[strz0001]

I just purchased a 2002 CVT with just over 110k. It was being sold because the CVT would grind and would not work for long. I searched all over the place for a replacement CVT in decent shape and the best I could do is a reman from Mini. The old CVT is out, the reman is on order. I pulled off the filter cover and saw a whole mess of metal shavings blocking the filter pickup - I'm not sure what the shavings are, but obviously the fluid pump was starving for pressure. I did peer up at the belt and it looks fine where I can see it.

I should be getting my reman tranny in shortly.

I'm new to mini's and only have the broken one for now. From the maintenance records in the car (I can't be sure any aren't missing), this car had a CVT fluid change at 25k and 88k miles. I'm not sure if those fluid changes included a filter change. I speculate that the filter was not changed with the fluid since it takes lowering the subframe (according to Bentley) to get the transmission filter cover off.

I must say, the engineering on these cars makes then a delight to work on. Here's hoping the reman CVT makes it at least as long as the one in the one I just removed. I am really looking forward to actually driving it. -David

[nonsequitur]

You should consider starting a new Thread on this whole experience!

Please keep us updated as it moves along. Pictures are a big help.

That shot makes me wonder if a "Classic Mini" technique, using a long stem magnetic oil drain plug, would be a useful idea in these machines!? Are those metal shavings magnetic or aluminum?

The more I think about it, the more I urge a separate Thread to capture this event.

[strz0001]

I re-examined the filter and saw that the metal shavings are stuck to the magnet, not blocking the filter intake. I missed that in my excitement. The remaining fluid also has a large concentration of smaller shavings in suspension.

I have taken numerous reference photos along the way - mostly to help me put it back together. I will see about starting a new thread and posting pictures relevant to the interests of this group.

[Jim Ray]

Good job! I think you will be very happy with the results. We really liked our CVT.

Do keep us posted.

[strz0001]

OK, so here's what I did to get the transmission out. First I read the manual, it said to take out the engine and transmission and switch it outside the car. Then I read about the clutch changes that are being done over at namotoring.com. The prevailing wisdom was to remove the subframe and drop the transmission out through the bottom. That is the direction I took since it looked easier than pulling the engine/tranny out. Keep in mind, I'm in Minnesota working in an unheated garage.

It took about 4 hours to drop the subframe, this included putting the car in maintenance mode (sliding the MFE forward) and separating the tie-rods and ball joints, unbolting the sway bar connectors, steering pump and other electrical connectors. The subframe pretty much comes down on two floor jacks easily - I did it alone.

After that, I fought with the left axle with a pry bar, finally prompting the circlip to release its grip. Next, supported the engine and trans on 2 jacks, removed the bolts connecting the two, lifted the trans side and removed the upper trans mount. From there, I lowered the trans side down until it looked like it would clear. I strapped it to a transmission jack and unbolted it from the engine.

The two separated pretty easily. Once clear, I lowered it and slid it out from under the car.

The hardest part of the process so far has been separating the ball joints and removing the left axle.

either you can go buy a ball joint tool for this car, or remove the nut most of the way and put a floor jack on it to apply some upward pressure to the fitting and smack the housing with a hammer to 'shock' it apart. I learned this after breaking the rubber seal and needing to buy a new 25$ ball joint.

The left axle required significant persuasion with a crow bar and a hammer. I was very concerned about damaging the trans housing. It required one person steadying the bar and the other smacking it with a hammer. It came out with only some scratched paint after a few minutes.

I am replacing all the parts that the Bentley manual recommends - locking fasteners, axle dust covers, exhaust gasket, and other misc items.

If you need a transmission, few salvage yards have them, most are damaged and cost near $3000 - spent 2 weeks calling around. I found a dealer who would sell me a factory reman for about $3400 with a $500 core. The local dealer wanted over $5200 for this part! I figure the factory reman has all the current revisions, and comes with a 2 year warranty on the part. Although I'm not sure if they will honor it without any resistance since it's not being installed by a Mini certified mechanic.

So far, I have about 8 hours of wrenching and countless hours of research. But its all good and I expect to be driving this in a few days.

