[phill400]

Hi All,

I was wondering if you can help, I am very grumpy because my transmission (yep its a midland one!) has failed in my Mini Cooper 2001 after 60,000 miles.....

I have a mechanic coming to take the gearbox out, he is very very good and a family friend, I am then getting it rebuilt by a gearbox specialist (the uncle of a guy I work with). However I really would like to find a document detailing gearbox removal if such a thing exists??? Help??

The symptons by the way were a slight rumber from the engine bay on engine over-run which have got worse and worse over the last three days, the car is perfectly driveable but the gearbox is Loud now!!!!! so I am getting it done before the bearings brake up completely and damage the gears.

Thanks all in advance!

[sef]

Instead of having your box refurbed, why not just get another box from a breakers yard??? WIll probably have a lot less miles on it too...

[stealth haggis]

mini mania do a refurb one with better parts in for a damm good price as there sponsors on here

[phill400]

Hi Guys, thanks but the guy that is going to rebuild it is a good friend of mine and he really is an expert. He has done 6 or 7 and on everyone it was the same problem, which was a bearing failing on where the differential is, this gives me confidence that he knows what he is doing.

I am going to ask him about uprating the bearings, if possible I will do so. Thanks for the advice though, I will certainly look into it to makesure I have explored the options.

At the mo I am more concerned with getting it out the car, if anyone has any documentation please let me know.

Thanks,

Phill

[stealth haggis]

cool i think mini mania sell all the uprated bearings or could at least point you in the right direction since yove got it out might be a good time to fit a power flex gear box bush to the mount since its done 60k ish

[phill400]

Is that worth doing is it? what sort of advantage would I get from fitting a powerflex bush to the mounting?

I just can't wait to get the thing fixed now and it has only been broken a day!

[stealth haggis]

it will stop the gear box shaking as much cos its a stiffer bush than the standard rubber one its one of those if the gear box is out may as well do this and there not the most expensive things as far as i rember

[Richard Crofts]

Haynes have a manual on the MINI...its £14 or so from Halfrauds...I'm sure that covers box removal (they always did on every other car i have had one for) The removal of the box on the MINI is a pain in the ass though as the whole front has to come ou/off from what I hear.

Oh and while the engine/box are out it is probably worth changing the bushes you can't normall access for new one (standard or poly versions) as its not expensive and could save you some hassle if one of these goes in the future before the box goes again.

[Bajanmini]

As said before i think you can get the parts from minimania.com,thier recon box is also uprated for more power,so you probably wont have the same prob down the road with failure,it's senseless replacing the same transmission or parts.Mine was replaced under warranty and my second gear is in question under hard driving at the moment.Cheers
P.S the Haynes manual details both removal and refitting,and theres a chapter on manual transmission overhaul.

[phill400]

I have order a Haynes manual, I will have a good look through it with my mechanic, so I am sure that it will be ok.......

Talking about the recon gearboxes, I have spoken to 2 different companys and various people that I know socially that tell me that there are only a few different companies that make bearings so they are a fairly standard thing..... I'm not saying thats how it is, just what they told me...

What they did say is that I could get the cases machined out to fit larger bearings, but that is going to cost a lot!

and the most important thing to remember is that I am not going to have my car for another 60,000 miles..... I am looking to sell it in March/April. I think I am going to try and live without a car (i will still have access to one) for a year and then maybe look into a Cooper S or even a JCW (one of the early ones).

[GR33NIE]

Sorry to hear about that! I know MINI/BMW charge a fortune to put them right, this is something I fear of going wrong on my car fingers crossed it doesn't

[MINIMANIAUK]

The bearings are only part of the problem with the midlands box, if it is rebuilt with standard parts you can only expect it to last as long as a standard box which is variable to say the least.
I expect most /all of the standard gearboxes to fail ultimately and even the fitment of a factory unit only comes with a 12 month warranty, so you may only be delaying the midland grenade problem.
There could be a car resale problem with the early boxes fitted as the general public and trade sales become more aware of this gearbox issue.
we are getting requests for our uprated boxes weekly ,(we use a different 1/2/3 syncro and modify the diff and use and reccommend a better oil) and now it is getting harder to source good used boxes,so many have been replaced under warranty but the old units returned to BMW to be rebuilt
the boxes we get returned/remove are getting to be beyond repair as they have been run with the noise for some time and have eventually grenaded!!
I wish we could supply BMW with the upgraded internals that way they could rebuid them stronger and break the cycle of gearbox failures,but they are probably more interested in new car sales. If you are considering keeping you car long term then it may make sense to upgrade the box when the clutch fails -MINI/BMW charge around £2500 for the box replacement

[phill400]

minimania uk, can you tell me how much it is for a uprated gearbox? I have just looked on your site and it says £1292.00, can you also tell me what the warranty/Garantee period is on the uprated boxes that you sell as it doesn't say?

