Clutch problem Cooper S
Discussion
I have a Sept 06 (56) Coopers s,
For the last few months it has been making a whining sound when pulling away in first gear, This mainly occurs when the car is cold and sounds like a slipping belt.
The car has just done 10k miles and has therefore just had its first service.
I asked them to look at this but when i picked up the car the dealer said they couldnt hear the sound. This didnt suprise me as the noise doesnt happen all the time.
Anyway ive just took the car in because it was doing it again and i happened to be passing the garage.
The mechanic heard the noise and called it clutch "whooping"
Basically the clutch not meeting the flywheel in the correct way.
The garage have told me that they are prepared to dismantle the gearbox to investigate however if it turns out to be "wear" then ill have to pay them over £600 just for investigating.
This car has been driven by my wife for 80% of the time and has had a very easy time.
Has anyone else experienced this?
For the last few months it has been making a whining sound when pulling away in first gear, This mainly occurs when the car is cold and sounds like a slipping belt.
The car has just done 10k miles and has therefore just had its first service.
I asked them to look at this but when i picked up the car the dealer said they couldnt hear the sound. This didnt suprise me as the noise doesnt happen all the time.
Anyway ive just took the car in because it was doing it again and i happened to be passing the garage.
The mechanic heard the noise and called it clutch "whooping"
Basically the clutch not meeting the flywheel in the correct way.
The garage have told me that they are prepared to dismantle the gearbox to investigate however if it turns out to be "wear" then ill have to pay them over £600 just for investigating.
This car has been driven by my wife for 80% of the time and has had a very easy time.
Has anyone else experienced this?
Edited by screem on Friday 15th August 11:48
Not heard of this before, I would speak to another garage and see what they say. I know a few people who have clutches changed FOC, and some have had to shell out. I know a chap in Mini2.com had some issues with his and had to fork out. Is it a R56 S (Turbo) or R53 (SuperCharged) MINI?
Supercharged.
Found this on mini2.com
http://www.mini2.com/forum/faults-fixes/89122-has-...
How about this for a stroke of luck,
I got to meet somebody a couple of months back who will remain nameless but is very much in the know where minis are concerned!
Anyway i rang him and he told me that this is a fault that Mini are aware of and the last he heard the service dept were very close to having a replacement part to release to market that should resolve the problem. He also told me that if i have the work done under warranty the noise may well happen again! (this is backed up by some of the comments around the world on the above link)
Anyway ive booked the car in for next week as i feel that i now have enough info to take them on if they try to hit me with an invoice and dont want to leave it for a few months in case this wears the clutch unnecessarily
Fingers crossed that they dont try and wriggle out of this!
edited to protect the identity of my contact.
Found this on mini2.com
http://www.mini2.com/forum/faults-fixes/89122-has-...
How about this for a stroke of luck,
I got to meet somebody a couple of months back who will remain nameless but is very much in the know where minis are concerned!
Anyway i rang him and he told me that this is a fault that Mini are aware of and the last he heard the service dept were very close to having a replacement part to release to market that should resolve the problem. He also told me that if i have the work done under warranty the noise may well happen again! (this is backed up by some of the comments around the world on the above link)
Anyway ive booked the car in for next week as i feel that i now have enough info to take them on if they try to hit me with an invoice and dont want to leave it for a few months in case this wears the clutch unnecessarily
Fingers crossed that they dont try and wriggle out of this!
edited to protect the identity of my contact.
Edited by screem on Monday 18th August 21:00
I had this several times with mine, 1st off they changed the clutch and flywheel which seemed to sure it for a while then it came back again, they changed the fluid in the LSD, this did nothing. I sold the car before I it was cured.
Its a very common problem with the S' don't let them fob you off, they know all about it.
Its a very common problem with the S' don't let them fob you off, they know all about it.
Bungleaio said:
I had this several times with mine, 1st off they changed the clutch and flywheel which seemed to sure it for a while then it came back again, they changed the fluid in the LSD, this did nothing. I sold the car before I it was cured.
Its a very common problem with the S' don't let them fob you off, they know all about it.
Cheers for this info.Its a very common problem with the S' don't let them fob you off, they know all about it.