[strz0001]

Feel free to browse images of this project at http://strzok.com/gallery/

[Jim Ray]

Thanks for the link. I plan on doing a lot of my own repairs when my warranty expires. The subframe dropping out really helps. We really liked our CVT, and "Burnt Rootbeer" is a really rare color now. We had the other rare one, "Oasis". Original names, before convention struck the marketing people.

[strz0001]

New transmission is installed, car functionining "normal". I'm exhausted, the weather turned cold here and my garage heater ran low on propane and kept cutting out. The trans fluid refilling was not straightforward. I added about 5 L and more than .5L came out the overflow. I suppose there was either a measurable volume in the new tranny (as evidenced by dripping out the cooling fluid ports), or the car was out of level. Either way, I plan to re-test the level after a few days.

[AprilWhine]

Wow, not many people come here and write an ace FAQ right off the bat.

[strz0001]

After looking at and reading the pdf of the gearbox description, it appears the metal fragments attached to the magnet are belt parts, coming from the steel bands running around the belt. I wonder if a new belt could refresh the life of this bad tranny. I'll not find out, since I'm sending it back to the dealer for a 500$ core return.

I've driven the mini about 100 miles with the new CVT. I met with the previous owner who has a new CVT with 3500 miles on it - she kept repeating "oh my gawd" in disbelief that her old car was motoring. She said that mine was a bit jerky on the launch, and recalled it was like this for her before, but fixed with a software upgrade. I've read that the jerky-ness may diminish after the first 500 miles. She also said the car was driving normally and really missed the color. I drove her new one and it was a bit smoother on takeoff and a bit tighter, but not significantly so.

The other issue I had was that my tire monitor and DSC lights were on when I started up. After researching here, it was solved by removing the F2 fuse and turning the ignition on. Then plug the fuse back in and start the engine. It worked great and I felt the DSC kick on as I jammed into a corner hard.

Does anyone know if there is a similar software load process to reset the transmission? I guess I could check by pulling the transmission fuse and using the same process.

Another question: on the leads to the computer in the battery box, specifically the rear-ward connector, there is another 2 pin connector (like a typical running light connector) coming out of the friction tape wrapping about 6 inches away from the large computer connector end. It looked like it was just running along the cable to the computer, but it has no mating connector. I've searched around the reach range of this cable and there is nothing available - I also do not recall disconnecting it and didn't tag it for reconnection. Is anyone willing to take a look around the brake master/battery box to help? It might just be part of an option that was not installed, or my intense searching has missed the obvious.

I'm amazed at how stable this car feels. It really prefers to be driven somewhere besides the city streets where most of my driving occurs.

[Vanwall]

I am awestruck! This was not the usual wrench job, and you managed it quite well it appears. Did you do all the computer checks that the Bentley Book mentions, or did you just plug & play? Well done!!

BCNU,
Rob in Dago

[valnmike]

Quote: Originally Posted by strz0001

...snip

Another question: on the leads to the computer in the battery box, specifically the rear-ward connector, there is another 2 pin connector (like a typical running light connector) coming out of the friction tape wrapping about 6 inches away from the large computer connector end. It looked like it was just running along the cable to the computer, but it has no mating connector. I've searched around the reach range of this cable and there is nothing available - I also do not recall disconnecting it and didn't tag it for reconnection. Is anyone willing to take a look around the brake master/battery box to help? It might just be part of an option that was not installed, or my intense searching has missed the obvious.

I'm amazed at how stable this car feels. It really prefers to be driven somewhere besides the city streets where most of my driving occurs.

Fantastic and amazing job on the tyranny swap out. I only hope I can find someone like you if I ever have to do this after the warranty expires.

I took a look at my 2003 CVT, 2/14/03 build date. Unless you mean the connector you are asking about is right inside the box with the battery (which I do not recall any from when I changed the battery last November), I only see the wires noted in the attached image. "A" is a small connector with a tan wire and a yellow / green stripe wire plugged into the top of the brake fluid reservoir. "B" is a wire pair (could not see the colours but they are heavier/thicker than "A") plugged in near the master cylinder. "C" is the harness that the other two feed out from. There might also be some very heavy and rigid wires bundled into some other harness in this area (like at “D”), but none had any circuits branching off them in this area of the car. Let me know if there is someplace else to look.

