Myself and one other person in my production week (27) have a "defect" in our first gear. She's getting her transmission replaced. I'm still waiting to hear back on the ok to replace mine.

I was just wondering if anyone else in other production weeks have had issues too.

 

5 speed? 6 speed?

 

Yah MC or MCS? Manual trans I take it.

 

Both, believe it or not.

 

O.K., I'll be the dentist....What is the "defect"?

 

I believe I'm production week 26. I have trouble getting my MINI cabrio into reverse. I have to be very 'assertive', and about half the time I get that awful noise that tells me I'm not in gear, and have to try again. I've been driving stick for over 20 years. I just fired off a message to my service manager to see if I can bring Perdita in for a checkup. Should I be concerned?

 

I don't know specifically what the "defect" is, just that two of us have it in our first gears. It's hard to put into first from neutral (not 2nd or any other gear) like something's blocking it and then, the more stop and go situations you are in, it starts making a crunching noise.

 

Definitely get it checked out. But until then, so that you may avoid potential damage to your gears:

To put your gear into reverse (or into first for others), try double clutching:

1) Put into neutral and let off the clutch
2) Rev your engine up to between 2K and 3K RPM
3) Clutch in right away and carefully put gear into reverse (or first) while the tach needle falls back to idle

This may help you avoid the mechanical crunching that you just know ain't so good. I gather you'll need to drive your car until this is checked out.

Good luck.

-

 

I think everyone has trouble at times getting it into reverse. It's one of those Mini quirks. My solution has been to put it into reverse and leave it there when parking. Works fine when I start it.

 

Or... before U put in reverse, put it into first, let out the clutch just enough that the car will move forward slightly, then it should slip into R no problem. This happens to all manual transmissions at sometime or another.

 

My 2006 MCSa was just towed to Cincinnati Mini with what appears to be a blown transmission. I was sitting at a stoplight next to a Nissan dealership and when the light turned green, no gear. When I tried to put it in park or reverse, grinding. No mods, 6900 miles pretty much all highway. We got the car the end of June 2006.

I thought my husband was going to stroke out. It is, of course, under warranty but it's disheartening to think that it's just random, no specific cause. We are still waiting to hear from the dealership as to what they think happened.

 

Just talked to Cincinnati Mini - they said that the transmisson axle was broken in half. He said the service guys had never seen anything like it and as best they could tell the part was defective. They have never had to replace an automatic transmission in an 06. Lucky me!

 

There was a handful of MCSa(s) with this problem in mid 05. I was freaking out for a while

 

Update: I got word yesterday that MINI is putting a new tranny in Mary....at 2,600 miles. Hopefully no more tranny problems after this!

 

Ok, not be insulting, but before shifting into reverse, or from reverse to 1st.... make sure the car is at a complete stop!

I've told my wife a few times that she'll be buying a new tranny soon if she doesn't come to a stop before trying to shift.

 

I thought they were supposed to be better than British Midland and a great performance tranny company all around? So, why the heck do they keep sending out defective transmissions?! My first one that came on my car: defective, replaced at 2,600 miles. The one they sent "brand-new, straight from the factory": defective, on my car for less than a day. Do the workers over there need a pay-rise or something?

Out of curiousity, I ask my SA who's making the trannies on the 07s (worst case senario) and she says, "Getrag." :impatient

What do I do if the 3rd tranny is crap too?

 

I'd call it a lemon and demand a new car, course that's just me. I don't know if whether I'd trust a third replacement for a transmission issue. I realize even new parts have failure rates, but who is to say that you get this problem fixed and a few years later you run into bigger problems, especially when they aren't covered by the warranty. Whatever the case, I do hope you are able to get it resolved to your satisfaction.

GotMINI

 

Well I think that may depend on the laws on Lemon laws in your state

 

But, even if I get a new car (which the current one is), it's still going to have a Getrag tranny...which is what keeps coming up defective.

 

I've just been told they've decided to replace the clutch as well. Keeps getting better and better. Actually, that IS better. I never liked the feel of the clutch. It was so mushy.

 

hehe... at the rate you are going, they will probably suspect the whole drivetrain and start replacing everything under the bonnet! I'm not so sure about your whole fiasco, but I think the Getrag transmission is a great unit. I run my MINI fairly hard almost on a daily basis with a lot of chirps between shifts and I haven't had any sort of inclination that the transmission is causing me problems. Not to mention, my 2k3 MCS is steadily approaching 48k miles (purchased used at 36k miles last year). The only concern I would have with your car is the fact you bought it new and nobody should have to deal with service work on a brand new car, unless it's for modding! In any regards, here's hoping things get resolved in a timely fashion.

GotMINI

 

Oh, I thought you meant these trannies:




But really, best of luck with it, I know how frustrating it can be. I had a transmission replacement on a bimmer (5 speed) that required a second replacement and a clutch too, the good news is that it was completely fixed after that. There was a TSB on that issue and it covered quite a few models that had that transmission, I wonder if there is a TSB on this one? It is a different part though- it would be sad if it was a similar issue with the shift pin after already having dealt with it a couple of years ago.

 

yeah im having some serious issues with my Getrag transmission. It grinds almost every time i put it into 3rd and 5th gear. Its really making me mad and i dont know what to do. Oh, and cold weather amlpifies the problem 1000x over again. I cant even get it in gear in the morning. I have to make sure i leave it in gear when i turn the car off. When the car warms up it seems ok but it still grinds something fierce in 3rd and 5th. Im starting to think im done with manual transmissions. They all seem to suck nowadays. I want the next cooper s to have a paddle shift.

 

How old is your car?