Most liked posts in thread: What should I say to the dealer?

It almost sounds like the clutch slave cylinder is suspect. Brand new ones have been reported as bad right out of the box. Air in the line? Defective seal in the slave cylinder.

The knocking growling sounds like it could be a bad clutch throw out bearing.

Lastly, and maybe the best suggestion, be civil and don't scream and yell or pitch a fit, that tactic will work against you. MINI tends not to be understanding when it comes to clutch problems. Tending to put the blame on operator fault.

Oh.... and good luck. Hopefully your warranty covers it

Let us know how it worked out. You might even rate your experience here on the forum on how the dealer treated you.

 

Is this a new car or something older?

Hard to tell from your description, but it does sound like it could be the slave cyl.....

Could also be a failure of the flywheel, depending on the year. There was a thread on here that showed how some flywheels are failing at the rivets, causing exactly what you're experiencing, but IIRC they were newer cars, like '07, 08's...

On an earlier car it could be a motor mount problem.

 

Minidave-This is a months old MINI if my memory serves me right.

Hard to tell from your description what it is. One thing is for certain, there is an issue. What you are experiencing is not right. Let them have it for the day & tell them it is OK to drive it. That is the only way the shifting issue is going to be found out. Unless it is something that just jumps out at the tech.

Like has been said before, be civil, but firm. The service dept is not the enemy. They want your MINI fixed & you happy.

Our local dealer seems to have no problem replacing a clutch under warranty. I'd guess if it was abused to death that might be another story.

Good luck & let us know what they find.

 

The buzzing from the door... you said not to suggest anything but, does the buzzing stop when you lock the doors?

 

Yeah, based on the handle, it's a 2011 Cooper. Most definitely under warranty unless of course they deem it was abused. If that's the case, hope they temper it with a "Good Will" approach. Once again how you handle yourself could pay dividends.

 

Maybe there's another dealer you might try for service?

There's nothing saying you have to take it to the selling dealer, especially if you're not happy with their service.

 

You've documented your concern about the shifting of your MINI. If something fails in the future you can point this visit out to them.

 

....had a similar situation with a BMW transmission a few years back. No problem we can't find anything wrong right now but we'll document it and it'll be covered. A year later and a couple thousand miles after the warranty ran out and it was just too late, the warranty had run out but we can fix it...$5,000.00 miniumum if we replace it. Took it somewhere else and got it fixed for half the price.

Moral is: If you think something might be wrong with it, force the issue before the warranty runs out. Convenient memory loss is at epidemic levels at dealerships.... 2 cents

 

I think we are lucky here in central Ohio. There have been 2 transmission replacements that I know of done after the warranty & covered by the warranty. Our dealer is a good one. I hope yours is too Rigby.