2005 Mini Cooper manual transmission stuck in between gears

Question

Trouble started popping out of 5th gear, then also 2nd gear, then all the gears. Then it wouldn't go into gear, it would go in if I gave it gas, enough to get it home. I was able to drive it to a shop, in 2nd gear, it would go into gear if I gave it gas. The shop guy could not get it it go into gear and said it was stuck. I tried to drive it home but it now wouldn't go at all. I can move around the gears with the car off, but turn it on and try to go, it grinds, bucks and stalls. Even in neutral. I can push in the clutch, turn it on, but I can't let it out. In neutral it grinds, bucks then dies. I tried 1st, hard to get it in, but it acts the same as neutral.
The not going into gear happened all in one day, the popping out of gear happened all within one take of gas. I've only filled it up once since I bought it.

I can't find a repair shop,that can tell me anything other than bring it in. I have to have it towed so I want some idea of what kind of shop I should take it to. Two shops said it's the clutch, one 12 hours of labor, the other 15, one shop said, 115 to tell me if it's worth fixing. How can he tell without taking it apart?
What should I do? Know any good transmission shops on Oahu? Is it replace the transmission and the clutch and the trnsmission cables?

Answer 1

It sounds to me as if your throwout bearing isn't disengaging the clutch enough. If this is a hydraulic clutch, either the clutch master cylinder or the slave cylinder at the throwout is failing - more probably the master cylinder. If that car is like all too many cars these days, you'll need to replace the entire set as one unit - not just the offending part.

Answer 2

I found the previous owner on fb. It took her a year to answer me but she had donated the car to a charity car donation place because the transmission fell out.

I bought the car from a shyster. He put it back together enough to sell it to me. Even all the people I took it to check it out didn't see that it didn't have transmission fluid in it. They all said, that is how a Mini sounds. It took 100 miles to seize up.

There was a giant hole in the transmission near the bolts that hold it in where it was ripped out of the car when it fell out. Transmission fluid poured out of it when I had it put in.

The previous owner said she was driving down the road and the transmission fell out. There was a giant line of transmission fluid on the road behind the car.

She said it happened a few months after she had the clutch replace. The person that replaced the clutch was not a certified Mini mechanic.

The donation charity that sold it at auction said it came in with a bad transmission. I won't name the charity since they were nice enough to tell me about it.