Hey fellow mini maniacs,

Just recently bought my first mini and it's a cool little car but i have noticed that there are a few slight issues with it. One of which is at low idle a miss can be heard coming out of the tail pipe, sort of like a puffing sound, when it happens the RPM slightly drops aswell, I have tried to isolate which cylinder it is coming from by pulling leads and checking for dissappearance of sound, but have found that it still occurs after each lead has been pulled. It has an electronic fuel pump and i have been told by a mate that it could be slightly overfuelling????

That is the 1st problem, My other query is that uppon engaging the clutch in 1st to start moving it will make a knocking sound sort of like the sound you would hear if a CV was flogged out, but engaging the clutch is the only time you can hear it. The noise which can be heard 2-4 times while engagement is occuring. I can eliminate the noise by riding the clutch out a bit more but i don't want to wear the F out of it. Also to engage a gear smoothly while stopped and driving i need to push the clutch right to the floor, I have read that maybe the clevis pins are worn out and to replace them after inspection, I haven't had time though as it is garaged at another property.

Any help is very much appreciated!!
Cheers!

Hi mini machine, welcome to ausmini!

Your misfire at idle sounds like it may be the fueling. If it's running lean or rich, you can expect a misfire. If the misfire is rhythmic, it's likely to be too rich, if it's random it's likely to be lean.

If you check the spark plugs, you can usually tell how it's running. If the plugs look sooty, it's too rich, if they look white it's too lean. It's just a matter of turning the adjustment nut at the bottom of the carb. Turn it in (like you would turn a screw) for lean, out for rich.

I'm afraid I can't help you with the knocking clutch (I've never had any experience with clutches), but the clevis pin is easy to check. If you put your head down near the floor and look up to where the pedal attaches to the clutch rod, you can press the pedal and and see how much movement there is between the rod and the pedal. There should only be a few mm. Worth checking, but it's more likely to be a hydralics problem - you may need to bleed the clutch cylinder (which only takes a minute anyway).