Hello all. Mojo is down for the count. After some spirited daily driving from the wife the clutch finally gave out at 110k. Ordered an oem clutch kit from advance and a flywheel from a member here. Tear into her and discover that this in fact wasn't mojo's first clutch job and the numbskull reinstalled the t-8 blots with what looked like a hammer?

So anyways descriptions aside clutch was beyond shot as was the flywheel. Had to order new pressure plate bolts as a right angle grinder removed the already butchered set. Reinstall said parts, torque to specs, slide everything back together (mind you this takes place over the course of 2 months... things are a bit hazy about where things may or may not go) I get stuff figured out. Bleed cutch... too much play. No fluid in slave, lots in reservoir. Gravity fill. Okay now we got something. Clutch still doesn't seem to engage. Not enough pressure. I replace slave, get more pressure now... still not enough to take up slack.

What could have I done wrong? If I use a pry bar, I can engage the clutch(it's takes quite a bit of force) everything seems to have lined up smoothly, I even pulled everything apart a second time just to make sure.

I have also ran into an intermitant starter issue. I can get it to start, run, shut it off, come back and it clicks. Battery is good, all connections are good. I can pull the starter, reconnect it and it works until I shut it off again. I'm trying to get it fixed to get rid of it, but I want to do it right... I'm almost just tempted to sell it as a project now I'm so frustrated.

 

There is a special tool to compress the slave when you bleed it. If the slave is not compressed you will NEVER get it bled right. Start with that.

 

You can make the tool. Take a piece of wood and make a little dimple in it for the piston to sit, then get two long *** bolt and put them through the holes in the slave cylinder and tighten down the board with those.

 

Hi Brutalsun
I found this video, which shows how to compress the slave cylinder using a home-built tool back when I was researching things to worry about...
The vid will be kind of remedial for someone who has replaced a clutch before, but you can view the shop made device at around 2:30.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68PIYbXk1nc

 

Ok. Here's what I accomplished this morning... don't laugh it worked. I didn't have any bolts long enough to make the contraption in the vid so I improvised. I mounted the slave wrong, compressing the piston fully on the clutch armature and bled it that way. So what I did was instead of the slave getting the bolts first, the mounting bracket did. It worked marvelously, I now have movement in my clutch. Of course I installed it the way it was supposed to be, it was just for the purpose of bleeding.

Now I have another problem. My wheels still spin in gear and limp mode is engaged. The clutch is not disengaging like it's supposed to. Is it possible that the flywheel I bought in like new condition was also shot?

 

After a long break, a few projects and a new car (GTO ) I went back and gave this a try. I guess the wait worked. I now have a running mini... though the power steering seems to have left me (was not a problem before it sat)
Mojo, I'm sorry girl but buh bye.

So thanks to the folks that had actual input, I'm going back to cars that I can actually work on.

 

Good luck with the new car. Minis can be a pain to work on.

 

Thanks man. The community is awesome... the car, while fun to drive, WOW. She literally broke down on the dealership lot as I was signing the sales paperwork. When Mojo broke, everything went at once... starter went up in a poof, the hood latch broke, the abs lights went off... she was not a happy camper went I sold her. Funny thing was, I drove her all day, other than the steering being out, everything else was fine.

I took damn good care of her, replaced everything I could when it went, this clutch thing was just the last on a laundry list of things that could go wrong on a car.