[wbarnhill]

After owning our (well, my girlfriend's) 2006 MC for about 6 months (Delivered Dec. 2005) and 4500 miles, we started to have issues with the CVT. The primary of which was a failure to show and engage Reverse properly. Took it to the dealer in Greenville who said everything was fine. This degraded (over a week) to failure to engage any gear properly and the MC went into limp home mode. Towed back to the dealer, work was done (Replacement of the shifter and some pump..) and a clean bill of health was issued. Drove back home, it worked for about a day, and the same thing. Towed back to the dealer again. They reinstalled the shifter and test drove for several miles. Another clean bill of health was issued, and everything seemed fine until last night (about a month later) and now we've got the same problem (not showing/engaging the gears), and we're a bit irked about this trouble. We have not even passed 9000 miles. Just had the first scheduled maintenance last month too. It's just so irksome considering we've owned it less than a year, and this is my girlfriend's primary vehicle, so since the dealer won't offer a loaner, she's having to bum rides from her parents or borrow my car (which I don't mind since I can walk to work) to get anything done.

Any suggestions, or if anyone knows a contact address for MINIUSA, I'd at least like to show up on their radar as someone who is seriously concerned and this definitely doesn't help with deciding if I would like to purchase a MINI for myself. Oh, and words of support and hugs are welcome too.

Thanks everyone.

[Paul!]

Hmm... sounds like a loose wire or connection somewhere in the gearshift.

The number for MINI USA, if I remember correctly, is 1-866-ASK-MINI. (Might be an 888 number....)

In the mean time, you can try to reseat everything yourself. (DISCLAIMER!!! If you completely bork up your MINI by following these directions, all I can offer you is 'sorry!'. Having said that though, I have done the following about a half dozen times to my own MINI while executing various DIY projects with no ill effects.)

You can remove the CVT shifter by pulling straight up on it. Hard. No, harder! It'll come off after you feel like that you're about to pull the transmission straight through the car.

After that, remove the gear shift cover by pulling straight up on the outer ring. If you wiggle it back and forth a bit, you'll get it loose. There are 4 points where it snaps in.

Once that's off, you'll see a wire bundle connected to the gear shift cover. Try disconnecting and firmly reconnecting the wire bundle harness. I've found through my own MINI that if the wire bundle is disconnected, the car won't actually shift, and the display will show EP.

After you reconnect the wire bundle, put everything back together. Be sure to properly align the posts of the gear shift cover before popping it back into place! The gear shift simply snaps back into place. I give it a firm tap with my fist until I feel the 'snap' back into proper position.

If after completing the above steps everything works, I would say almost for certain that there's a problem with the wire bundle. Something which the dealership won't want to hear because replacing it is going to be a *major* PITA for them! But it'll have to be done. Or, if everyone involved is lucky, it'll end up just being the gear shift cover (but, sad to say, I doubt it).

Good luck, and keep us posted!


-Paul!

[wbarnhill]

Don't know how close you were, but here's the update.

Our MINI Dealer brought in a MINI Transmission Specialist (dunno where from, but they claimed it) to look at the issue. His prognosis was that the boot which encased the electronics for the transmission was defective and was allowing moisture into that area. The moisture was what was causing the errors. After replacing the exposed components and the encasing boot, they test drove it for 8 hours total before calling us to pick our MINI up. Drove it some tonight (it's been rainy) and no problems so far. Hopefully this is all said and done with. I really was getting irked by the number of times we had to go back up there (Our dealer is an hour away).

Thanks again for your help, and happy motoring

[mini_macky]

hmm...come to think of it, the shifter boot of my Mini has been loose for some time now. better have it fixed

[Wesmonster]

I live in Greenville SC and we purchased both our MINIs from same dealer (name witheld on purpose). We never had any repair work done on our first MINI but the second (cabrio) broke a strap on the top. I brought it to the dealer to have them asses the problem and to make an appointment for the repair (under warranty) so they could order any parts needed in advance. Well, a one day visit turned into a week long stay after they determined they needed additional parts. What irked me was they never called me at any time to inform me of these delays, and any attempts to call my service rep, or anyone else in their service department went unanswered. I made three trips to the dealer to pick up my car only to find there was another delay in ordering or receiving the parts. Once the part actually arrived the repair was done in an hour. I understand that parts don't always arrive on time and sometimes repairs take longer than anticipated, but getting any response from their service department was impossible. When I picked up my car I let the manager know I was dissapointed in their service and that I would not bring my MINI back for any non-warranty work, and when MINIUSA called I let them have it on their survey.