I'm three months into my first 2006 MCS. I picked an ok condition car with 80K on the clock. The PO stated that the transmission was recently changed with a unit that only had 36K miles. I was cautions immediately after hearing the whine from the throw out bearing on the first test drive. Knowing this wasn't a new car, I went ahead with the purchase at a great price - with the understanding I may make up the difference in parts down the road.
Last week on the way home as I went over some railroad tracks the car jumped out of third. I didn't think anything about it, and clutched it and moved it right back to third without any issues. This happened a couple more times while in 3rd, and then got to the point it would not go into third at all. Two days later the same thing happened to 4th gear. All other gears are shifting normally.
I pulled the airbox and inspected the cables on the transmission side and both are very sloppy. I also pulled the ring off of the shifter and the bushings on the shifter side are in bad shape also.
I'm being hopeful and ordered a set of cables and a powerflex gearbox kit, with the thinking that I would replace these even if this ends up being an internal issue. I'm looking for a shift kit at the moment to address the situation with the shifter.


Has anyone had similar experience with the Gertrag 6 - and how long till I end up pulling the transmission?

 

I am at 119k on the original trans. Still feels good. Could be cables, could be fluids. If the throwout was making noise when you bought it, it may have died.

 

The 6 speed is a VERY solid unit..failures are rare...
Any idea if a short shifter is installed?
Just wondering if it was botched...meaning the part on the underside of the shift lever was broken, giving you the odd feel...

 

The shifter appears to be stock. It still has factory labels on the box. Im thinking that a combination of worn ends on the cables, and weak motor mounts are keeping the shift linkage from making its full range of motion to engage 3rd and 4th.

 

Had similar issue when backing my R53 out of space after installing a set of cables. One was not in it's retaining clip securely, cable end slipped out and then popped out of reverse when backing up.

There are 4 different cables for our cars depending on which shift box you have. One box has ribs the other is smooth faced. Before ordering you have to pop the shifter ring/boot and lift up exposing the box so you can get a good look at it.

Ribbed box gets the A cables, smooth face gets the B's. ( see below ) Exhaust center pipe is removed to access the bottom dust cover for shifter box, so you will also need a new exhaust flange gasket as well: #18111170941.

 

When I had the boot off yesterday it was definitely a smooth shift box - not ribbed. My new cables have not shipped yet, so I will double check the part number. Thanks for the catch on the gasket, I'll add one of those to my list. I'm hoping this gets me shifting with a much better feel.

 

Synchros sound toasted.
Likely time for a new gearbox.

greg

 

They could be... but I think the likelihood of two synchronizers going out at the same time is low. At least I will have new cables when I have to drop the tranny.

 

The new cables went in last week. The powerflex gearbox bushings were installed at the same time. I. saw a little improvement - I could double clutch and get third and fourth. I think the new cables just allowed me to keep enough pressure to hold it in gear. During the install I found that there were no factory bushings installed on the transmission mount. Which is beginning to complete the story that the PO had issues. Which leads to the next point. On the way into town on Friday, while running in 6th gear at 60, the front end had a large thump, front wheels momentarily locked. I clutched and pulled over into a driveway. I was unable to change from 6th gear, and the smell of burnt clutch was evident. Had it hauled back to the house and the transmission removal starts tomorrow. I checked the cables and all are connected, the clutch still has full movement. I'm pretty sure it's not coming back to life.


Anyone have any tips for a easy removal?

 

 

Carlos is the man! Thanks.

 

I just got time to break things down today. Transmission came out without much problem. I found many concerning things. Three missing bolts on the bell housing, one bolt holding the starter, one missing bolt on the carrier bearing, and a three teaspoons of transmission fluid. I think that might explain what happened. I did find a new clutch and pressure plate, and throw out bearing. I think that might explain what was going on... no signs of any leaks... I can't believe that it made it for as many miles as it did.

 

Only 3 teaspoons of MTF and all those missing bits!!! You should track down the mech and pop his knee caps.

Good luck with your repair.

 

Wow....
Sounds like a very crappy DIY project....proves that unless one has some basic skills, a diy is a road to hell....wish folks would understand their limits rather than waste their time and $$ doing things so far beyond their abilities they mess up by only doing HALF the install job...no gear oil (functionly) and many missing bolts...ouch!!
Sounds like you might have been lucky it fail...At least you got to pick the time and place to swap it...better than a rainly day on the side of the road.....

 

Carlos is the man -- but I wouldn't follow his method of leaving the subframe just hanging there like that. Nor would I have the powersteering pump just dangling from the hoses.

I haven't personally taken this task on (thankfully) -- but I've been told more than anything its just time consuming not difficult.

I hope everything turns out okay -- awful that you were missing so many bits and pieces. Why would you leave bolts out -- it just seems so odd. I mean I guess if you lost them but the bell housing bolts should be pretty accessible.

 

I think I found a car dealer that was having a hard time finding staff. The sales lady that I spoke with mentioned when I bought the car that the transmission was new and only had 36K miles. I think it had been replaced by someone with little experience, and no sense of the right way to work on a car, much less a cooper. I took a chance buying this particular one, and knew from the beginning I would be breaking it down in some fashion. Just did it a bit sooner than I had expected. I'm building my parts list now for putting things back together. I've got outer ball joints, lower control arm bushings, rear main seal, crank position sensor O-ring, and all the hardware I have to come up with to replace the missing parts. I also need the heat shields for the header, and starter, and the dust shield for the transmission. I've not split the transmission yet, but my bet is seized bearings, due to lack of lubrication. It smells burnt. I'm sure the bearings are available, but I think I may go with a used unit with decent mileage, and factory LSD. I've see a couple in the $900 range, fairly low miles.

 

Today felt like victory. Back on the road, with a used tranny, all new ball joints, all new bushings, many parts replaced, and many lessons learned. I ended up with a non-LSD, since everyone that had their transmission listed as an LSD online - had to ask me how to tell if it was an actual LSD. Most used transmission on the east coast have broken slave cylinder mounts. There is a nice kit to repair this and make use of a damaged housing. I ended up using the images of the kit to make my own repair kit - was a bit pricey getting it from the UK and several are still listed on Ebay. Thanks for all the great information on the forum to keep me moving forward on the project. I took my time and enjoyed how nicely these cars are thought out. I went ahead and replaced the DM flywheel with a Valeo kit. The original FW was glazed like a crispy cream - and the new unit is very smooth. The only thing I'm still missing is the heat shield that mounts on the steering rack. Wasn't on the car during the disassemble, so I'll have to track one down or manufacture something comparable. It's great to be motoring again.

 

Congrats on the fix. I've made several of those bracket fixes like this:



One comment I have on your initial post in which you were considering replacing the cables and buying Powerflex bushings for the trans mount. Powerflex products are excellent, but as a general rule, putting tuner parts in a car to try to solve a broken factory part ends up in misery. You're better off fixing what's broken and then adding tuner parts once the problem is solved.

 

Great advise. Never want to confuse an existing issue with something that a new aftermarket component may generate. My main reason for the powerflex gearbox mount was that the PO didn't install the factory bushings back in the car. All that was there was the rubber center section - and I knew I was going down the mild tuner route.

 

Nice ending... congrats.

 

here is a link to the bracket that I used as a starting point.

http://orranje.co.uk/product/ftt-gea...ation-one-only