I need some serious advice. I recently bought a well maintained 2006 MCS on this board. It is a 2006 MCS with 26000 on it. About 100 miles after getting it, I was driving it in traffic when it would no go in gear. This is after about 1 mile of driving out of the lot and out to lunch. I brought it to the dealer and they said very intermittent. Then, over the weekend, again residential driving at about 35 miles per hour and all of the sudden gears spin, vehicle moves very slowly. I had it towed to the dealer and now they said $1036 to look at and $2500.00 if neglect/abuse. THe previous owner knows how to drive stick and I have only driven it about 200 miles in residential (I am not yet an expert with the Mini)... but I have not raced, ridden the clutch, stalled or grinded the gears. An idependent wants about $1100 for the same thing. Do I eat it or expect Mini to find a defect? HELP.... My mini is at the dealer awaiting a decision.

 

sounds like it should be covered under warranty

 

Take it back to the MINI dealer....You're car is covered by a 4 year 50000 mile warranty...
If your local MINI dealer is asking for that up front, talk to MINI USA...
(I bought my 2002 MCS used and milked that factory warranty)
You're covered and you should not have to pay a red cent...

 

If it's a 2006 with only 26k miles on it, the dealer shouldn't be charging you a damned thing to "look at it", much less $1036 - the car is still under warranty!

Not being able to shift into gear, even with the clutch pedal down, is a classic symptom of a leaking hydraulic clutch actuator. I'm a little more curious why it would spontaneously pop *out* of gear while you're driving along at a constant speed. Are the problems still intermittent, or has the clutch completely given up the ghost now?

As long as the friction material on the clutch isn't burned/glazed or competely worn away, the dealer is going to have a hard time blaming this on "abuse".

 

+1 call MINI USA 1-866-275-6464. And tell them your dealer is trying to screw you. See what they say

 

I am curious about the hydraulic clutch actuator. When I attempted to drive it over the weekend, I could get it moving but it definitely was not engaging. I know that MTBSCOTT is an excellent stick driver. Therefore this makes no sense. The dealer says if they see burn marks or cracks it is $2500.00. Mini Usa says they cannot authorize a free inspection. My problem is a compromise based upon 26k miles of wear could cost more than a independent (if it is not free).

Thanks for the advise. Hopefully your comments help with miniusa.

Thanks thanks

 

2500 bucks to replace a 200 dollar part (clutch/pressure plate and bearing()....
F**king rip off dealership service can kiss my a$$. I hate MINI dealer service, if they were reasonable, they would get more business..

 

This makes me sick. I sold the car to Larry just a month ago. Helmut was a good car, had only made two visits to the dealer, one at 1500 miles for a stress cracked windshield, and then again for the first oil service where the service bulletin for the LSD was also performed. Never had another iota of problems. I don't know what's wrong but definitely sounds clutch related. What makes me mad is that the dealer would even SAY that there might/would be a charge on a car in warranty without even inspecting it. And based on anecdotes from the BMW community any clutch related problems would be covered by the maintenance plan if not the warranty. I have driven manual transmission cars almost exclusively for the last 34 years and have never had to replace a clutch in any of them so I don't see what could have possibly been abused in the 300 miles or so Larry has driven the car since. I won't call out the dealer he took it to, but I advised him last night to take it somewhere else.