About the clutch
On our way up the 18 highway, I was in fourth gear and I need to down shift to third. I put my foot on the clutch, pulled it out of 4th, and couldn’t get it in to any gear!!! The petal sunk in to the floor. OMG,,, what the Hell happened!
So I took my foot off the clutch and put it back in and then I could shove it in to 3rd. WHY?!? I can shift now but my gears became rather tight and hard to get it. They stopped being smooth. SO I parked the car over night and the morning the clutch felt stiffer again, gears still felt ruff, but it was drive able.
As we kept driving the home, the clutch got better and better. Now it’s back to normal again.
We weren’t driving all crazy like in a canyon run, we just started to go up the hill, only about 10 mins in to the drive up the hilly parts. I had a line of cars in back of me and we also had a few in front of us. I think one car had a trailer or a boat in front of us.
No gears where grinded. When I pulled the clutch out. But as soon as I did that the clutch pedal sunk in and I couldn’t get it in to any gears, no grinding what so ever. It just felt like some one blocked all the gears with a sheet of metal or some thing.
I've been driving the mini all day today. The clutch is back to normal. I haven’t had any problems what so ever. I’m still taking it in morning to have them look at. We'll see if they figure it out. or this might have been one of those "we can’t find it so it must be ok" things

Fallow me..
- Put clutch in.
- pulled out of 4th (just like any other day)
- Foot sank (clutch petal sank to the floor, went soft)
- with foot still on clutch, cant get in to any gear (feels like every gear was blocked no grinding)
- Took foot off clutch
- Put foot back on clutch, (clutch still super soft and on the floor)
- was able to get gear in to 3rd (hard shove, but it got in, no girding)
this all took place in like 5-10 seconds. Going up a hill

I've never had this happen to me in any other of my cars. I've only owned manuals and I have never had this exspearnace before. It freaked me out when it happened

 

sounds like your slave cylinder went bye bye

 

your the second person to tell me that so far

 

Yup its your slave cylinder. Just happened to mine. A word of caution when you get it fixed...it will probably feel like crap afterward in the begining. Within a day or so though, the clutch will adjust and it will feel perfect again!

 

Check to see if the carpet, or your left shoe is wet. A friend had the clutch master go bad on his 2006. Dealer insisted it was the slave, until he got them to look at the drip.

The clutch and the brakes use the same fluid resevoir, so if you are leaking from either clutch cylinder, expect low brake fluid.

John

 

Also, the clutch pickup tube in the resevoir is much higher than the brake pickup so you won't loose brakes.

 

And the verdict is.... slave cylinder!!! yay! (not really fun, but good to know now)

So the mini has to stay over night at the dealer, they had to order the part and it should be ready some time tommorow.

now i just got to figure out how to get home and to work again tommorow

 

You might want to keep an eye on your clutch master cylinder. In past lifetimes (when I was driving m/t cars with hydraulic clutches), once the clutch slave cylinder failed and got replaced, the clutch master cylinder ended up failing within 5,000 miles of the slave cylinder.

 

good to know. And if it does is should be all warrentied still!

 

Now THAT is a good idea! If it was a domestic car, no wait a minute...domestic cars all seem to have automatics....

Rawhyde

 

--->wickedgolf: Just out of curiosity, how many miles were on your car when the slave cylinder died?

 

Wow -- I had a VERY similar experience today in my 05 MCS. Of course, it had to happen on the Eisenhower (one of the busiest highways in Chicago) at rush hour this morning. I was in stop-and-go traffic, putting it in first, and the clutch pedal would not lift off the floor. Of course I was in the left lane with no shoulder...

55 death-defying minutes later, the tow truck arrived (thank you Mini Emergency service!) and off I went to the dealer. Haven't heard what's wrong yet, but I'm not loving the PT Cruiser I'm stuck with for a few days.

 

bingo

 

just a little over 16k and the mini is only 5 months old

 

I got him back today! all fixed and hopefully better than new.

It was the slave cylinder, and it didnt die all the way. It more or less had a hicup but was on its way out.

Im just glad i got it before it totaly went on me

 

Congradulations!

Glad to hear your back on the road....and still in warranty! I bet that was nice twords the end of your visit at the dealer.

Hope you have many more miles of trouble free motoring!

 

mine went bad on me in about 3200 miles... its a common problem amongst 2005's.


one month our dealership replaced something to the tune of 25 slave cylinders...

 

But mines an 06 :(

 

The almost same thing happened to me today. Did not drive all day. Then went to take a short drive to pep boys to get some megs car wash for the wheels and other cars, when I get to pep boys the clutch was halfway engaged. I could not shift out of first gear. Shut down car and went to buy the wash, and come back out to start and same thing, the car won't shift. I had to pull the clutch pedal towards me and then was able to shift again and make my way home. Global said it might be the slave so I have an appt next mon morning to bring the hairy dawg in, at least I have another car to drive in the meantime , I would hate to get stuck in one of the bad neighborhoods of ATL I drive in