Hello All, I have read some great articles in this forum and trying to get educated on my daughters non-S Cooper.

Her car has 120K on it, needs another two years to finish college with it. The CVT flipped a fault code for the Clutch Solenoid in the trans. I did some research and found this was a common problem and removed the engine and trans to dig into it. I wanted to freshen up the wear items on the engine (water pump, thermostat, hoses etc while I was working on the trans). Spoke with European Transmissions in Georgia, and found out the clutch solenoid was on the valve body and pretty easy to replace. I also replaced the metal CVT belt and filter too and re-installed. The car ran fine at speed but seemed to be stuck in a higher ratio while creeping up from a dead stop. Car shutters and then finally goes. European Transmission said you MUST re-adapt the transmission through the software so i took it in to a local shop for just that. These local guys were idiots and said they couldn't perform the re-adapt. Now the car runs 5,000 RPM at all speeds, much worse than before. The shop wouldn't even loan me a guess on the diagnostics....

What is the symptoms of a failed valve body stepper motor..? Does it always show a code when failed. How to diagnose...? I understand it performs many functions but basically tales the place of the torque converter (which a CVT doesn't have). Please advise.

 

Sorry, I can't offer much advice on your issue, but I am very surprised you casually mentioned replacing the metal CVT belt. How did you do so? Where did you buy the parts and where did you get instructions?

As i'm sure you know, the CVT belt is weak link in the transmission and it'd be great to know how to replace for those who are brave enough to do it.