GUYS THE SAME HAPPENS HERE AND WHAT I NOTICED AND OF COURSE AFTER SEVERAL EFFORTS IS THE MORE CALM YOU DRIVE THIS MINI COOPER S SUPERCHARGED MODEL AND ALWAYS SHIFTING THE GEARS WITHOUT RPM ACCELERATION AT ALL AND SMOOTHLY RELEASE THE CLUTCH PEDAL, THIS BEAUTY LITTLE BUT SPLENDID BRITISH RACING MACHINE NEVER WILL BOTHER YOU BACK 😊🙏👍 THANK YOU FOR HOSTING MY OPINION..

JABowders;3989756]Tell us what Year and Miles... Possible Clutch plate, throw out bearing... have you noticed any slipping? Like going uphill and you gas it and the engine revs up but you don't go any faster?

Does it have the Dual Mass Flywheel?

Possible leak in the line... (I mention this because I had an issue with a clutch line that rubbed trough and the leak didn't make it down the line to the slave cylinder) this would be noticeable by a lack of fluid in the reservoir.

And how about the shifter bushing? If you get to the point it won't shift, have you pulled over turned the motor off and tried shifting through the gears without the spinning flywheel? If it is still hard to shift with the engine off and the car stationary it could be your shifter linkage/bushing.

To test this with the engine running can you do "quick shift" no clutch just matching the RPMs and as you throttle off pull it out of gear then with just a little rev push it into gear (without the clutch pedal being used). if you can't budge the shifter... I would guess linkage and or bushings.

OK, there is also the age of your Fluid... when is the last time you had it changed? As it gets older it can become contaiminated (mostly water from condensation) and as you use the pedal the water will compress and not give you full throw.

However... My first thought is Clutch Plate, Pressure Plate and throw out bearing.

How often do they go out? I have a R53 with 242000+ miles and I just did the clutch.

Best of luck.

Motor on![/QUOTE]

 

With the engine turned off there are no spinning flywheels or hydraulics to consider so any stiff shifting is caused by the linkage. Only the heat transfer from the engine will cause the linkage and bushings to seize.

How we drive and shift gears while the car is running can negatively impact the clutch and other parts but not the linkage.

I believe you are over thinking the situation

 

Did you get to the bottom of this? I've the same issue I think, 6K old LUK clutch kit and I can no longer select gear without brute force, unless the engine is not running, car edges forwards. I can start engine with car already in gear but the biting point is at dead bottom. Pedal feels totally normal, no changes in freeplay and less than 10mm slop, no vibrations and so on.

 

I had a similar hard shifting issue on another car, and that wound up being a bad throw out bearing assembly.

 

Did you have any strange noises or vibrations through the pedal? It's a strange one because I came out to the car the following morning and driven around the block a few times, no issues. Then later that afternoon, couldn't select gears again 😂 can't see any leaks at all and the pedal has about 8mm slop so in spec. Although despite this I'm starting to wonder if a little air is entering the system on the upstroke of the pedal, I'm going to bin this aluminium slave cylinder off and fit an OEM + rebleed just incase. As I couldn't imagine replacing the whole clutch just 6k later to find it's in good condition, I would cry 😂

 

It was as random as you describe, for me as well. Some times it would shift reasonable OK, other times I had to really work the gearshift to get it into Reverse or First. Usually once I was driving the shifting wasn't too bad, but everything was spinning at that point once you're rolling, too.

More detail and background info is here: https://www.passatworld.com/threads/.../#post-4498711