R56 MCS Clutch Question

[Muel]

Hi all,

quick question to all R56 MCS Drivers out there!!

from time to time i have noticed a burning smell coming into the cabin, smells as if my clutch is burning! I have never had this smell in my previous MC and its starting to concern me with the amount of problems people on here are having with their R56 Clutches!

Ive had suggestions that its me riding the clutch but I'm certain that i don't do that!!

It also seems to smell a lot stronger when the heaters are on!

I mentioned it to my Stealer and he just shrugged it off!

Id be grateful for posts if anyone has had the same out there!

Cheers

-Muel

[R60 Mike]

Mine does the same from time to time, I find its worse if you have the cluch pressed down and add gas before letting the clutch go, Or if you drive the car really really hard

I think its just a case of running all the stuff in as mine does not smell as much any more with 1700 miles on it.

[ru81]

My friend's 2003 Cooper made a clutch smell whilst it was running in. Think it will just be the clutch needing to settle in.

[Martin F]

No smell from mine @ 2600 miles. Nether did I notice anything running in but I do have the auto a/c on auto recirculate so maybe any smells would not come into the cabin.

[kevkbuk]

No smells from mine and its done just over 2k now. I'd get it looked at.

[Muel]

Cheers for your replies! two that made me feel better and then two that brought the fear back!!

All the clutch problems with the R56 MCS just got me thinking!!

ive done 1600 miles and find myself always sniffing up to see if it is doing again!!

Think i will take it in if i smell it again! the problem is its only on occaisions! but im pretty certain it shouldnt do it!!

Thanks again

-Muel

[Dainewb]

mine did it the other day! I was pulling away from the lights, looking for a brisk start! depressed the clutch and got a fair bit of revving and a burning smell, pulled away slowly and got no real power in any gear! after that put in neutral and problem went away. This is worrying! I have done 7.5k in mine. I have already been back to the dealer with 3rd to 2nd gearbox noise, rattles and wind noise! (none of which they fixed!!) had an 04 cooper before and never went back to dealer (i've been 4 times before this happened!).

Must admit i am generally enjoying the car as the issues mentioned above happened quite infrequently, just worried long term, and annoyed that I feel obliged to sell the car before warranty expires as I don't trust it! (and with 4 year loan on it can't afford to pay for things that go wrong in year 4 and pay loan)

anyway, sorry to go off topic! back to the burning clutch smell, I will report any further instances....

[dave.pm.young]

Mine has always smelt, I do live on a hill and have to rev to pull away, though only had the issue with the R56, the R53 was fine, I think the reason is down to the dual mass flywheel and the clutch being more enclossed, I also think the R56 clucth is week, the JCW has a beefed up clutch, my clutch let go at 22,000, just worn out, I have never worn a clutch out before! £1600 to get it replaced, so my advice would be to return to the dealer and get the issue documented.

[ProScot]

Very interested to hear about your clutch troubles,we are a driving school. We have 18 Mini Cooper D. I have had to restrict instructors to no more than 2 hill starts in a row, as the clutch smells and wears out very quickly otherwise.

The problem is that we were experiencing lots of clutch failures, one car is on it's 6th clutch at 74,000 miles (3 clutches in 1 year alone!). We have another on it's 3rd clutch at 43,000 miles and so on....

To begin with our clutches were replaced under "good will gesture" recently however Mini is no longer covering our clutches this way unless a fault can be identified.

Of course when my cars are stripped down there is signs of blueing on the dual mass fly wheel with hairline cracks, the plate is worn down to the (rivets or almost) mini say this is simply wear and tear. And the blueing is caused by heat build. In other words abuse or inappropriate use of the clutch!

The strange thing is when we had Punto's we got in excess of 70,000 miles out of a training school car and our fiesta and Peugeot diesels regularly achieved over 100,000 miles.

My driving instructors have all had further training, including an actual visit to mini workshops to see how the clutch operates etc and training notes on how to try and extend clutch life (supplied by myself).

BMW Customer Services have sent me a lovely letter denying that they are aware of any problem with premature wear on Mini clutches; yet the forums are full of complaints.

It is not happening on all of our cars, some have achieved 50,000 miles and are still on the same clutch. I went out to observe instructors to see if driving style was a factor, I can honestly say that it does not appear to be. Some of our instructors who are experiencing premature failures, never needed a clutch replacement with their previous vehicles, many going away at the end of there 3 years still on the original clutch with 90,000 miles or more.

