just trying to get a quick survey from those who have personally lost a midlands tranny on there cooper.

what was done to your car?

and how aggresively do you drive your car?

 

My synchros died on my car. I bought it used at 31,000 miles, so I can't say how it was driven before that. Majority (90%) of my driving is highway at a constant 70-75 mph.

 

I know quite a few on this forum have reported seal failures, (and other failures), with the Midland. Might be good to do a search for "Midland", The warranty on my 03 MC will be up soon and I was hoping maybe MINI would recall all the Midlands for at least a seal replacement. I've also wondered if tranny oil like Red Line or Royal Purple would be of any use in helping the Midland 5-speed last longer.

Mines OK but I only got 10,000 miles on my 03 MC.

 

1st to 2nd synchos... nursing it now around town.

3 AX seasons, countless track weekends, and 4 years of daily driving...

The tranny really started to go once I installed the ported/polished head, cam, and header, but it wasn't great before that.

 

I have a 44K on mine and so far have not had any problems other than grinding the gears once in a while.


Art

 

Yeah, ISELLEM...DO A SEARCH! What are you, new?!? Well, I only had a drivers side seal go a long time ago. 64K strong....and you know how I drive.

 

honestly... im more trying to take a survey of how many have actually had problems as opposed to people who just say that the trannys fail as heresay

 

Doing a search is likely to reveal those with actual problems more effectively than posting this subject one more time.......check it out, there aren't so many post that you can't filter out the ones that discuss actual problems.

I would also like to know how wide spread the problem really is...I would ASK-MINI, but I don't think I would learn much.

 

Mine went at 80k.

I have the software upgrade and all the simple bolt ons except for the head and cam.

 

hahaha... I asked MINI and they denied the problem. Said things that are said on the forums cannot be taken to account because it is all unconfirmed. So they denied my warranty request.

 

Mine failed at less than 20,000 miles. I don't drive crazily most of the time, but I made the mistake of driving over a weekend where the temp was below zero the entire time. Monday morning, on the way to work, crunch crunch...

That's what they would do if they had any integrity and wanted to be decent to their customers.

This is the one and only reason that I bought a 2005 MC to replace my '03. I figured I'd rather spend the money upgrading to a new car than drive around with a potential $3000 ticking time bomb after the warranty ran out. Now I'm glad I have the '05, because I don't like the '07s, and I'll have this one for longer.

 

If that is the tranny that is on the 02 MC mine went around 20,000 or 25,000. Luckily I didn't have to pay for the new one. By the way, are there any aftermarket trannys available?

 

The Midlands on my '03 Cooper with 44K is fine and dandy. I do think about it though.

My tranny has been checked for leaks by the dealer several times and so far so good...but then I do milk runs, that's about it.

 

i fully understand the use and function of a search engine... I just wanted to find out how many of you have actually lost your whole tranny... not a leak but a failure of the tranny . because i think some people post on here that no power can be added to the transmission or it will blow... when there have been a few people on here who have lost there trannies and they are stock... So it sounds like... no matter what you are going to loose the tranny regardless. But on the otherside of the coin I KNOW UKSUV, and i KNOW he drives the **** out of his car and has pretty high mileage... yet his tranny is just fine. So that is what made me curious as to find out how many of you are actually loosing trannys. as opposed to how many of you just say it can't be done.

 

so do you have a head and cam? if so how much power did you make? sorry i know its a little off topic

 

MINI Mania UK offers an upgraded Midlands unit with better synchros, some extra dowelling and a bit of welding for strength... We have one on the way for our monster Cooper, that we'll be installing sometime this Spring. While we're at it, I'll probably take the time to upgrade the seals, and we may install a Quaife LSD with the Quaife final drive. It's our understanding that the Quaife final drive is required to for use with the Quaife LSD - which sucks because that doubles the price...

I plan on using a UUC lightweight flywheel and Stage III clutch and pressure plate...

Oh - and with the polished ported head, Shrick cam, Milltek header, aFe CAI, Borla cat-back and MTH tuner file, we're putting down right at 140 whp and 135 ft/lbs. If we went a whole lot further, messing with an adjustable cam gear and some rolling road tests, adding in an electric water pump, stripping the A/C, etc., I'd wager we could get more - MINI Mania UK says they have a few Coopers running north of 170 bhp with that setup.

