2nd Gen R56 Cooper S Clutch click when I depress it

I posted this same thread on my local mini groups website (Metroplexmini.org) but I wanted to get it out to a larger audience to see if this is happening to anyone else or if by some chance someone else has found a solution.

I am still waiting on a response from MiniUSA.

My question and callout to the group is at the end... but here are the details to go with the question...

So for about 4 weeks I have been dealing with the clutch pedal getting worse in a click that happens when I press it to the floor. I took it to MoD (Mini of Dallas) about 2 weeks ago without an appointment and the people there still took the time to look at it. We took it over to the repair shop and we looked at it for a few minutes and he said he knew what it was. He sprayed some lube on the cross pin that attaches the clutch master cylinder arm to the pedal, it made things slightly better and he said if it gets any worse to make an appointment and then he would be able to really take a long look at it and see if there is something wrong with it.

Well, it got worse. Before it only clicked at the end of the stroke, now it clicks twice (once on the way down, then again on the way up). So I made an appointment and yesterday I took it again to MoD and this time they took it back and really did some digging. As it turns out there isn't really anything that can be done to fix the problem. There are a few bandaids, but bandaids wear off over time and will need to be done again all while the problem could be getting worse. Before I took it to MoD I actually got up under there and tried to understand exactly what was making the clicking sound. Well, I found it. As it turns out the slot that the arm pockets into and the slot on the clutch pedal are not a tight fit, there is actually quite a bit of play in that slot. Moreover the cross pin that the arm is held with is a smaller diameter then the hole on the arm. These 2 things combined allow for the arm to float on the pin, the problem is there is a sharp edge on the arm that is getting caught on the cross pin and as you press the clutch it slips and with the pressure that the arm is under from the hydralics makes the arm snap from one side of the pocket to the other causing it to click.

Here is a link to a video I made of the clicking (you can actually hear it).

Link to video

Sorry about the low quality, but I was upside down in the footwell with a camera and a drop light. But you should get the idea.

Here are a few pictures of the area of concern. In the first pick you can see the gap between the arm and the pedal.





So, with MoD at this point not having a true solution to the issue I have decided to try to resolve the problem myself. While I was at MoD I was talking to the parts guru there and we started brainstorming some solutions and to this end she has taken it upon herself to get a few of these intermating parts so that we can look at them while they are not in the drivers footwell with about a 2 inch area to work in. After I left she continued to so some digging and discovered that removing that cross pin is a very involved process and might even include having to drain the clutch fluid. So we are pretty limited right now in our options, but we are going to try to solve it somehow.



So, my questions are does anyone else have this same problem?

Also, some people at MoD think that this might be limited to the JCW due to the different clutch, so does anyone have an S or Cooper that is doing this?

I plan to try to contact Mini directly and see if this is a widespread problem and see if there is the chance that they will look into solving this problem for us.

Well, after that long winded post, I am done.

 

Yes, there is a noticable "pop" in the pedal when it does it that you can feel in your foot. The click is only loud enough some of the time.

With your aftermarket clutch, did you change out the clutch master cylinder?

 

I was debating showing up to the DIY day to find a solution to this problem. Maybe I will show up to see if anyone else has the same problem.

What time do you plan to be there?

Thanks

 

Update:

I have just gotten off the phone with MiniUSA. And the jist of the conversation was that the advisor was not a technical resource but that he would dig into this a little to see if we could get a regional service technician to look into the issue.

He was going to start by calling MoD and talk to their service manager about the problem to see what all was seen with this issue. If the confusion surrounding the issue as to if the car is supposed to do this continues then he was going to attempt to bring in the regional guy to MoD and coordinate with me to have my car there when he arrives to see if we can get some more people looking at the problem.