1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: When to replace clutch??

This is what mine looked liked when I just replaced my clutch. It had been making a squelching sound for some time
Never hurts to listen to others

 

Regardless of sound if it's slipping it is time. In my playbook that means the clutch is failing. My .02.....

 

Come on that's to easy......


That's what she said. :lol:

 

I remember hearing once that you can place the bumper of the car against a telephone pole or some such similar thing (gently of course) then put it into the highest gear you have and slowly let out the clutch. If the engine stops, the clutch is OK. If it doesn't then it's bad and go get a new one ASAP because you probably just made it worse.

Fine advice from Car Talk, iirc.

I'm not sure I'd try that with my Mini, but I thought I'd throw that out there.

But yeah, if it's slipping, go deal with it before it's a real problem.

 

You can do the same with blocking the front wheels... No bumper on pole contact.

 

You can also do the same against the huge front bumper of a new F56. :devil:

Push as hard as you want. :lol:

 

If your clutch is slipping it is time. They are correct if something fly's apart in there it can & will take other things out. Lots of folks like the Valeo clutch kit plus you get rid of that damned dual mass flywheel. I'll be going that way when the time comes for my MINI.

 

153K out of a OEM Clutch is good and it lived a good life. If it starting to slip or has slipped it time to replace it but not at the Dealership unless you want to over pay for the work.

 

Hey Lee you aren't supposed to ram it, just pull up easy & push a bit. :smilewinkgrin:

 

Please! Push it back in!

 

Replace it before your throw-out bearing explodes. Willing to put money on the fact that it falls apart once touched/removed from the gearbox.

 

Comes down to how loud the ticking is...
Some mini's do have a throwout bearing sound...
But if it gets louder or changes, time to do the clutch...
When it fails, the clutch MAY just stop working, BUT it can bounce around and break the transmission bell housing....costing you a tranny....
Feeling lucky?

 

The shinny nicks is where the throw out bearing came apart and got tossed ar loo under like a rag doll

 

Different cars are funny. I think there's a thread on here regarding my trans problems in the r50. I never did get around to getting the other trans apart unfortunately. (I'm still really upset about that actually.) Neither here nor there but you can "glaze" a clutch. Basically it slips but if driven in a "proper" manner it can repair itself. At 150k I doubt that's the problem though. You have the getrag trans so I'd just replace the clutch. General consensus is the valeo is best but poke around a bit. After replacing the trans w a rebuilt unit and new clutch I still a bit upset as there is a faint noise when pressing depressing the clutch in neutral that adds to the "road noise" while in gear at speed.