New to forum - had to sign up as it has been interesting reading, pity Mini dont want to start listening to us drivers who are apparently all bad drivers. Currently waiting for a response from Director of After Sales - in the meantime Trading Standards have suggested an independant review of clutch but will it make any difference? Mini Customer Service and Dealership both appear to agree with each other but the customers opinion clearly doesnt count.....4 weeks on and the battle continues
Follow up on this. Decided to use an independant Mini specialist in Sunderland called ' The Mini Place'. Can't recommend them highly enough. Great communication, great service, great price ...great value for money.
I saw the Valeo clutch taken out. The plate surface was only half worn, so could have got another 35K miles out of it easy. The problem was that the inner slines of the clutch plate should have been splined to attach to flywheel. In my case it was completely stripped. Even more wierd was that the corrresponding driveshaft splines were all ok. So no idea what has caused this. Defect in the metal ?
Hi, I'm new to the forum and was spurred on to join after my 58 plate Cooper S Clubman needed a new fly wheel and clutch after 22,000 miles. I've a bill for £1250.
Mini refused to cover it under warranty putting it down to my driving style. I've been driving 20+ years and never worn a clutch out before.
Mini had me over a barrel as they said they had to dismantle the clutch to see if it was engine fault and if I took it to another garage I would void my warranty. I asked them to keep the parts so I could get an independent expert to look at it but when I went to colect the parts they've been sent back to Mini.
Where do I find the R?? number so I can add to the pole?
I'm going to pursue this further.
Any chance you could post the After Sales Directors contact details so I can go straight to him with my similar complaint? Strength in number and all that?
Thxs
Last edited by MINIAC; Sep 7th, 2010 at 02:58 PM.
Reason: Merge consecutive posts
Our R56 clutch failed at 46,000Km and was replaced under warranty after some argument. Our flywheel failed at 125,000km and we paid. In forty years of driving I've only replaced one clutch in a street car and that was at about 120,000 miles, never replaced a flywheel except in race cars.
I paid 600 euros for a non BMW clutch kit and fitting. Was done by an indie but i might as well have gone to bmw for the service i got.
Can some1 please tell me how can i start i thread cos i have problems of my own to!
I picked up my 2010 JCW Cooper from Brisbane Mini 6 days ago, It was an ex demo with 6600 k's on the clock and last night the clutch failed (pedal all the way to the floor, no power)
Mini transported it back to the dealership and this morning let me have their other JCW demonstrator until mine is fixed under warranty.
Great service from BMW Mini, but I'm really worried that at less than 7000 k's this has happened and in only 6 days on ownership!
I have had the mini for 2 years and a bit now. I have changed the steering electronic pump (warranty) Clutch ,front bushes,1 water hose+normal services and now it seems like the water pump is gonne to. The worst car i have had so far and i have had some 8-9 cars so far in my life.
When the dual mass flywheel first come out on the 2.0 Hdi engine fitted in the peugeot, the problems that they had was id say a cause for concern, but the manufacturer paid every claim we put to them, most of the complaints where for noises, but what we would say to customers if the complaint was for clutch problems is that we'll remove the gearbox for inpection, if only the clutch is required then be prepared to foot the bill, but if the flywheel was faulty then the clutch was claimed under warranty with the clutch, so my point is unless your clutch is down to the rivets due to wear and tear they could be claimed for as this is the only wear and tear part on the clutch....its how the technician writes the job card is to if you can get a claim.. Unless there is a known problem and BMW tighten the belt due to costs to them, there then will be strict guidelines given to the dealers to how they can deal with these problems, that is what work is allowed to be carried out and what information they can give you.
I bet the dealers have logged every faulty clutch problem to BMW even though they are cash jobs, they know there is a problem as you will find all the dealers will have the same response to you, as they all got the same memo and been to the same meetings, peugeot done this treatment to customers with front shocks on the 306 as the cost to them was getting out of hand, in the end leaking shocks didnt mean they where faulty its was just grease from manufactering, untill they where a year old and warranty didn't cover them, they could be claimed upto three years untill this happened....
Your banging your heads against a wall if you want them to claim responsibility for this as that would open the flood gates for claims, even people that paid would want there money back, if you suspect a dodgy flywheel try to avoid saying clutch fault to the dealer as they will go through the same fob off story they have been told to tell you by BMW. Also if you do have your clutch and flywheel changed with costs to yourselves make sure you ask for the faulty parts, one so you can see the wear on the friction material and two so BMW cant feel that they are disposing of there poor quality components in a controlled manner.
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Clutch Failure 
