I'm sure everyone has a favored brand. The important thing is to make sure it is JWS 3309 compliant. It will state it on the packaging. If not then don't use it!

 

Gents, don't make this 2 hard. Buy the Flotool Super Multi-Purpose Funnel™ Part # 10715 at Advance Auto Parts for $3.49. The opening is the EXACT size as the fill plug. You just screw/mash the funnel in tight, and pour. A quart goes in in 3 minutes with the standpipe and bottom plug in. It helps to clear some space by removing the CAI (or air filter housing) first. I have used Valvoline MaxLife with no prob, but I ended up eventually replacing with Royal Purple because it's better. I figure why go cheap. A new tranny runs 7-11K so spend a few bucks on good fluid. My Mini was horse excrement until I did the fluid change. I now have 106K and just took out a 5.7 Hemi Challenger today, so I feel like she's got her legs back...

 

jared at pelican parts, I feel that your procedure is overly complicated and should only be performed on a vehicle with either a lot of miles or a transmission behaving badly.
I agree that the temperature part is important but if you put in exactly what you drained out, you can skip all the temp related steps and just check the level at the end. It saves a lot of time and some money. Everyone I have talked to stressed that the internal filter is actually more like a strainer and you can get away with not changing it. Even transmissions with serviceable filters, such as my Subaru, will usually say lifetime and non-searviceable (and in this aspect it really is applicable ). If the tranny is producing debris in a large enough quantity to clog a filter, then the transmission is more than likely shot and you have bigger problems on your hands. The filter for my Subaru looks identical to an oil filter and is somewhat easily accessible behind the battery. At 90K miles when I pulled and cut it open, it looked brand new.
That said, once I got my Mini over 100K miles and it was time for another fluid change, I would more than likely do the full procedure like you described, dropping the pan and replacing the strainer and the gasket.

 

I'm not sure if anyone has replied to an earlier post in this string but; Toyota T-IV was a recommended ATF replacement for the JWS3309. I found the Valvoline Max Life that's got the Toyota spec listed on the bottle. Before I go ahead and star a 4-time drain/fill process (to hopefully eliminate my 3-4th tranny skip-120k b4 u ask...) does anyone have experience with Max Life in a 6-speed auto MINI (Aisin) tranny?

 

Thanks to all have posted on this thread. You have helped save me a lot of $. I have been having the same shifting issues that everyone here has discussed. I have done two changes and she is much improved and will be doing the 3rd and 4th change in subsequent days and expect her to have her legs back. I am using the Red Line D4 ATF and the VW gasket that is discussed earlier does fit the mini drain pan and is infinitely cheaper than the mini gasket.

Make sure that you get the funnel seated in to the fill plug or you have a mess that is hard to get cleaned up. I will be doing this every 30,000 miles to keep my girl shifting like butter. She has 75k on her right now and am glad I can put a lot more miles on her without having to pony up $3,500 for a used tranny or $8,000 for a new one. That is a whole lot of ATF fluid changes. It seems like the default response even from an independent Mini mechanic is you need a new tranny. I told the mechanic that looked at it that I would be changing the fluid to fix it and he said that he didn't think it would work. He said he never heard of that helping. Well you can believe he will be hearing about it from me.

Thanks to all for the great info.

 

Paulnmoore, if it says it is compatible with Toyota T-IV then it is safe to use. I think some at the bobistheoilguy.com forums have used it with no problem. You can search their transmission fluid threads for T-IV, Aisin or Toyota as many have switched to other fluids from T-IV. However, is the Valvoline synthetic or part synthetic? If not then it has no advantage over T-IV and probably costs the same. I would lean toward a synthetic replacement fluid.

I am on a schedule of 2 drain and fills a week apart every 20,000 miles. Just did one this weekend with old stock Mobil 1 that is T-IV compatible.

 

I'm about to start my first drain/fill and also replacing the screen/filter. Mentioned a few times in this thread is that you need to drop the front subframe to access the pan bolts. I see this now but; how do you drop the subframe? Does anyone have a diagram or photos? HELP!!! I'm kind of stuck right now; tools in hand!!

 

Since you are doing multiple drain fills and are starting the first one, I would skip the filter part for now and do it on the second or third change once you learn the procedure to drop the subframe. That way you can get benefits of the fresh fluid. The filter is nothing more than a window screen type mesh that filters out large objects, odds are it is fine anyway. If you drop the subframe you may need an alignment afterward. Usually it involves unbolting the struts from the top, then some other bolts that hold the subframe to the body so it may be lowered. I hope you only have to loosen it a bit to make room and not unbolt it completely. That is a lot of weight and you have to be careful. You may need a repair manual. Haynes may make one for the first gen. I have a second gen but am here because they have the same transmission.

 

After one drain/fill, did anyone experience worse shifting than before? Did my first yesterday; now it skips between 1 & 2 and 2 & 3. My original issue was only between 3 & 4. Have I opened a huge can of worms?

 

Sometimes that happens, but your tranny was already known to have issues. If your old fluid was totally shot, like brown and burnt smelling, the new fluid can stir things up. I would quickly do a few more drain and fills and hope it stabilizes.

Also the computer can take a while to adjust to the new fluid. I recall the valve bodies on these transmissions were the main problem but they are not that difficult to replace. I have the transmission manual and will try to look at it tonight. Maybe Jared at Pelican has some insight.

It could be your tranny is shot after 7 years and 120,000 miles. It happens. Even without the fluid change it would eventually probably start skipping on all gears.