[strz0001]

Vanwall- I attempted to follow the Bentley instructions to the line. In terms of computer checks, I assume you mean the running through the different shift points while running up the rpm's after fluid add. I may have missed something, because it seemed mostly plug and play - did you see something I missed? I searched for some specific transmission circuit reset procedure, but found none. One thing I did was remove the CVT circuit fuse and then turn the key to the run position and then shut it off and re-insert fuse. This method worked for the DSC/flat indicators that I need to reset when the battery is disconnected. Apparently it senses that the circuit is out then re-sets something once it comes available again.

I think the anxiety of jumping into someone else's relatively high-mile car and then spending another 4 grand on parts under warranty (that I might need to fight for if ever needed) is not for everyone . I keep telling myself I did the right thing, and this morning riding to work it felt just right on the drive to work .

Valnmike- Thanks for the image! My loose wire sprouts out of the heavy bundle going to the ECM (computer), so it attaches to 'D' right about where the arrow in your image is. The wire is a set of 2 and I didn't look at the color yet. It made an impression along the main bundle running into the battery box and ECM - looking like it belongs there. Just nothing to connect. I'm going to let the car tell me if I need to stress any more about it.

Got new floormats (black rubber) in yesterday. I'm a happy mini owner.

[Vanwall]

I was in Vegas when I posted that query about Bentley off the top of my head, and I was reading your post about the fluid addition, so the checks seemed warranted - I'm sure there's something else the factory does in addition to the Bentley stuff, they never tell you everything. You pulled the fuse, and I'll bet they do it from a diagnostic program, but I'm glad you've confirmed my suspicions regarding a plug-n-play aspect to their computer controls. As long as the brain box works and re-built CVTs are available, I'm set for few years, I hope - I'm a miner, I'll go down. I've done a bit of Mini tranny re-building over the years, so I'm gonna copy & save your whole little adventure for reference. Damn fine job!

I sympathise with the heater cutting out - I spent many a nite on a cold concrete floor under my old Minis. We had an open-sided car-port in Arizona, and it ain't no fun in the winter or the summer working on cars there. ;-)

I hate those little loose wire ends, too - I looked and got the same result as Valnmike, so I'm no help, - just cross your fingers.

BCNU,
Rob in Dago

[strz0001]

I found the wire reference in Bentley, but have more research to understand where it does. It's a BL/RT (blue/red) and goes between the ECM and X10197, whatever that is.

I also searched more about the factory setup and saw this bit:

Quote:

Originally Posted by valnmike
What is involved in a software update on a CVT equipped MINI?

The software upgrade is sort of a lengthy process because it involves driving the car a couple of times by dealer service personnel to synchronize the CVT clutches. If your dealer knows what is doing, the update is not limited just to re-programming the DME (engine and other systems control computer), but also to add new Motronic (a Bosch trademark, a company used by BMW for engine software) code, align EWS (Engine immobiliser), clear adaptation or 'learning' settings for the transmission and road test the car a few times to allow the system to re-learn driving patterns.

When a CVT car has had this software upgrade the service technician has to carry out a road test which can take up to 45 minutes and 15 miles to do so the cars clutch set point's are all self learned again.(Drive program)

They then :
1, Reset clutch adaptation values,
2, Carry out clutch adaptation,
3, Set-up clutch ratio adaptations,
4, Carry out a software reset
5, Clear adaptation values in the DME/EMS2000 Control unit.

The car sticks in 1st gear until it learns its set point/ratio's when it then selects 2nd gear and so on. There is a special way to do this but telling anyone on here would have no benefit at all...e.g. holding between certain rev thresholds etc etc...very boring!

This answer was taken from other mini2.com posts by cooper4us & here2help

More clues about the setup process. For now, mine is at 150 miles and seems to be doing just fine. If it gets wonky, I'll run it into mini and pay them to do the work.

BTW, I've been purchasing all my parts at a 20% discount off retail via phone. If anyone's interested where to buy, PM me. I've saved over $1000 doing this. It might not be too hard to figure out... It's a dealer and has a rep for fair Mini pricing.