The wife and I were out and about tonight heading to dinner. I exit the George Bush Turnpike and come to a stop at the red light. Light turns green, I shift to first and make a left under the overpass but as I'm shifting to second, I feel some resistance going into the gate. I eventually make it up to forth but notice that I'm having to push it an extra little bit to get it into gear. After about 2 miles I come up to another red light. Light goes green and try to shift into first but it wouldn't go into gear. I try all the gates hoping I could find something that would work but no dice. At this point, the clutch pedal is a sponge and goes all the way to the floor and I can hear a gurgling sound, then the smell of hydraulic fluid. I put on the hazards as I'm now blocking traffic and can't get it to move. Luckily, a police car was coming the opposite direction an assisted me in pushing Astro into a nearby school parking lot where we waited for a tow.
Something to consider if you have an R53.... http://www.motoringalliance.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23425
Yup that's the slave cylinder, my car did the same thing. Wait what, did you say George Bush Turnpike.... :lol:
It's named for George the 1st. The President George Bush Turnpike (PGBT) is a 52-mile (84 km)[4] toll road running through the northern, northeastern and western suburbs, forming a partial loop around Dallas, Texas, United States. It is named for George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States. I was on that bit of road yesterday.
Nathan, Those tickets you bought online probably are no good......... The National Championship game was last Monday. Go Bucks.
Dave, about how much did it cost to have the master and slave cylinder replaced? The service department is saying the clutch is bad, flywheel, etc, etc. And I know that it's just the slave cylinder.
It's not that difficult to replace the slave cylinder..... However.... Sometimes it can be a real tough nut to get completely bled correctly... Well worth having the dealer replace it and do the bleed IMHO....
Yup ^ exactly and that is the only reason I had the Dealerahip do the complete job. OEM parts and warranty on work.
I've had mine done by Will over at Bob's Tire in Lewisville. They were MINI skilled when I lived there, not sure now. Back in Ohio too. Was to much family and stuff to do much else, hence I didn't even try and contact anyone when down south.
Well, I called two other service centers and Mini of Dallas quoted $900 and Mini of Arlington quoted $265. There are a couple MetroplexMINI club members that have reputable shops so I'll give them a call tomorrow.
When I talked to Mini of Plano earlier this afternoon, they were wanting to do a complete transmission tear down to inspect the clutch, flywheel, etc and at that point, I knew this train jumped track. The tech had a looooong list of stuff that "needed" to be addressed. I called back just before the service center closed and talked to the service manager and told him what the symptoms were and that I was 99.99 % sure, it was just the slave cylinder. Well, he agreed and said he would personally pull it into the shop and look at it himself tomorrow. Hopefully, this gets things heading back in the right direction.
This guy make it like a few minutes to change out the slave cylinder.. [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=68PIYbXk1nc"]Mini Cooper Clutch Slave Cylinder Bleeding Tips R50/53 Cooper/Cooper S - YouTube[/ame]
If you buy Colin's metal S10 slave cyclinder replacement unit you will not have the silly BMW plastic part to worry about. Savvy has one on his R53. Post #3 above has a link.