 

My whole tranny was replaced at about 75k. I heard noise, investigated, and discovered the reminants of a leak. I was told later, "By the time you 'hear' it, its gone."

I would agree this to be accurate. Tolerances between midlands may be tighter (or more loose..?) allowing some to survive longer. Also, I believe owners in warmer climates will have midlands last longer too.

I have not seen instances where the tranny went due to engine upgrades, so I feel there is not a problem with the tranny holding power in regards to the smaller mods availible.

The problem is the outdrive seal cracking, allowing fluid to be lost. An early catch will save you from destroying the tranny (requiring only the seals to be replaced). With services every 15k, you could definently destroy the midland between checks.

 

ahh ha! this is getting interesting! This is what i was trying to get to the bottom of. If what you say is true, than this would go against most people saying "don't do any mods to a midlands car because you will blow the tranny because it cant take the power" i have heard something to that effect several times on these boards and i just wanted to shed some light on the theory of the midlands transmission failures.

What is sounds like to me, and correct me if I am wrong as i do not have a lot of experiance or in depth knowledge about this particular transmission,(which is why i am asking and not preaching) is that if there was an updated/upgraded seal that wouldn't break down and leak, and it was installed, that preventative measure, could very well lead to midlands trannys to become much more reliable.

So it sounds like we have a seal failure not a powerfailure to blame more than anything? Is this correct? anyone else have anythoughts?

 

I agree that most of the failures I have read about here and on mini2 usually involve loss of fluid, often times associated with very cold weather. GBMiniGirl, though, describes syncros that went with no loss of fluid, so that is at least one that I know of that happened not due to seals failing. I think at some point I read a thread where it was stated that MINI eventually began using different (I am guessing better) seals, but I can't verify that at all. If this did happen, I would like to know when the new seals began to be used, as my car was among the last of the 2003's built. So far, 23,000 miles over 3 and half years, no issues yet (knock on wood).

Uprated tranny can be bought here:
http://www.minimaniauk.co.uk/web/Ite.../InvDetail.cfm

 

http://www.minimaniauk.co.uk/web/Ite.../InvDetail.cfm

 

I have everything EXCEPT for the head and cam.

 

That's what I thought too but when I spoke to Adam at Mini Mania UK, the bearings/seals are only part of the problem.

After all the bolt ons (plugs, wires, intake, throttle body, header, high flow cat, exhaust) I did the ECU. Car had a lot more punch. FINALLY! I finished my car! But then, on the same day I noticed under hard acceleration between 2500 rpm and 3000 rpm it started to make this "clunk, clunk, clunk sound" Eventually I lost drive in all gears. Turns out I lost drive on the differential wheel due to the outer rings seperating... I needed a new tranny. Doe... So I picked up the Mania gearbox, SPEC lightweight flywheel and stage 2 clutch.

 

On our test mule with our custom ported/polished head, Shrick cam, Milltek header, aFe CAI, Borla cat-back and MTH tuner file, we're putting down right at 140 whp and 135 ft/lbs. If we went a whole lot further, messing with an adjustable cam gear and some rolling road tests, adding in an electric water pump, stripping the A/C, etc., I'd wager we could get more - MINI Mania UK says they have a few Coopers running north of 170 bhp with that setup.

 

My Tranny blew at one year,cant remember mileage car was standard at that time and sinse have a Borla and a Pipercross intake,this tranny still works but humm sometimes has a change in feel,one interesting thing is i live in the tropics so it's not only a cold weather issue.Minimania recomends changing to Red Line oil but i cant get it here.

 

my transmission is fine, 2003, 3.5 years old, 19K miles. I drive it hard all the time, I have intake, exhaust.

Can the midlands be replaced with the newer transmission, or is it too different? The MiniManiaUK option is a good option, but by the time you ship, etc, price might be higher than other options for OEM transmissions here in the states picked up at the dealer.

This might be covered, but I searched the archives and could not come up with the right key words to answer my question.....