I take all your advise on board, I just want to get the thing back in one peice and sell it on, I haven't done anything with the engine, and I do not drive really really hard. Like I said before I know a guy who runs a gearbox business and will do the work for me for £200 (if it is a basic bearing renewal and oil seals) and I can ask him if he can uprate some of the parts in it, but I am on a budget and I have to weigh up cost/versus requirment.

Can you tell me anymore detail about the oil you recommend or the parts you use for the synchro?

[rjccooper]

Quote: Originally Posted by phill400 (original)

Hi All,

I was wondering if you can help, I am very grumpy because my transmission (yep its a midland one!) has failed in my Mini Cooper 2001 after 60,000 miles.....

I have a mechanic coming to take the gearbox out, he is very very good and a family friend, I am then getting it rebuilt by a gearbox specialist (the uncle of a guy I work with). However I really would like to find a document detailing gearbox removal if such a thing exists??? Help??

The symptons by the way were a slight rumber from the engine bay on engine over-run which have got worse and worse over the last three days, the car is perfectly driveable but the gearbox is Loud now!!!!! so I am getting it done before the bearings brake up completely and damage the gears.

Thanks all in advance!

OK I am concerned but a little confused! My Cooper (2004 with Midlands 5 speed) starting to make this coffee can type gargle when decelerating in 2nd gear almost 1.5 years ago. I think I read quite a few other posts saying this is without a doubt the gearbox.....but in my case once I have driven the car for approx 35 to 45 minutes it no longer makes the noise no matter how much I downshift or accelerate in 2nd or 3rd gear. How could a gearbox problem/noise disappear with the car warming up? The gearbox feels the same as day 1 too. Smooth, clean shifts. I just don't want to turn the dealer on to replacing the gearbox unnecessarily as I'm sure they'll bugger up more than they fix!

[rjccooper]

Quote: Originally Posted by phill400 (original)

Hi All,

I was wondering if you can help, I am very grumpy because my transmission (yep its a midland one!) has failed in my Mini Cooper 2001 after 60,000 miles.....

I have a mechanic coming to take the gearbox out, he is very very good and a family friend, I am then getting it rebuilt by a gearbox specialist (the uncle of a guy I work with). However I really would like to find a document detailing gearbox removal if such a thing exists??? Help??

The symptons by the way were a slight rumber from the engine bay on engine over-run which have got worse and worse over the last three days, the car is perfectly driveable but the gearbox is Loud now!!!!! so I am getting it done before the bearings brake up completely and damage the gears.

Thanks all in advance!

WOW this seems like a pretty radical approach! As per my other post a slight rumble from the engine and you're going to rip out the gearbox? Does the sound diminish or go away once the car is warmed up?

[phill400]

No I'm affraid it doesn't go away, and it has gone from a slight rumble to a very loud (here it over the radio) rumble in about 5 days so I figured it really was best to just get the car apart and get it looked at before it causes any further damage to the box.

[rjccooper]

Quote: Originally Posted by phill400 (original)

No I'm affraid it doesn't go away, and it has gone from a slight rumble to a very loud (here it over the radio) rumble in about 5 days so I figured it really was best to just get the car apart and get it looked at before it causes any further damage to the box.

That sucks! I am at 65000 KM and tranny is like day 1. I hope mine will hold out

[MINIMANIAUK]

If there is no damage in the box,then your best option is to have your friend rebuild it for £200 , The uprated parts we use cost a lot more than that ,hopefully there will be no major damage and you caught it in time,used boxes are getting scarce.Its worth inspecting the clutch while its apart,as they are just as prone to trouble. We warranty our box for 12 months but would expect no further issues with them and would replace them foc beyond that.driving schools and track cars would be viewed a bit differently

[MiniDaz723]

I too had to have a new gearbox on my mini cooper works, 55K miles old.
My local dealer contacted BMW and straight away they offered 50% discount off a new box, but I had to pay for the other 50% and pay to get it fitted.
I then called BMW myself and complained , by the fact they had offered to pay 50% they had admitted liability that there was a fault with this box, we then agreed that BMW paid 100% the cost of the box, but still had to pay to get it fitted. I settled at this point.
(My MCW had been fully serviced by Mini)
Speak to BMW / Mini customer service, this is a common problem on this type of gearbox!

[GregF]

Any chance that there could be some type of class action suit brought against BMW/MINI for these gearboxes?