*DISCLAIMER I did read the other posts regarding this issue, it has not been brought it in a while it seems so I decided to post again*


So I am sure you have all heard the story at least a few times, so here is mine: I leased a '09 Mini Cooper S back in early February, its got a little over 4500 miles on it now and my clutch is gone, all the way gone. Now this is not my first manual car, or vehicle, I started out on motorcycles when I was about 16 and my first car was a sick. In the 4 years I had my old car, a ford focus with 160000 miles on it I never had a clutch issue, and I live in a very hilly town and took a while to learn stick in cars. Now with less than 5000 miles I have had not one, but two clutch issues with my MCS. The first happened at 2500 miles, a clutch plate sensor went out. I didn't really think much of it because they had it replaced in a day and I went on about my life.

Now at 4700 miles (exactly) my clutch is all the way gone, at first it was just making a sound between 2nd and 3rd then my dad decided that he was going to test it, took it down the hill and barely made it back up.

Now I understand that a clutch is a wear item but 4700 miles seems a little absurd for it to go out. I just drive to car to school on the freeway, I know how to shift, and I rarely abuse it, maybe a few times a month I will speed away at a freeway on ramp but that is the limit of it, honesty to god.

The dealership I took it too said it would be 1000 bucks just to drop out the thing to look at it to see what the problem was, but the basically blamed it on me being a younger driver, saying it would be about 3000 all told if it was my fault. I read a lot of other posts and it seems to be a uphill battle to get this done under my 3year/36000 mile bumper to bumper coverage but as a college student I can't really drop 3 grand on my car any help here would be much appreciated.

Also I know that 90% of clutch problems are the owners fault, I would not be posting here if I believed that to be the case (I guess everyone says that though ;-P )

Thanks in advance

 

All I can say is WOW!

Having a clutch go out completely at under 5K miles is absurd unless you are abusing the hell out of it (which you indicate you are not). I would politely chat with your MA and then see what they say....perhaps bring your dad in? Then if that does not resolve the issue then bring it up with MiniUSA.

It will probably be one of those "He said, she said" type things but under 5K on a clutch is insane!

 

That's what I thought, does anyone know the average life of a clutch, I would think its around 100,000 miles. Also what is an MA I am not similar with all these acronyms, Mini Adviser perhaps?

 

My salesguy admitted that the shortest he's seen a clutch live was about 85 miles. Blamed it on the client, of course. That was one of the scary things that I had to try not to think about when I was buying the car. Mine's only at 3K since February now and so far it's alive. No real hills in the area, though.

 

Does anyone have the contact number for MINIUSA I looked on the website and all I could find was a email them link, I would much prefer to talk to them directly

 

my advice is to fight fight fight to no end... call mini usa... escalate it as far as you can go... i had my clutch go out at less than 7,000 miles... they tried to blame it on me... ppl on the board said it had to have been my fault... i've indicated that i've driven civics and preludes to the GROUND... all with original clutches that have lasted 100K+ miles... and the STUPID response is "oh.. well the mini is not the same car... it's a performance vehicle"... give me a frickin break... i dont care what kind of car is... the clutch should not go out that fast...

do i pop the clutch? no do i ride the clutch? no ... do i drive fast? yes... OHHHH it's your fault... that's the jackass comment you might get from some people... wtf? i dont care if i drive the car fast... im not abusing the clutch... i ride with a buddy with a 997... 35,000 miles on original clutch... my brother has an 05 STI... 50,000 miles original clutch... and a friend has an 07 STI... 28,000 original clutch... so you are saying my JCW mini is supposed to be more delicate than these other cars? screw it... if that's the case, then mini should give up on their 3yr/46K mi no service policy... it's a bunch of BS... NOW... i am giving up on any AX and track events for fear of no service whatsoever...

you know what's RIDICULOUS??? the salesguy when i bought the car was like "oh yeah.. you should take these out to some track events... mini maniacs yada yada yada.... a lot of fun!!!" yeah watever... until u tried to get the car serviced....

ok...so i do some canyon driving... so guess what's gonna happen? im going to need my pads changed before 36,000 miles... what do you think they are going to say? "excessive wear"... you see... the thing is... if they even have to TOUCH the brake pads in less than 36,000miles, it automatically means excessive wear... that's the beauty of their policy... "brake pads are included... but not REALLY included...."

sorry for the long rant... but dealing w/ mini can be frustrating... i was just told by my dealer that water leaking into my windows was "normal"... my point is, DON'T LET THEM GET AWAY WITH THIS B/S... fight until they replace everything...

