Hi everyone! R53 got towned in the shop and I want to make sure that I will get a proper diagnostic and repair experience. 2006, 6-speed manual, 124000km / ~75k miles. Transmission/oil fluids changed a month ago.

Two days ago, I noticed that the clutch had started to slip a tad - I mostly had to release the clutch more than I used to. Shifts became physically harder at the stick level, in that I had trouble pushing the lever into gear (lots of resistance). On the next day, the shifts had become almost impossible and the slipping was at the "dangerously slow accelerations" level. I'd be able to get up to 120km/h / 75mph, but very slowly. The 6th gear slipped to almost unusable levels. Parked the car after 50km, had to go to an appointment and came back to a car that would start without issues, but that I could not put into gear. I could move the shifter around without issues with the car off, so no mechanical issues with that at least. I also noted a large puddle of some sort of fluid underneath the car, located in the front/slightly-right-of-centre area. Had to get towed to the nearest trustworthy garage, who'll get back to me with a diagnostic today.

Has anyone had a similar sort of issue? I'm expecting the whole clutch to be replaced, but do you reckon it could be more or less serious than that?

 

One thing I think could explain all of the three issues (clutch slip, leak, gear engagement issues): a faulty input shaft seal? Guess the transmission oil would have been pooling up and that the oil went in contact with the flywheel, causing slippage?

 

Could definitely be a combination of a bad seal and a slipping clutch, though 75k miles is probably early but that depends on how your Mini has been driven (calmly or bat-out-of-hell mode). The Valeo single-mass kit (clutch disc, pressure plate, flywheel, throwout bearing) is excellent -- I just installed one in my R53 and like it a lot. You should definitely replace the rear engine seal while in there, regardless of whether or not it's leaking, to preclude future problems. Good luck!

 

Thanks for the reply! Looks like the repair is so involved even if it's just the seal that the full replacement may be worth it. Was eyeing the Valeo myself so I might just go for that - it's a lot cheaper than I would have expected given that sportier drivers generally see it as an upgrade over stock! I'll also make sure to get that seal while I'm at it.

 

You're welcome. It is a bit of a job to replace the clutch. The front subframe needs to come out, for instance, and that in itself is involved. I worked on mine on and off for about a week (it's not my DD). Good part, in addition to a new clutch, is I learned a ton about my R53. The Valeo kit was $350 and a new seal is around $20. You have to drop the trans to replace the seal anyway so at 75k miles it's definitely worth it to replace the clutch while apart. ModMini has excellent videos on YouTube that will take you thru the whole job step by step. PM me if you run into problems.

 

So my car is also a bit of a leaky mess. Beyond the input shaft seal and the rear main seal, is there anything that makes sense to change during a clutch replacement?

 

Lower control arm bushings and front sway bar bushings, at a minimum. Gaskets and o-rings around the oil filter housing. Check the CV boots on your front axles.

 

Was thinking of upgrading all bushings to Powerflex eventually. It'd be an easier job with the subframe down for the clutch replacement, I reckon? Thanks for the tips, CV boots are already added to the order in particular!

 

A problematic leak on R53s is the crank position sensor that is located on the front of the engine block underneath the supercharger plenum (check Engine Block Mounting Parts on www.realoem.com). It's a bit of a PITA to get to but it almost always leaks (o-ring) on older Mini's and leaks volume well above it's small size. The leak tends to build on the front of the block then travel down and underneath back into the subframe and associated components. It's well worth it to change that since you have the car apart for the clutch. Axle seals would also be a good thing to check while you're under there. The oil cooler gasket/seals and power steering hoses are other problem areas worth some research. I've replaced all the above on my R53 and it's relatively leak-free at this point besides a tiny leak at the oil pan from the previous owner installing a self-tapping, oversized drain plug -- ugh! That's going to require a new oil pan and that's low on my to-do list (timing chain first). Good luck!

 

There are also some coolant lines that are trivial to get at once you have the car apart enough to drop the transmission. They are cheap, and while they probably aren't knackered at 75k miles, they will be at 100k, so might as well replace them. The closer they are to the engine / exhaust, the more likely they are to be worn out. I replaced the first two with OEM parts, but the last couple were ones from a cheesy eBay bright blue silicone aftermarket set. Tacky ricer factor aside, they look to be solid replacements, and they were embarrassingly cheap.

With regards to your symptoms, the part that doesn't make sense is the shifting problem. The leaking transmission seal is plausible and in theory would explain both, but that isn't a very high pressure environment, and it seems like that would be leaving a pretty obvious mess when you park it. So maybe it is just bad luck and two independent problems (shift linkage loose? Motor or transmission mount collapsed?).

I've done the mini clutch twice (long story). It's a lot of little steps with a lot of parts and takes a lot of time. You will laugh out loud when you see the car with so much of the front end "gone". The $80 harbor freight "engine support bar" is really helpful, as is a transmission jack. Be crazy methodical... I write down each step on a sequentially numbered 3x5 index card (in pencil, which resists solvent spills), and put that card and the parts in these giant super heavy duty zip lock bags (that I reuse for project after project). Those bags go into a box in order. Then I work backwards through them to reassemble. The videos out there for the clutch repair are very useful, and only have a few minor errors (socket sizes wrong, steps that were a little out of order but harmless, etc). I think the Mini job was the one that needed an odd reverse torx socket as well, but that may have been the Saab (which I've also done a couple of times).

I think some of the seals were easy to get over the counter, but some were hard to source locally. For sure replace the crank seal, and you might as well replace the driveshaft seals while in there if you are at 75k. The slave cylinder is external on the mini, which is nice, but it's cheap, so I just replaced that as well. It is possible (but very difficult) to put the slave cylinder on the wrong side of it's mounting bracket (part of the long story on two clutch replacements). Don't do that.

