Cooper S clutch rattle?

[Barry Spooner]

My wife has a Mini Cooper S,which is almost 3 years old.
The car has a mileage of 10000 miles.I drove the car for the first time for several months and noticed a slight rattling noise until i depressed the clutch pedal.

Would this be normal, or should i ask the local dealership to
check the problem before the Warranty expires on 08.07.07

Best regards,

Barry Spooner

[northandy]

Quote: Originally Posted by Barry Spooner (original)

My wife has a Mini Cooper S,which is almost 3 years old.
The car has a mileage of 10000 miles.I drove the car for the first time for several months and noticed a slight rattling noise until i depressed the clutch pedal.

Would this be normal, or should i ask the local dealership to
check the problem before the Warranty expires on 08.07.07

Best regards,

Barry Spooner

Have a read through this thread, sounds similar to the issues I had in 2003...

http://www.mini2.com/forum/faults-fi...tted-mini.html

[BRG/Blk Cooper S]

Hi,
It's most likely a common, known issue that pretty much everyone suffers from.

Service Information Bulletin Number SI M 21 01 05
Parts number is 21 20 7 548 804

It's a revised dual-mass flywheel that does a better job of damping vibrations from the engine that are making the gearbox components chatter - that's the rattling you hear with the clutch pedal released.
Other members have advised 100% improvement with the new kit fitted.

It's being fitted to my S at the moment - it falls under the category "in the event of customer complaint" so you need to go in and stamp your feet politely.

Takes a couple of days as the gearbox must come out - if you have the LSD get them to check that it is refilled with the "updated viscosity" oil at the same time.

My S is a recent purchase (05 with12k) and this rattle has no doubt been there since day one - it's not damaging anything just mildly irritating. When I bought the car it was already on my list of "get dealt with immediately".

Please let us know how you get on.

Cheers, Geoff.

[spookycar]

Anyone know about getting this problem fixed when your car is out of warranty? I have an 04s with 20000 miles and id like to know what others delt with before i call the dealer. Thanks

[MINIAC]

Quote: Originally Posted by spookycar (original)

Anyone know about getting this problem fixed when your car is out of warranty? I have an 04s with 20000 miles and id like to know what others delt with before i call the dealer. Thanks

You can ask the dealer for "good will" but I doubt they'll be sympathetic.

[Keys]

My car is under warrenty and they initially fixed the clutch bearings..

that didnt work.

Then they claimed it was a worn clutch plate and they would not do it under warrenty - i didnt believe this so took it to another dealership and they said...

the rattle is normal for the cooper s models and is common to all of them.


So not sure what to believe but its been a good 3 - 4 months since and touch wood the car is still running.

[MiniDeLux]

Quote: Originally Posted by Keys (original)

My car is under warrenty and they initially fixed the clutch bearings..

that didnt work.

Then they claimed it was a worn clutch plate and they would not do it under warrenty - i didnt believe this so took it to another dealership and they said...

the rattle is normal for the cooper s models and is common to all of them.


So not sure what to believe but its been a good 3 - 4 months since and touch wood the car is still running.

Rattle is not normal, your stealership is full of ****. Get them to start up a display model - possibly a couple cars - and see if they do it. Dual mass flywheels are designed to damp vibration and smooth the power output of the engine, single mass flywheels may rattle.

In my opinion, it is due to the clutch kit, possibly with involvement of the DMF: I have a 2009 Clubman (75,000km on clock, 2 1/2 years old) with the exact same problem. I reported rattle at idle (disappears when clutch pushed in) in April before my warranty expired in July. Was told "it's normal". About 5 days ago, clutch started slipping in 4th under high load. Returned to dealership, now they claim clutch and DMF need replacing. I told them I reported this in April (7 months ago), car is now 3 and 1/2 months out of warranty, will they consider a "goodwill"? Response was possibly for the DMF, but not clutch which is a "wear item". Not reassuring. Car goes in end November.

Been driving manuals for 23 years, first time I've had a clutch go on me. I don't ride the clutch, I don't race the car, I don't leave the clutch pushed in at traffic lights, I don't tow heavy stuff. Car does not do stop-and-go driving - all highway. Slipping clutch and buggered DMF at 75,000km is not normal.

If I were you, I would get this looked at right away. I'm staring at a potentially massive repair bill now.