[GarryThomas]

I have driven my F56 11 months with 7000 miles now on the clock with no complaints, the last two months has anyone had this fault.
Driving up to a line of stationery traffic unable to release the car out of gear.
Then finding the clutch pedel already close the the floor, with little travel downwards. The first time I had this experince I just had to knock it out of
gear to bring the car to a halt, after a few times of this I returned it to the Dealers Sytner Mini Cardiff they could not find the fault but changed they
gearbox anyway.

Having got the car back just before christmas the same fault happens again
but this time I have found an Immediate remedy as soon as I relies there is a problem
using your foot to raise the clutch pedel, and the clutch returns to normal like
nothing has happened.

What part gives the clutch pedel its spring back resistence ?

The car is going back in this week

 

[uke]

I have driven my F56 11 months with 7000 miles now on the clock with no complaints, the last two months has anyone had this fault.
Driving up to a line of stationery traffic unable to release the car out of gear.
Then finding the clutch pedel already close the the floor, with little travel downwards. The first time I had this experince I just had to knock it out of
gear to bring the car to a halt, after a few times of this I returned it to the Dealers Sytner Mini Cardiff they could not find the fault but changed they
gearbox anyway.

Having got the car back just before christmas the same fault happens again
but this time I have found an Immediate remedy as soon as I relies there is a problem
using your foot to raise the clutch pedel, and the clutch returns to normal like
nothing has happened.

What part gives the clutch pedel its spring back resistence ?

The car is going back in this week

A hydraulic clutch has a master cylinder which contains hydraulic fluid. When you press down on the pedal, you move a piston in the master cylinder, forcing hydraulic fluid through a line to the slave cylinder, which presses against the mechanism that moves the clutch off the pressure plate. The clutch has a powerful spring which will return the clutch to the pressure plate as you let up on the pedal, pushing the pedal back at the same time as the slave empties and the master fills up again.

It's a pretty simple mechanism, perfected decades ago. About the only thing that goes wrong is 1) air in the lines (hydraulic fluid is not compressible, but air is, so you get a spongy and weak clutch), a failed master or slave cylinder (instead of a tight piston, you have leaks and reduced force, or the thing barely works), or 3) some mechanical issue with the clutch itself.

My Random Internet Yahoo guess is that there is something wrong with the clutch itself. Perhaps the connection to the slave cylinder is loose, broken, or otherwise compromised. That would explain why you can't shift out of gear (the slave cylinder can't move the clutch off the pressure plate completely or at all).

Interesting. Please keep us updated.

 

[jeremybingham]

Yes we could do with knowing .is our mini clutch cAble or hydraulic?

 

[uke]

Yes we could do with knowing .is our mini clutch cAble or hydraulic?

It's Hydraulic.

 

[johnan]

As you suggest Garry it sounds like the return spring on the pedal has become disconnected, if that is how, in Minis, he pedal goes back to its at rest position.

There is usually a spring in the master cylinder but it could not get displaced to cause this problem. A hydraulic seal in the cylinder could be distorted and be preventing the actuating piston from retracting but this would be very unusual having been OK for these thousands of miles.

It is an odd problem, and I am interested in hearing what the cause is!

 

[jeremybingham]

Me too.

 

[MAC99]

Hi Garry, so glad you mentioned this.
I have been having the same problem.

Went on holiday with the car for a week about 6 weeks ago. noticed on about 3 or 4 occasions that the clutch pedal felt strange. As you mentioned it was not returning fully but about halfway.
No trouble in changing gear and it soon sorted itself out. One time I raised the pedal with my foot which sorted it.
I even stopped in a car park one day soon after another reoccurrence and operated the clutch pedal several times both with foot and by hand, but all seemed ok.

Since then it has happened on the odd occasion, and seems to me to strangely occur after turning the steering wheel to the right, such as on a roundabout or pulling out of a junction!!!!?

Am now monitoring the situation more closely to mentally note the scenario if it happens again.

The thing is you can take a car like this to the dealers and they will have it for a couple of days maybe without the fault showing itself.

When it happened I was more concerned with the potential of possible clutch slip, but it seems that it is the pedal mechanism perhaps as have not noticed anything untoward.

