Hey folks, I'm new here and hope I haven't posted this thread in the wrong place. My wife bought an 06' standard tranny with about 37K miles on it. Overall, we love it. We are having a clutch 'shutter' problem making it hard to drive. It's an intermittent problem and the day it was in the shop they didn't notice anything wrong with it. It will drive fine for a while but then start to shutter a lot. Another weird thing happening is a knocking sound coming from the rear. Sounds like someone is thumping from underneath a few times, just while the car is sitting at a light, for instance. Any thoughts? Thanks
To be clear is the shutter a driveability issue or a noise? Also as for the thumping I have experienced the noise a lot and it is a common noise to be heard at idle when silent in the car. It is the LDP(leak diagnosis pump) pump running its cycle. It checkes for leaks in the fuel system. If this is the noise your hearing it is normal.
Thanks for the tip on the LDP, that's probably what it is. Regarding a 'shutter' in the clutch it is a driveability issue, not a noise. It's fairly hard to get a smooth clutch release, mostly in first gear from a dead stop. It seems a bit odd to me that this is an intermittent problem but most days I have trouble with it. Didn't know if the complete clutch should be replaced or if a pressure plate could be smoothed out. I'm not very technically oriented, sorry.
The shudder will probably require a clutch kit replacement--but first things first. Check your motor mounts, especially the passenger's side mount. Has it leaked it's fluid all over the frame rail? If so replace it. Check for cracks in the dogbone mount under the car. Fixing those may reduce the shudder. If not, either live with the shudder or bite the bullet and replace the clutch kit (clutch, pressure plate, and throw out bearing), along with something called the guide tube. Total parts costs: Low to mid $300s once you replace the trans oil. Total labor costs at Helix $850. If you're going to do the work to get at the clutch don't skimp on the parts, since labor is the big expense. It's a bitter pill, but a fresh clutched MINI is such a pleasure to drive...
The car may experience a shudder if it has been dramatically lowered, too. Mine was doing doing some funny things because it was slammed until Way at Way Motor Works raised it back up a bit. Then, smooth as glass.
Thanks for the good information. I will take note. I'll check the dogbone and motor mounts but haven't noticed a drop of fluid at least on the ground where the car is parked. For some reason there has been no clutch shudder for 4 days. This is a fairly low mileage vehicle, hope it doesn't start with too many issues too soon. I think there may be a problem with the air vents working just right, too. I sometimes hear a rattle somewhere around the dash. Sounds like keys on a key chain hitting the wheel or dash but, there's only the one ignition key. Thanks again!