New Mini "S" Less than 1 day back to the Dealer! (Clutch Pedal Problems)

[Vincent Hill]

Purchased the car in June (2003 mini "S" all Racing Green)! Went to Hell and back to see if I could get a "Tan" Interior! The Dealer was real good in trying to help, but to order a cloth interior, no adjustable lumbar support (Which "old" People need )is not an Option! So we get Black Leather and the Dark Pannels! So we make the deposit and wait and wait (Did I mention the wait?) then it "Finally" arrives! Looks OK! Because this is for my wife, I want her to drive it first! We drove from Annapolis back to Washington DC (Cold rainy night)! When we get home, I move the car and see that the Clutch engagement point is about 1 inch off of the floor! I do not like this and make mental note of it!

Talking to a few people, no one thinks this is a problem! Finally I call the dealer and speak to the service advisor! Trust me, I am not impressed with her knowledge! To make this long story short, we take the car back to the dealer! The clutch is now between 1/8" and 1/2" off of the floor before it engages! and they must keep the car! My wife is not happy with me because I made her return the car and I am ****ed that after 5 months and $25,000 the Car has an operating expense of $400.00 per mile!

I almost forgot to add that the clip for the drivers sun Visor was installed twisted and the visor flops around! I hope that they do not ruin the headliner trying to fix that!

Questions! #1, Anyone have Clutch Problems like this??

#2, Any problems with the Sun Visor??

#3, Anyone Happy with the "limited" choices of Interior on the (Upscale) "S", vs. the cheaper Cooper??

[LuckyRVA]

If this was going to be your wife's car, why not let her make the decision to take the car in??

1. no
2. no
3. yes

[Cape Cod MINI]

1. NO
2. NO
3. YES

Sorry to hear about your troubles. I am happy to say that in 8 weeks of ownership and 6300 miles my MCS has been pretty much flawless. I guess I'm due for something big to happen

[here2help]

I have had the self same fault with the low clutch bitting point...i cured it by fitting a new slave cylinder which made a slight improvement,and then by fitting a clutch master cylinder which eventually cured the fault!

Please note that the clutch pedal freeplay is: 7-10 mm.
This is the total freeplay in the pedal...eg:- pull pedal upwards and hold a tape measure to the side of it,then take up the free play..(freeplay is felt by having no resistance against youre movements if you get what i mean!)the amount of travel is called freeplay...sorry to bore you technical people out there but im trying to speak for everyones sake...cheers guys

[gja_era]

1. YES
2. NO
3. YES

I had the same problem when I first got the car. I took it in and the Service Department bleed the system and checked the adjustment. That was 4,500 miles ago. No problems since.

I think that the amount of interior and exterior color/fabric choices is very good for a car in this price range.

[Darwins_Bulldog]

Vincent, when did you pick yours up at Tate? I was there Thursday at 4:30. I don't have the same problems and I do agree that they needed more interior color choices. I probably would have gotten a BRG if they had the green leather available. But an happy with the IB.

Matt at Tate told me that the shipment our cars came in on totaled 15 cars. So there are a lot of new Cooper drivers running around.

[Pebble]

I just had a tire patched, I had a screw in it, the technition was looking at the underneeth, when he reached up and wiped his finger on somthing.

Then he came in the office and said I had better arrange a warrenty visit to the dealer as I had a leeking slave cylinder.

I didn't know what this was for he said it was the actuator for the clutch pedal.

[BruceK]

Quote:

Originally posted by Pebble
I just had a tire patched, I had a screw in it, the technition was looking at the underneeth, when he reached up and wiped his finger on somthing.

Then he came in the office and said I had better arrange a warrenty visit to the dealer as I had a leeking slave cylinder.

I didn't know what this was for he said it was the actuator for the clutch pedal.

Yes, the hydraulic clutch has a master cylinder (activated by your left foot) which pressurizes the slave cylinder (which does the work of disengaging the clutch). Depending upon how bad the leak is, you need to get your car looked at quickly or you may find the clutch pedal will not work at all.

[LMB]

Got the same problem myself....

I just don't have the time to get it sorted...arhhh

[swamos]

I noticed yesterday that the clutch slave cyliner is leaking fluid (at least I presume it is that as it doesn't smell like gearbox oil).

Can anyone tell me where the clutch master cylinder is (RHD)? I can only see the brake master cylinder.

[here2help]

Hi swamos....the clutch master cylinder is where it is on bmw's...its bolted to the clutch pedal itself..you can see it if you look under the steering column area...its black and about 5-6 " long...

[swamos]

Quote:

Originally posted by here2help
Hi swamos....the clutch master cylinder is where it is on bmw's...its bolted to the clutch pedal itself..you can see it if you look under the steering column area...its black and about 5-6 " long...

Thanks! I found it right where you said. I also worked out that it shares the fluid resovoir with the brake. This has enabled me to confirm that it is only a minor leak. I'll get it to the dealers next week.

[rogerswt]

This is interesting - I had the same experience. Immediately upon delivery, the clutch pedal engaged very close to floor. I re-read my owners manual and it suggests that the clutch needs a 300 mile breakin period. Lo and behold, by the time I hit 300 miles, the clutch pedal had much more take-up feel to it. It was just totally different feeling, and engaged much farther away from the floor. It now feels fine to me - engagement point is no longer a problem at 1000 miles.

[miniclem]

yeah I feel like I have to stretch out my leg all the way and lay the clutch pedal on the floor when shifting and Im at about 4K miles. I guess its time for a dealter visit as I shouldn't have to do that...

[swamos]

Quote:

Originally posted by miniclem
yeah I feel like I have to stretch out my leg all the way and lay the clutch pedal on the floor when shifting and Im at about 4K miles. I guess its time for a dealter visit as I shouldn't have to do that...

This could indicate air in the system. Have you checked the brake fluid resovoir? If it's level is down from the top, you need to get this seen to right away, as you could loose all clutch, or even worse you could be about to loose your brakes. If it is down from the top and you can't get to the dealer, phone them right away. They will tell you what to top it up with.