25 - 30 mph.

 

danilg,

Good find on the second picture. That is one of the steepest private drive I seen though I know of a local one that is steeper and more precarious because it is located on the north side of the hill and everything gets very mossy in winter here. Estamating the rise vs run of the photo it looks about 2.2 to 1 the angle calculates to about 24 degrees. Steep indeed.

The drive in the first picture is very tame and very much like mine. I can get my 05 MCS up same slope almost at idle. I like to keep the engine rpm as low as possible and only feather the throttle slightest possible to minimize clutch wear since I have a very tight turn at the top that has to be taken just right - like judging the apex just right at the track before you dive deep into it you know

 

Hehe, I'm in Chicago, in one of the flatter states in the union.

I was just trying to scrounge up a little motivation to get the MCS over to the dealership so they could have a look-see @ my issues. My thinking was, if we "committed to it", then it might get DONE, despite our ultra-hyper busy schedules :smile:.

If you call up and make that service appointment (at a different dealer than the one who gave you the line), I still will make mine too,
Tatt