Way to tell if a broken clutch V broken gearbox from symptons alone? (Or best guess).

[Paul]

Our MINI One, 2002 model with less than 30k on the clock has broken.

Last week the symptons seemed to start. Pulling away from standstill, if you didn't do it very carefully, resulted in a strange noise/behaviour.

The noise and feeling seemed a bit like ABS wasn't letting go on the passenger (LH) side of the car. I wondered from the feeling if it could be ABS (it's just had a load of brake work done) or something gear related.

The car doesn't get driven much, and I've had a busy week with the R56 preview drive so hadn't had a chance to get it looked at.

Today I went out with Alfie to spend his birthday money at Toys R Us and we only got half way when it started to feel very bad, crunchy and slippy, the higher up the rev range the worse it felt.

VERY quickly I decided to turn back, but as we entered the roundabout to turn back that was it. No gears in any gear....

Managed to coast up out of the way onto the grass verged and called MINI2 rescue (Abi in my S) to come and rescue me and the boy.

Wondering if there's anyway to tell (without taking it apart) if that's most likely clutch or the gearbox that's gone.

Either way, not very happy just now.

[Jim Ray]

Sorry Paul,

Sounds like clutch to me.

[herbie hind]

clutch (how many miles?) pressure plate or sorry input splines gone ?it's weird though i've never had a clutch that couldn't limp home in a lower gear. so broken pressure plate springs or something ... do you do alot of really hard launches?

[Paul]

Nope, not even my car, it's owned by my wife's company. It has less than 30k miles on it and it's hardly been driven at all since around December last year!

It is a bit crap mind you.

First we lost all forward gears, then after I'd parked up I wondered if I'd get anything out of reverse. I did. A couple of feet, then that lost everything too.

[Paul]

Thing is I've had clutches and gearboxes go in the past on much older cars, the clutch was a much more gradual process, whereas the gearbox was a quick and painful process (I was moving house at the time and it was full of my stuff!).

[MiniService]

The fact that you had reverse for a second makes me think the Gear box itself has gone, but even with dealing with these cars everyday it can still sometimes be difficult to tell without pulling the car apart

[JG.26]

Sorry to hear that Paul, does sound like the clutch if you suddenly lost drive, would a gear box fail that suddenly or would you get more of a warning? not sure? at least if it's a company car they will foot the repair bill. I'm glad now I took a new warranty out on Sunday with Warranty Direct, it's cost me £260 for 12 months and thats with choosing a BMW garage to do repairs whereas it's £219 if you go to a non BMW garage, good value I think as BMW wanted £560 per year, which is alot. I guess just replacing the clutch is expensive as it's a gearbox out jobbie

Hope you get it sorted

[roland2003]

Paul, With the engine off, depress clutch pedal fully ,engage first gear then with foot still on clutch pedal ,start the car. If the clutch is faulty & dragging (for whatever reason), the car will move forward on the starter. Ensure you have a clear space in front of you & be ready to turn the key off again. !!
BNest Regards Roland GTT

[Paul]

Not that then nothing happened. It's on a slope now too, and if left in gear it just rolls.

[woodman]

Hi Paul,it unfortunately sounds like the gearbox has given up-the differential shears its drive resulting in no drive at all-have seen this happen to a few Mini"s!There are some companies that will refurb and repair the gearbox otherwise its a new gearbox,best wishes,Anthony.

[devaisl]

Sorry to hear about ur car. Having trouble with my 18 mth old mini coop at the mo as well, waiting for BMW Mini to replace the gearbox!! Not getting any answers yet as 2 why its happened tho'!

[MINIMANIAUK]

Yes sorry to tell you Paul its the diff , we have seen a few of these recently the gearbox problems start with a noise then some difficulty with 1st and 2nd selections ,the clutch starts with a little stiffness in operation then a slight drop in the point of engagement then the noise then fails.

[Paul]

One of my first thoughts when I heard/felt it was the differential. Really annoyed it's gone so badly so soon if that is the case, just glad it's not my car I guess.

[Jim Ray]

Wow. I believe you guys, it is just that I have not seen a failed gearbox since I quit working on air cooled VW dunebuggys. And they only failed after a couple of hundred thousand miles.

Learn something new every day.

[Paul]

My last dead gearbox was on a very high mileage and very much abused Pug 205 1.9 GTI.