 

You cannot prove that they (the techs) didn't take it out for a random joy ride and wrecked your clutch. Neither can they prove that *you* destroyed your own clutch** (disclaimer: see below). This is the beauty of leaving your vehicle in their possession for diagnostics...

Just never admit any guilt... and of course, if you knew you destroyed your own clutch, you wouldn't go the above path anyway... get what I mean? So all in all, if you didn't purposely dump your clutch don't worry Too much about it

Be nice, be courteous, listen to them. Then if all hell breaks loose, stay calm, and escalate the issue...

 

Dumping your clutch is better for it than riding it anyway. Not as good for the rest of the trans and driveline, but better for the friction material.
There's no way a clutch should go out before 100k if you know how to drive. From what I've hear/been told your first clutch should be covered under the 3 yr/36k maintenance as long as it isn't abundantly clear that you race or abuse the car.
Offer to have the service manager go for a ride in one of their cars and show him how you drive.
1.866.ASK.MINI will just tell you that they trust the dealers. You can always try another dealer if this one is unreasonable - I switched dealers when the one I ordered my car from wouldn't give me what I ordered with the car without a huge hassle and then threatened to void my entire warranty over a brake light pulsar.

 

I have been talking to my dealer, MINIUSA and a lawyer on the phone, both the dealer and MINI said that the clutch was not covered under warranty, I really like my car, but I can't afford to fix this problem. I guess I am going to have to go with the lawyer even though I don't want to :-(

Thanks for your help guys

 

Sean,

I am really troubled to hear about your issues. I am also troubled at the total cost of the clutch repair/replacement....THREE THOUSAND DOLLARS???? Heck that is more than 10% of the cost of the vehicle!

Please let us know how this goes!

 

When I burned out the clutch in a 1966 VW Beetle in 1988, it was nearly $1200 in labor alone. It's not the cost of the parts, it's the cost of the work needed to pull the engine to get to the clutch.

 

Ken not doubting you, however, I work on my own vehicles...no not the MINI....but 3K is VERY steep....If I were the OP I would look for another mechanic to have the work done. I would be willing to bet he could have it done "independently" for probably half the cost.

 

Well, I had replaced that VW's engine myself just before I burned the clutch; I had to resort to sending it out to a garage to replace the clutch because I was living in the dorms in college and didn't have a place to work. I'm also a certificated aircraft mechanic.

Having said that, I can't argue against shopping around. I was merely pointing out that to replace my clutch nearly 20 years ago in a simple VW had cost a third of what the same job in the much more complex MINI costs today. Replacing clutches has always been expensive, but I'm not asserting that the dealer is charging reasonable prices in this case.

 

Ken G,

Hopefully you did not take my comments the wrong way....I was merely stating that he should look around. You are correct in stating that a clutch job at a dealer would be VERY expensive and I think that he probably would be better off (in light of the fact he cannot drive his baby due to no clutch and not enough "mini bucks".... ).

One thing that I simply will not touch on my cars is when it comes to differentials and the gearing. I four-wheel quite a bit in my 93 Jeep YJ and I replaced the rear axles/diff I found a nice 2000 Ford "exploder" 8.8 with LSD and 4.10 gearing. I purchased the new gears for the front end and had a local shop that does great work for our off road club take care of that. Last thing I want is to mess that up! Fortunately for me I have not had to replace any of my clutches.

You mentioned you were an aircraft mechanic....do you have your A&P? What types of planes do you work on?

Regards,

Mike

 

The clutch on my '09 also went at exactly 4,700 miles. Neither of my previous two Mini's went before I was done with them at 36K and 23K. The dealer replaced it at no cost as a good will gesture even though he didn't have to.......that's what should be done. If not.....what a jerk and what an embarrassment! I think the dealer should have to prove that your driving caused the problem.
Good luck!

 

I've been hearing a ton of MINI commercials on the radio promoting the all-inclusive 36K maintenance. Wear items like brake pads, wiper inserts, etc. stressed in commercials very clearly. How is clutch any different? This whole untimely clutch death issue is the only thing that keeps me somewhat nervous about the MINI purchase and if I run into it, it will definitely make me go back to Japanese brands even though I love the drivability of BMWs.

Keep us updated. 50K is the minimum I'd take on a street driven car.