four times with my previous MCS, inc two complete replacements, and no they didnt. As it should be.

 

Good News but beware!

It has now been determined and reported to me that there is nothing whatsoever wrong with my clutch. When told this, I first thought the dealership does not even want to fix it, (as they knew we had enough material to contest it) but the person I trust most at this dealership, Ann, an experienced service technician, checked it out herself and drove it for approx 40-45 miles. No slippage as first reported. The smoke might have been caused by a "mouse nest" or something else like that, they will look into it.

I am so glad I did not just fork over $2,500 when they first told me it was the clutch. Or even half the amount when we first protested.

The car is due back tomorrow. Some of the second generation Mini Cooper S models have clutches that last only 45,000 miles. I guess at that point we can consider upgrading.

I thank all of you for your comments and wish you the best of luck with your minis. I hope this thread helps others avoid unnecessary repairs and expenses.

Very best wishes...M.

 

WEIRD!

Any possibilities that there was some kind of packing material that had been left in there before delivery? Maybe THAT burned up?

Somewhat of a relief for you though.

 

And its not covered. I don't drive aggressively. I've driven manuals since I started driving 16 years ago. Never burnt out a clutch (sold before probably) -- longest I lasted was my Toyota I sold at 80,000 miles. Same clutch. This week, I find out from the dealer that my clutch is burnt and its "my fault" so they aren't covering it. I find it absolutely unacceptable for a clutch to go out at 14,500 miles. And I don't for a second believe it's me. I always put it in neutral at stops; I often have it in neutral coasting as I like when it says I'm getting 99.9 miles/gallon. I've been calling mini -- they covered parts, but I had to cover labor $1850. That's all I could get out of them, but I'm seriously considering taking this further. On top of everything, I leave the dealer with my new clutch yesterday (and i swear it drives better than it ever did even when I first drove it brand new last year), 24 hours later, my oil light goes on and I have to drive back to the dealer! 50 miles one way. I'm not a happy motorist anymore.

 

Well miniola, one or two people have suggested it could have been a plastic bag. I just know I turned the car off, got out and had it towed right away. It scared me actually. I had thought it might have been something electrical.

 

Happy Heart Mom,

I a very glad this all worked out for you. I agree with you - I have been driving stick shifts for over 30 years and holding the clutch pedal fully depressed at a light is not a rare technique. The throw out bearing should be able to handle 100,000+ miles of driving. I sometimes hold it and sometimes use neutral depending on how far into the cycle I believe the light is when I arrive.

People that ride the clutch or hold the vehicle on a hill by constantly engaging and releasing the clutch do abuse it an will probably see a short clutch life. IMO if the driver doesn't do this or slip the clutch excessively on start up - the driver is not to blame.

Glad you stuck with this!!! Consumer Reports frequency of repair records show that stastically - based on actual repair data -the later MINI's do pretty well. Any of us can get the "problem child" - but bad designs usually show up pretty consistently.

Happy Motoring!!!

 

Some of the second generation Mini Cooper S models have clutches that last only 45,000 miles.

Happyheartmom, you have to get this out of your head and stop writing it, it's just not true.

The only thing that determines how long a clutch will last is the driver and their circumstances IE: constant stop and go driving will wear out a clutch faster than just tooling down the hiway.

I'm glad that it turned out to be "nothing", but also wonder why you immediately decided you had a lemon, and your clutch was totally trashed and the dealer wasn't going to pay for it and all MINI clutches wear out prematurely and so on, before you got the facts............

Have some faith in your car, it's really a pretty well made machine!

 

The CR data on the 2nd generation MINI is very limited, as Gen2 hadn't been out very long when the surveys were done. It will be interesting to see if MINI holds as a very reliable model in next year's reports. Time will tell...

 

This came from a mechanic who specialized in minis.

 

Ann is AWESOME!! She is the ONLY SA that I want Molly to be Serviced by at Rasmussen!!

 

There are a number of things that can cause any clutch to wear out prematurely regardless of car make. Faulty adjustment of the linkage etc. can prevent full pressure ever being applied to the clutch which can result in some slippage all the time. I have no doubt that there are probably MINI's with failures in such a short time - just as with other makes but I'd bet that the incidence rate is low.

 

 

Thought I would share a positive experience regarding clutch failure. I purchased my 07 Mini (all JCW parts short of wing) with about 5,000 miles on it and since have placed about 14k more miles on it. Last week I noticed an inconsistent throttle, and my RPMs would jump 10K RPMs and immediately drop.

Called Knauz Mini (North of Chicago) to set up an appointment to one, inspect why my engine was acting up, two fix the cold start issue.