Personally I think the clutch plates themselves are very soft, however the hairline cracks on the dual mass flywheel concerns me, mini say it is due to heat build up. I wonder if it is due to metal stress, perhaps caused by the dual mass flywheel operation?

Mini are simply burying their heads in the sand while I fork out over £1000 each time, I’ve spent over £4000 in clutch repairs in the last 6 weeks alone!

I am in the unique position of being able to assess the longevity of the clutches over a larger sample size.

There IS a problem, so what’s the next step?

[DaFlake]

Quote: Originally Posted by ProScot (original)

Very interested to hear about your clutch troubles,we are a driving school. We have 18 Mini Cooper D. I have had to restrict instructors to no more than 2 hill starts in a row, as the clutch smells and wears out very quickly otherwise.

The problem is that we were experiencing lots of clutch failures, one car is on it's 6th clutch at 74,000 miles (3 clutches in 1 year alone!). We have another on it's 3rd clutch at 43,000 miles and so on....

To begin with our clutches were replaced under "good will gesture" recently however Mini is no longer covering our clutches this way unless a fault can be identified.

Of course when my cars are stripped down there is signs of blueing on the dual mass fly wheel with hairline cracks, the plate is worn down to the (rivets or almost) mini say this is simply wear and tear. And the blueing is caused by heat build. In other words abuse or inappropriate use of the clutch!

The strange thing is when we had Punto's we got in excess of 70,000 miles out of a training school car and our fiesta and Peugeot diesels regularly achieved over 100,000 miles.

My driving instructors have all had further training, including an actual visit to mini workshops to see how the clutch operates etc and training notes on how to try and extend clutch life (supplied by myself).

BMW Customer Services have sent me a lovely letter denying that they are aware of any problem with premature wear on Mini clutches; yet the forums are full of complaints.

It is not happening on all of our cars, some have achieved 50,000 miles and are still on the same clutch. I went out to observe instructors to see if driving style was a factor, I can honestly say that it does not appear to be. Some of our instructors who are experiencing premature failures, never needed a clutch replacement with their previous vehicles, many going away at the end of there 3 years still on the original clutch with 90,000 miles or more.

Personally I think the clutch plates themselves are very soft, however the hairline cracks on the dual mass flywheel concerns me, mini say it is due to heat build up. I wonder if it is due to metal stress, perhaps caused by the dual mass flywheel operation?

Mini are simply burying their heads in the sand while I fork out over £1000 each time, I’ve spent over £4000 in clutch repairs in the last 6 weeks alone!

I am in the unique position of being able to assess the longevity of the clutches over a larger sample size.

There IS a problem, so what’s the next step?

Posting this once was enough. No need to plaster the forum with it.

[dave.pm.young]

As a point of interset when the racing R56 Mini S and JCW are built the first thing they do is change the duel mass flywheel to a lightned steel after market one, Why would they do?

[ProScot]

Appologies DaFlake, did not mean to upset anyone. Just want to get as much feedback as possible on this.

Mini denying there is a problem with clutches, when there clearly is. I need to go back to them with as much feedback as possible as I have a meeting organised with someone senior within Mini after sales.

United we stand, divided we fall!

[DaFlake]

Quote: Originally Posted by ProScot (original)

Appologies DaFlake, did not mean to upset anyone. Just want to get as much feedback as possible on this.

Mini denying there is a problem with clutches, when there clearly is. I need to go back to them with as much feedback as possible as I have a meeting organised with someone senior within Mini after sales.

United we stand, divided we fall!

No worries, I totally understand. I should have worded it a little better I hope you get answers you are looking for.

[ONE MINI]

I have a Mini ONE, clutch is burning for sure and getting very heavy. Only on 10,000 miles and going in this week!

I know these are common problems... things to look out for:
1. Clutch slipping
2. Clutch is heavy
3. Hard to put into gear
4. Burning smell within the cabin

There is another one but can't remember it. And thats from BMW's own technical info!

[zyo]

Mine is an August 07 (stop start) MCS and the clutch has smelt since the first week, first time I noticed was a couple of days into ownership and I was on a very steep hill (1 in 4) in a queue so there was a fair bit of clutch use and it absolutely honked.People close by were commenting but I just put it down to the newness. It did it quite a few times but when my car went in for an unrelated issue they informed me that they were changing the clutch under warranty (why would you do that if there is no fault). It has done it since but nowhere near as much. It's not down to my clutch use as I have never experienced the problem in any other car.You have to ride the clutch a little when pulling out of a steep drive onto the road, even 5 or 10 seconds has brought it on previously. I wonder if it's another cold start type problem i.e they know of the fault but can't really afford to do it as a recall.