Give yourself a lot of time. Even if it goes well, you are looking at a two solid full days of working at a good methodical pace. If you try and rush it, it gets really easy to take stupid shortcuts and make stupid mistakes.

 

You guys have been fantastic! Thanks so much for the help - I have duly noted your tips.

Turns out some bearing got stuck and quickly burned the whole clutch assembly as well and destroyed the seal I mentioned, which explains all issues. Otherwise the car is in good condition - they were amazed at how rust-free the car stayed after 13 years of Canadian winters (I had to do some work under the tail-lights + door seals), but otherwise all dandy. Let's keep it running for a long time, shall we?

@reepicheep , did you mean these sets of coolant lines? (of course I'd go purple) The shipping delay is prohibitive and the options on ECS tuning are rather expensive comparatively. This is my daily driver so time is unfortunately of the essence to some degree (I can do a few weeks without, but not a few months).

This is the order I have built up. Anything obvious I'm missing? Includes coolant hoses, slave cylinder, dust boots, tensioner damper (broken) and various seals and gaskets on top of the clutch. The power steering system has been recently verified and is in good shape.

 

Ah! A throwout bearing failure I bet. That would do it, I bet that was a mess of chewed up clutch bits. You are really lucky shifting got bad as an early symptom, I bet that transmission won't run far before completely failing with all the transmission oil lost.

That looks like the same sketchy ebay importer setup I got. I was a little skeptical when I ordered it, but figured for under $50 (mine was a close out color nobody wanted) it would be worth having on the shelf even if it was just as an "install to keep commuting for a week or two while the real OEM part gets shipped". They turned out to look really durable, and after 15k miles on the first one I put in, I see no signs of degradation. Trying to find and get all those bits individually costs a fortune and takes forever. It claimed to be local to me, but I think the seller was lying (they claimed to be the same location you would see if you geolocated my IP address, but refused to let me pick up locally. And it did take a while in shipping, so they probably have a fairly fast way to ultimately ship from China and go through some kind of US repackager... but don't want to let people know that).

It wasn't a month, but it was more than a week, so if you need the car daily, this isn't a great option.

For others though, especially with these parts starting to get harder to locate locally, it is probably worth having this kit sitting on a shelf in the garage.

 

It's been ordered! I did add the set of Powerflex bushings (LCA + ARB). I'll let you know how it goes - and thanks again to everyone !

 

I completely forgot about that, but I did that too.

Bushing without Bracket for Control Arm (Front Lower Left or Right)
Brand: Lemfoerder Note: (2005 Mini Cooper S Hatchback)
Part #: 31-12-6-757-551-M69

I don't recall the prices details, but I do remember a fairly epic battle to get those damn things replaced, so definitely a job to do while the subframe is already out for some other reason.

 

So it's worse than anticipated. Upon exploding, the throw-out bearing pierced a hole in the transmission case, causing the tranny oil leak. Video from the shop incoming later today.

Do you reckon it's something that could be welded? Or do I absolutely need a full transmission replacement? Gotta ask myself if it's worth it at that point :( .

 

They already have the transmission out of the car. And I bet old mini's with manual transmissions die of "motor failure" about 10 times as often as they die of "transmission failure". Put these two things together, and I'd be surprised if you couldn't find a used transmission from a scrapper pretty cheap (like 15% of what you pay for a clutch replacement anyway).

Given the amount of prep the necessary TIG welding would take to clean off all the transmission fluid, and to prevent the welding from contaminating the transmission with, well, weld stuff, I'd think a used transmission is a better deal. Come to think of it, given the hole probably already inserted parts of the transmission case into the transmission, where it probably got ground into aluminum chunks by steel gears most certainly not designed to be aluminum grinders, that transmission may be dead already (at a point where it would require a full rebuild with case repair).

I'd just go get a used transmission from a scrapper and slap it in. It shouldn't change the labor the mechanic is charging beyond a little extra for them to find and get a good used one and throw away the old one. If you want them to warranty it they would have to choose more. If you just got one yourself and dropped it off and agreed not hold them liable if it fails, it would probably be cheaper, if they will even do that.

If you REALLY wanted to go cheap, and if the hole isn't in a structurally important place, i've seen dirt bike cases successfully patched with a good epoxy. The transmission isn't under pressure, so all you really need to do is keep the oil from coming out. So either JB Weld the hole, or screw and RTV a thin plate over it (if you have room). And do everything you can to get the old broken bits out of the case somehow. A crazy high risk bodge, and probably foolish if you have to pay somebody another $3000 to take it all apart again if it fails again. But if it was my car, in my garage, and the alternative was scrapping it, and there was no evidence the broken bits did damage to the gears yet, and it looked like the repair wasn't in a structural important place, well, I might be tempted, knowing the risk to me was just a single long saturday tearing it all apart again to get the transmission back out. I've done stupider things.

In your case though, I'd chase a transmission from a salvage yard. I bet they are cheap, and for the manual at least, I bet nearly all of them will last about two engines in terms of mileage before failure.

 

Hey reepicheep, just logging on NAM again to find out that I never did reply to your last very helpful message. I did get a transmission replacement for $300 from a junkyard and the MINI is running like a champ now. Thanks so much for all of the info you have provided along the way!

 

Cool! Thanks for the update!

I have a 250,000k mile Saab with an increasingly AWOL reverse gear. I keep thinking surely that motor can't last any longer, but it just won't die. I should go I scare up a younger transmission with less than a quarter of a million miles on it, but I know as soon as I do and put it in something in the motor is going to go and the car will just get scrapped anyway...