It was five days before I could get in, and low and behold, after sitting the car for the weekend, I drove to and from work Mon-Tues and was losing more and more power. Tripped no CELs, and was able to determine it was the clutch, and it was going fast. It died next morning on the side of the highway. Had it towed to the shop where they confirmed my suspicions

Mind you I do not track the car, I have been driving a stick for 15 years, and know how to properly handle a manual in stop in go traffic. Granted driving on the highway in Chicago is not the best conditions for the car, but I have had several other high performance cars, and have never come close to blowing a clutch in worse driving conditions. That said I have no idea what the original owner did. Did I mention the car was an import from Italy?

Having read all these horror threads, I expected the worse. I could not have been more wrong. Knauz gave me a loaner and the next day my MA, Steve, who has been great ever since I bought the Mini, called me to let me know all the repairs are covered by Mini, and I could pick it up the next day (tomorrow). There were countless apologies for my inconvenience by several people at the dealership.

Lesson being, if your clutch acts up, be honest and courteous with the dealer while explaining the situation. Bad mouthing the car, dealership, etc will not with you any friends.

 

CB, it's great to hear you had a good experience with your honest and courteous attitude. I am really glad I haven't had any of these problems, but reading several threads about various situations, it doesn't seem like the way the customer treats the dealer always determines the outcome. I've read of several people who sounded like they acted just like you, only to be snubbed by the dealer.

 

[ImCBParker
Lesson being, if your clutch acts up, be honest and courteous with the dealer while explaining the situation. Bad mouthing the car, dealership, etc will not with you any friends.[/quote]

Well IMCBParker,

I'm not in this to make friends.

In my case, the car was smoking and it was towed to the dealership where it sat for several days before I even had a phone call from them. It was then they told me in no uncertain terms it was the clutch and that it would cost $2,500 if, after it was opened up at a cost of $700 & if they determined it was determined to be "user error" or abuse or however they phrased it. It was finally reduced to half. And finally, the clutch was determined to be fine as something apparently got in there and caused the smoking.

My particular scenario had nothing to do with how "nice" we were. Some nice folks might have given the ok at the $2,500 figure and drove away with a much lighter wallet. Or succumbed to the $1,250 figure.

But yours is a case in point showing great disparity in how these cases are handled. Discrimination in how the cases are handled, hopefully not determined by the dealership's evaluation of the customer's friendliness. Very interesting for the rest of us to know.

These threads show a consistency of tactics used to deny responsibility for a manufacture's quality control issue or sub-standard product. Our cars are relatively new, Yours an 07, mine an 08. Let's give it a year or so to see what problems show up.

Best wishes and good luck.

 

No doubt other people acted courteous and got no where. Again, not all dealers are a like. Happy Heart Mom, I already responded to you, and good luck.

 

Well IMCBParker,

I'm not in this to make friends.

In my case, the car was smoking and it was towed to the dealership where it sat for several days before I even had a phone call from them. It was then they told me in no uncertain terms it was the clutch and that it would cost $2,500 if, after it was opened up at a cost of $700 & if they determined it was determined to be "user error" or abuse or however they phrased it. It was finally reduced to half. And finally, the clutch was determined to be fine as something apparently got in there and caused the smoking.

My particular scenario had nothing to do with how "nice" we were. Some nice folks might have given the ok at the $2,500 figure and drove away with a much lighter wallet. Or succumbed to the $1,250 figure.

But yours is a case in point showing great disparity in how these cases are handled. Discrimination in how the cases are handled, hopefully not determined by the dealership's evaluation of the customer's friendliness. Very interesting for the rest of us to know.

These threads show a consistency of tactics used to deny responsibility for a manufacture's quality control issue or sub-standard product. Our cars are relatively new, Yours an 07, mine an 08. Let's give it a year or so to see what problems show up.

Best wishes and good luck.[/quote]

You Rock.

 

Hi -

Having the same issue it seems that others did on this forum. Any advice on how to get in to contact with MINI USA when the dealer or the service rep aren't helpful?

 

i'm one of these owners. mine died on the dot at 45k. so i'm backing up that statement. i wasn't too happy about it either. and i've been driving clutch for over a decade.

 

Mileage can not be used to determine the life cycle of wear items. My buddy Jim has the worse commute in the world. CT to NJ every day over the GWB. That is 47 miles with probably 150 starts/stops. At one point I went 47 miles a day against traffic. That was zero stops.

My clutch has 108K miles and the car is driven hard, but after a Yankee game (one traffic jam) I realized how different it would be if my commute was prone to traffic.

 

Thar she blows!!!

A thread holding its breath for nearly 2 years comes up to sip some air