Im well p****d off with them because they refused to investigate this unless i signed a form to say that if they remove the gearbox and the clutch is "worn" then i will have to pay for the repair!
This is a car that is less than two years old and has done 10K miles !
For f**ks sake this is definately something they know about as my contact has told me to tell them to look at "technical bulletin UK-21-002-07" he told me that they will know exactly what i mean!
However when i told them this and hinted that i know somebody who is right at the top as far as faults on minis are concerned they replied, "we cant be influenced by stuff on the internet!"
I obviously told them that this was not something on the internet i was refering to, but one of their internal bulletin's that explains this fault exactly and instructs them to do a clutch change.
They still wouldnt budge.
so ive signed the form and if they come back asking me to fund this repair i am gonna happily tell them to meet me in court.
Im f***ed if im gonna spend £18500 with them to be faced with a £1000 bill for a part that should be good for 40k to 50K Miles after doing less than 10K miles and less than 2 years later.
ps
they have had the car now for 2 days and apparently due to a couple of technicians being off today they still havent removed the gearbox so have no news yet.
Watch this space!
Just had phone call from Dealer........
...........They are replacing the clutch and flywheel under warranty!
Phew...
Sigh of relief.
Seriously got the feeling that they were gonna try and wriggle out of this.
When we first sat down with the service desk lady when we dropped the car off 2 days ago she told us that another person had a similar fault at around 10K miles, and that they had charged this to the customer because it had turned out to be "wear" once they had inspected the clutch.
This hadnt filled me with much confidence as you can imagine!
Anyway ill keep my fingers crossed that this resolves the issue and hope this thread may help others with a similar problem.
...........They are replacing the clutch and flywheel under warranty!
Phew...
Sigh of relief.
Seriously got the feeling that they were gonna try and wriggle out of this.
When we first sat down with the service desk lady when we dropped the car off 2 days ago she told us that another person had a similar fault at around 10K miles, and that they had charged this to the customer because it had turned out to be "wear" once they had inspected the clutch.
This hadnt filled me with much confidence as you can imagine!
Anyway ill keep my fingers crossed that this resolves the issue and hope this thread may help others with a similar problem.
blank said:
screem said:
I got to meet somebody a couple of months back who will remain nameless but is very much in the know where minis are concerned!
Don't mean to be too nosey, but you didn't buy your Exige off him did you? I used to work at the factory and think I know him. 
I had a similar problem with my 02 plate cooper s. the garage wanted 900 to investigate. Mini dealers leave you in an impossible situation, i dont like them. Anyway, when I posted my problem onto the TYRESMOKE forums there was a guy on there who had exactly the same model as you with the same problem. I'm not sure what the outcome of his problem was, but he might have some advise for you.
If you sighn up you'll find it on the dodgy clutch thread.
Good luck.
If you sighn up you'll find it on the dodgy clutch thread.
Good luck.
Hmmm...my 07 Cooper S (turbo'd version) clutch failed while tootling along Chiswick High Road yesterday - after 17,000 miles...just had the warning call that if it's wear and tear I'll cop the bill.
My previous mini and in fact all my cars have never had a clutch fail, perhaps there's a fault that no-one is admitting to?
My previous mini and in fact all my cars have never had a clutch fail, perhaps there's a fault that no-one is admitting to?
I agree with twit - our MG TF ( yes I know what you're thinking!!) went great and we had no problems from day one of 5 years ownership - get a 53 reg cooper S and it has been disappointing. Makes a whining noise from clutch when cold - sounds like release bearing to me - not going to do anything about it.
over priced and over rated as I've said before and "backed up" by rip off BMW.
over priced and over rated as I've said before and "backed up" by rip off BMW.
JJCW said:
how loud a noise are we talking? i've noticed a little whistle noise appearing in the low gears in the passed few days.. (it may be there at the higher gears too, but my runflats make so much noise i can't hear it 
)
could i have the same prob? '05 r53
DOes not sound like the clutch problem to me, the clutch issue will be a kind of whiney groan when cold when engaging the clutch and pulling away..only happens to the wifes car when cold..)could i have the same prob? '05 r53
Not sure what that whistle noise could be.
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