 

Just completed drain/ fill #2. Now I'm out test driving. First 5 minutes (warming up), she jumped all over the place. After getting up to temp: I have a noticeable difference. My guess is it's 50% better than before the first drain/fill.
I'm going to do some miles then: drain/fill #3 tomorrow. I'll post another update then.

 

I will add that when I dropped the pan on my transmission, I didn't drop the subframe. I took the nut off the top left motormount, removed the bolt from the bottom motor mount and removed the clip holding the upper radiator hose to the intake manifold. All you need to do is jack up the left side of the motor about one inch, that'll give you room to remove the screws obscured by the subframe.

 

Fishbone, Jared @ Pelican, Darth et al

To you guys that had the pan off the bottom of the trans, does it look like you would be able to drop the "valve body" w/o dropping the subframe?

I just had the trans issues diagnosed at the dealer and they have seen that on a few cars recently. They say that the Valve Body goes bad over time. You notice it particularly when the oil is hot.

 

Guys, great write-up. Just did the procedure myself and it is already smoother after the first 2.5 quarts. Mobile 1 ATF. Thanks for the pics and info. Can't wait till the second pass.

-Rhali

 

I'm happy for u that one drain/fill has helped your tranny. I've done two in the past week and......it's actually worse. When starting from cold: it jumps all over the place from 1 to 2 to 3. Its almost undriveable until she's warmed up a little. My initial issue (3 to 4) is about 50% better but, as I said, I now have other problems. Could the new issue be that the computer hasn't had time to re-map? One more point: when cold & reversing out of my garage (yes, she's pampered), it drives like a stick riding the clutch. The reversing issue is also new. Anymore insight will be appreciated.

 

Darth: any chance you could post a few photos showing which nuts/bolts/clips you removed to lift the tranny enough to remove the pan? Anything may help with my increasing frustration!!

 

I'll see what I can do, but given that it was 22 degrees this morning and not much chance of it getting a lot warmer, I don't know how quickly it'll get done. However, the 2 motor mounts are easy to figure out. One is the hydraulic one on the top left side of the motor, just take the nut off the top. The bottom motor mount is on the back side of the motor with 2 bolts holding it in place. The clip holding the upper radiator hose is front and center, if you follow the hose from the radiator to the engine block, I guarantee you'll encounter that bracket. When you loosen those 3 items, just put a jack under the passenger side of the engine and slowly lift. When the engine is up about 1 inch, you'll have access to the obscured transmission pan bolts.

This process is very similar to the initial steps on how you change the supercharger pulleys.

 

paulnmoore, remember that the TCU (transmission control module) is a learning entity. It learns your driving habits and alters shifting based on, well, how the transmission actually shifts hardware-wise when software tells it to do so. On the old fluid, which was sheared to heck and out of spec, it had to change shifting patterns. Give it a bit of time and see if it is re-learning and getting better, hopefully. After my ATF change the tranny was shifting a bit too smooth for my liking, almost riding gears. After a few driving cycles, it firmed up.

I have read that, for the reverse issue, it might help if you drop it in Reverse and hold it there like that with the foot on the brake and/or the parking brake pulled. What this does is it routes fluid through the passages and hopefully helps clean/recalibrate the actuators. It's worth a shot.
How long is the delay from when you go from Neutral to either Drive or Reverse and you feel the transmission engaging? If it is longer than 2 seconds, you might truly have a defective valve body on your hands.

I did not drop the pan, nor do I think that is necessary to do when draining the ATF on a properly functioning transmission.

 

Why is it that all the online places that sell the crush washer for the drain plug charge under $2 for it but want like $5 or $10 for shipping. SO frustrating. I still want to replace mine for good measure.

 

Nissan/Infiniti 3.5 litre engine oil drain pan washers fit our automatic transmission. They are very nicely designed but strange looking copper washers that have a ridge or bend that is designed to crush when tightened. I had a G35 coupe before the MINI and had a bunch of these laying around. It fits perfectly on the tranny drain bolt. I think the cost was between 1 or 2 dollars each and I got a discount for buying 12 at a time from the Nissan dealer. Just tell them you have a 2005 Maxima or whatever, they use the 3.5 in half their vehicles.

 

Hey guys, I have been reading through these posts and my Mini is having the same shifting problems. I asked my mechanic if he would do a trans flush for me and they said no, that doesn't need to be done. I have a bit over 98000 miles on her and I want to get this done. Anyone know a good mechanic in the San Diego Ca area??

Thanks!

 

No, but you cannot flush this transmission. All you can do is drain and refill it a few times. The trans is considered sealed by MINI and it may be difficult to find someone to do this. I would go to http://www.cartalk.com/content/mechanics-files as a first step, then see if there are any local MINI clubs who have advice or could help you do it.

 

SuzAndretti, if you want to find a mechanic to do this, you should print this entire thread including photos to show the mechanic how to proceed. It is not something he could easily figure out, especially identifying the fill hole and the procedure to get the fill hole bolt loose.

 

Thanks for the info, I will print this and go from there!

 

I was experiencing the same shifting issues. Once the trans was warmed up, it would slip between 3rd and 4th gears, rpms shot up, then finally it would catch and clunk into gear and drive fine. I thought for sure my trans was toast. I had a tech in my shop do the drain and fill twice yesterday. Man what a difference!! Nice smooth shifts. I did ask what color the fluid was and he said really black. This after only 38K on an '06 MCSa. I am now going to have this done every 20 to 30k miles. I ended up using Royal Purple MAX ATF. Again, all I can say is What A Difference!