I will see how it goes, but am mindful of informing the dealer so it is on record (but have not done this yet).

Let us know how this develops and I will do the same.

Only done about 3,800 miles so far in my car so far by the way.

 

[lawrothegreat]

I'm impressed that you've had the car 11 months, I didn't realise customer orders had started before March! Good luck with the issue though!

 

[GarryThomas]

lawrothegreat yes you are right having had a quick look at the docs it was 21 March 2014.
BMW real oem confirms it's hydraulic. There are two cylinders one that looks like is has a rubber boot.by the pedal.
I took it into Sytner Mini today, while going to the dealers soft pedal strikes again.
Same remedy raise pedal by left foot everything returns to normal.
Sytner's mechanic had a drive of it for a few miles around the city center could not reproduce the fault, and dismiss the theory that there is air in the system.
So he is driving it home for the week or until the fault shows itself.

 

[oscarcat]

Hi add another car with the same problem and there is also an owner on Facebook f56 page with the same clutch problem. Mine started about six weeks ago at about 2100 miles it would just feel strange and go to the floor but still change gears this was and still is an intermittent problem. Then it started sticking halfway then springing the rest now every so often it sticks half way and you have to place your foot under it to release it not the best thing when driving. I had it in my dealer about three weeks ago and he oiled the spring but it just got worse. So now after looking at it yesterday they have contacted bmw who told him to drop the gearbox out of the car this is happening on the 21st of the month. Strange how so many of us are having this problem and we all own MCS. Has anyone had a solution to this problem yet knightmare

 

[Selecta]

Did see something similar once, it was a dodgy( misshapen) clutch release bearing.

 

[Stingray82]

I described this problem to a (non-mini) mechanic friend and he was certain that it would prove to be as a result of a hang up or binding on the clutch release mechanism. He said he's seen it before in vehicles that use a traditional fork style release. I am not familiar enough with how they work to be able to repeat exactly what he said from memory.

 

[GarryThomas]

Mini Sytner Cardiff In pursuing to repair of the soft clutch pedal
Maybe when BMW suggested the gearbox was at fault so Sytner changed it
having done so now presents a new problem. The crankshaft is no longer running true
and now needs specialist repair, which they cannot complete so it has to be sent away
for engineering work.

Should I reject the car ?

 

[MiniManiac]

Fixing the crankshaft is obviously very extensive work, you are right to consider rejection and from the outside I'd say yes as the new work may still not fix the underlying problem.

But only you can make the decision, you have to weigh up the inconvenience of starting again, ordering another MINI or going elsewhere, making do with a loan car if Synter take pity on you or getting something else very quickly which may be a compromise. I'd recommend you talk it over with them and see what sort of a deal they would do, they may have another MINI in stock for example.

 

[MiniManiac]

I have driven my F56 11 months

Just realised you've had it over 6 months, might be beyond the time-scale for rejection? Hope others can shed some light on that.

 

[jeremybingham]

As long as thexdealervis trying to fix the issue not sure you can reject it but worth having the conversation.

 

[kenl]

When did you first report the issue? Not sure 6 months makes any difference.
I would not be happy about this, and if I owned the car I would be looking to reject or least telling them you will reject it if not perfect after they have tried to fix it.
That may encourage them to make you an offer to replace the car.

 

[johnan]

Mini Sytner Cardiff In pursuing to repair of the soft clutch pedal
Maybe when BMW suggested the gearbox was at fault so Sytner changed it
having done so now presents a new problem. The crankshaft is no longer running true
and now needs specialist repair, which they cannot complete so it has to be sent away
for engineering work.

Should I reject the car ?

I don't know about rejecting the car, but I think that fault description sounds like glib garage speak, which is very hard to accept.

Changing a gearbox is not particularly difficult and they would have had to do something quite silly, probably with a very heavy hammer to make the crank run out of true.

If the engine is damaged in any way then it too must be replaced, not just bodged with a "specialist"repair. A crank running out of true means the engine is toast, if they are telling the truth.

I would certainly want to know more about what they did to cause this problem and if they won't come clean, then perhaps ,yes, make noises about rejection.

 

[jeremybingham]

I agree all sounds most odd.

 

[Alvin orr]

Hi I have the same problem with my car has anyone had there fixed an what did they do?