[Wave]

Today I was inofrmed that my transmission has to be replaced. It started with a slight noise in 1st gear as I engaged. By the time I got home (highway miles (36) the car would not engage when put in gear. Seems to be a problem. I have had a number of cars with 150K+ mile sand no transmission problems. I am concenred about after warranty $$$ for what ever goes next. Beware

Wave

[NEMINI]

do a search and you'll find other posts dealing with this exact topic

(this is precisely why I spend the extra money for an extended warranty 100,000miles/7yrs for me)

[paddy]

JUst got mine back from the dealership. I also had a transmissiom replaced. I have an early production MC 2/1/02, is the build date. I had 39.7 k miles when it stopped working. To me, it felt like the clutch was just slipping and then I thought that I had "glazed" the clutch, it simply would not 'engage'. I am not use if the word 'engage' is the correct term. The engine was running and the tach showed rpm's, but the MINI no go.

MINI roadside had the car towed last Tuesday morning and I picked it up this morning. The repair was covered under the 4 yr/50000 mile warranty. This is the standard warranty, not to be confused with the 4/50000 extended maintenance warranty. In talking with the service advisor, he said that mine was not the first to have a transmission replaced and that it seems to be occuring on the early production MC's. I don't know what is classified as an early production, but I am sure that 2/1/02 fits in that time frame.

While the service order stated that it was a "remanufactured" transmission and clutch, in reality, it is a new transmission, as there are not enough tansmissions in the remanufacture process, aka CORE parts. I didnot get a full answer as to what internal part of the tansmission failed. They stated that they just replace the part and ship the defective part back to MINI.

For what it is worth, the service advisor seems to feel that the new transmission is much better and should not fail.

[Paul]

As I've stated many times (and as is fairly well recognised) the transmission is the weak link in the MINI Cooper chain, next year they will be switching to Getrag transmissions, and that should be a great improvement.

[BoBb3h]

No i would bet a lot of money that Getrag transmission is worse. The gearbox in the One and cooper are practically the same ones in the Metro/25/45/75 etc etc it wouldnt have lasted through all those cars if it wasnt good, but maybe ur right maybe its time for a change, i welcome different opinions.

[Paul]

Quote: Originally Posted by BoBb3h

No i would bet a lot of money that Getrag transmission is worse. The gearbox in the One and cooper are practically the same ones in the Metro/25/45/75 etc etc it wouldnt have lasted through all those cars if it wasnt good, but maybe ur right maybe its time for a change, i welcome different opinions.

I see no reason why it should be worse, the 6 speed getrag is much more solid than the 5 speed options at the moment.

[BoBb3h]

Maybe but will you get that good feeling of flowing throught the gears

[HarryHBMCC]

The Midlands Powertrain gearbox does have a lovely flow to it ...when it works. I sure hope my second Midlands box lasts longer than the first one (got 11 months or so out of the first one, 6 months now on the second, knock on aluminum). Mine is also an 02/02 build, which seems to have been a bad month for that part. Wonder if I'll eventually have a Getrag...

Harry

[arabinow]

What were the signs of your dying transmission?

The reason I ask is because Harry has had his replaced on his launch edition cooper.. I also have a launch and am worried about mine. Sometimes it is hard to put into first gear..and reverse after it has been parked.

thanks

Adam

[HarryHBMCC]

My gearbox was hard to put into first at times and reverse often before it was replaced but the real signs were the horrible clanging noises in first gear under load. At first it just happened under hard load but it got worse until it was hard to the guys at the dealership to even move it around the shop.

The new transmission was perfect for getting into 1st and reverse when I got it. Now it sometimes needs a rest in neutral to get into reverse and it has even been tough to get into 1st on an occasion or two. Time will tell whether these symptoms mean this tranny is also going south or if they just mean its run in. The shifting is otherwise nice and smooth with not even a hint of clanging under heavy load but that didn't take long to go from first notice to severe problem, just a couple of weeks.

Harry

[arabinow]

thanks Harry

I haven't noticed any of the symptoms except the hard to get into reverse and first.. I don't drive my car too hard. I am closing in on my first service just over 14,500 km

[HarryHBMCC]

I drive mine hard and am closing in on Inspection I at over 33500 km... Hard to believe I have almost 20000km more than you! Mine was at around 24000km when the tranny quit, BTW.

Harry

[arabinow]

I walk to work
so the car sits in the garage for the better of the week.

I usually drive 10,000km per year... 14,500 is a lot for me. My first year anniv was in August

[shenmue]

Greetings,

I recently had my Cooper S transmission replaced due to the the 1st gear syncro going out.
Fortunately, I'm still way under the 50K warrenty - just crusing past 25k after 1 year so it was replaced with the remanufactured tranny. Things are back to normal.

I'm just worried about the new tranny running out on me once i pass my warrenty...

Shenmue2

[HarryHBMCC]

You aren't the only one worried about the tranny after the warranty expires! Oh well, only good thing is we can drop in an aftermarket tranny with a better final drive ratio if we're paying for it ourselves! LSD anyone? Probably good to do that before putting too many engine mods on these cars as the trannies seem to be pretty much running full tilt already.

Harry

[dav]

Shenmue2; yours is the first post I have read about a failing 6-speed Getrag tranny. What were the symptoms? I have read many posts about failing Rover 5-speeds.

[buttons]

Just got my 02/02 build cooper back yesterday after having new gearbox fitted, after just 16500miles! As with many replies posted here started off sounding like clutch slipping, but only at high rev's. Also had difficulty engaging 1st. This 'fault' seemed to go get worse until mini no-go in about three days! All seems well now but hope it doesn't happen again.

[HarryHBMCC]

02/02 MINIs seem to be a bad month for trannies! I'm surprised they didn't recall an affected run as it sure looks like a bad batch of gearboxes. We should compare VINs offline to see how close all these broken 02/02's are.

Harry

[theminiv]

yeh, mines a nov 01 build, and i have had a new gearbox and clutch, thankfully under warranty!!!

24000 miles

[paddy]

Collecting the VIN's would be of interest, but I feel as though there my be a security/privacy issue. I believe that determining the youngest production date would reveal almost as much information. I think that production dates will show that MINI ceased having tranny problems with vehicles produced from 04/02 on.

As I stated in an earlier post I had my tranny replaced about 2 weeks ago. I had just under 40,000 miles, I was afraid it was the clutch. Found out after the tranny was replaced the clutch was in fine shape. I now have about 700 miles and I am just getting back into putting my MINI through her paces again.

My production date was 02/02

paddy