I didn't know Auto-RX made a trans cleaner. If the price of the filter was a little cheaper, I would have no objections to running cleaner through it and changing the filter a couple of times.

 

Wanted to jump back in here and say I have been very happy with the performance of the M1 synthetic universal ATF so far. The car has seen cold starts in negative deg weather and the tranny shifts the same way as it does in the summer (just a bit slammy in first 3 gears for a few miles). It offers great stability in a wide range of operating temps.
I'm glad I did not wait any longer to do the flush. At 70K or however many it had when I did it, the fluid was pretty spent.
Now I just gotta decide what I want to do about the supercharger, run it into the ground or do preventive maintenance on it as well.

Darth Cooper: would you mind opening a separate thread about your issue if you want us to investigate it further? Kinda taking this thread off-topic. Either way, a stalling automatic to me kinda says there's something going on in the torque converter.

 

I checked the transmission manual and the MINI and VW 09G versions of the Aisin take the same pan gasket (8 bolts). So it appears you can get the $20 one from www.bulkpart.com


The VW 09G filter- 05 is the same as the MINI from 06. I am not sure if the one at bulkpart will work as they list it for the 09M and 09G and in the manual the 09M filter is different. Note only the 09G-05 filter is the same. There are different versions called 09G-01 and 09G-02 and 09K-03.

It is the same Auto-Rx as in engines, it is just applied differently at a lower amount for transmissions.

I too have been very happy with the performance of M1 fluid since I have about 2/3 M1 in my car after two changes at 20,000 miles.

 

It's not a filter at all from what I could tell, but a strainer. Am I mistaken?
If it's a strainer, it's not worth the headache of replacing it when doing an ATF change and the tranny is working normal. I would drop the pan and replace the gasket and the strainer only if it's to diagnose strange behavior or the transmission is suspect of neglect and/or hard driving (meaning, you may want to clean the pan and such).

 

I stumbled on this thread and I want to thank you guys especially Fishbone for his efforts. It gave me the confidence to change the ATF in my 2006MCSA. I also got 2 1/2 US quarts out the first time. I bought a digital scale and am weighing the oil out and in as well to try and make sure I get the right amount in. I also had a long metric bolt of the same thread as the fill hole and drilled a 3/8 hole through it. Now I can screw it in and attach a funnel with a short piece of hose. Since I am now going to change the oil once a year it will be handy to have. Thanks again this a great site.

 

I also just wanted to thank everyone involved in this thread. If it wasn't for the time everyone here has put in researching and investigating I fear the fluid in my car would never had been changed. I will be attempting this in a few weeks with about 61,000 miles on my 05 MCSa. But again, a big THANKS to everyone involved in this!!

 

Suncoast Mini, do you know what thread/size etc that bolt is? I'd like to get myself one of those.

 

I just did the fluid change and for some reason, I got nearly 3 quarts from the very first drain. That's like half of all the fluid in there so I don't think I'm going to be doing a second fluid change tonight.

Other than that, everything went great thanks to Fishbone's wonderful instructions.

Just on a side note, I left the drained fluid (old) on the garage floor along with the new fluid to get 'em to the same temperature. Took about an hour or so but since same amount got out and got in, it's another way of measuring. just my 02 cents

 

That's an awful lot to get out, I'm almost suspecting it was overfilled but hey, your mileage may vary I tested my fluid level simply for peace of mind.

 

A big thanks for spearheading this research!

I didn't have the time or place to play around with changing my own fluid, so I had my local independent MINI shop do it for me after showing them this thread (they had never changed MCS tranny fluid before). After some deliberation they took it a step further and dropped the whole pan and then replaced the fluid with MINI OEM fluid (expensive stuff!). My MCS was at 46K miles, and removed fluid was in not bad condition, but getting to be a bit brown.

The transmission shifts so clean and crisp now, it feels like a brand new unit.

 

You should have taken the opportunity to upgrade to a much better fluid than oem :(

 

Just a comment / Thought. I've been looking at this page to determine how to best take care of mine ( 05 mcsa, 62K ). I changed the Fuel filter yesterday ( for the first time ) and it drives much better. All of this lifetime service life stuff is crap. I don't have any trans issues to complain about, and I'm going to do the service, but I wonder how much of the remaining driveability issues people talk about are due to fuel filters.

 

What is a better fluid than oem. The only one I am willing to try is the mobil 3309 ( not the mobil 1 ATF )

 

Mobil 1 ATF is superior to both OEM and 3309. It is synthetic and multi-vehicle, meaning it will meet the specs of Mini.
To keep it short, 3309 is more than likely oem, which is more than likely Toyota Type 4 ATF, Volvo OEM etc. Same fluid but the price varies wildly depending on which dealership you want to rape you. I've done exhaustive research on this topic because I did not want to gamble with my transmission either.
Mobil 1 synthetic has worked great for numerous Minis including my own. As long as the bottle still says it meets 3309 spec you are golden. It used to say this on the quarts when I bought it, I no longer see it listed.
Either way, the oem stuff is junk.
They define lifetime as the life of your warranty.
Mobil 1 ATF at least is guaranteed to last at least 50K miles under the severe driving conditions which I would think a Mini applies for sure. With the OEM stuff, your guess is as good as mine, I would not use it more than 30K miles. Ever.

 

Here is a thread I opened on Bob Is The Oil Guy a while ago
http://www.bobistheoilguy.com/forums...Number=1953832

Doesn't it bother you that the Toyota dealer will sell you a quart of the stuff for around 5 bucks, and Mini charges 30? Such is life.

Doing a drain and fill is a golden opportunity to switch to a higher quality ATF which will last longer.
Putting OEM stuff in is "safe" but you're back to having to do it again in short order, if you truly care about the long-term being of the tranny.
Much of a pain in the *** as it is to do a full drain and fill, any synthetic that can last a while and works is a Godsend.

Later edit: here's some nice proof, courtesy of Mazda, that the fluids are the same.

The Mobil 1 synthetic ATF no longer lists JWS 3309. I will contact Mobil 1 and ask them.

 

Running a 2008 Mini S automatic . . . accidentally let out transfluid instead of engine on doing my first oil change! Let about a liter out . . . measured it from the catch pan.

Found a little trick to help get the top transmission fill bolt on and off easy. You can get a ratchet in there!

A small ratchet . . .

Got my 3/8 T-55 torx socket out, put a 1/4 to 3/8 ratchet adapter into the torx socket, then used a 6" 1/4 ratchet wrench . . . fit down in under everything great. Easily broke the bolt loose, took out, and tighten the bolt back down with the ratchet . . . one click at a time.

A lot easier than trying to use an open ended box wrenth to try to turn the torx socket left and right. Also, made it able to put downforce on the bolt when tightening.

I know this is a gen 1 thread; but wehn asking in gen 2 forum, everybody points to this thread.

Out to be a sticky in both gen 1 and gen 2 areas!

 

If all the fluid is not drained, why would you mix the two ?

The whole system takes like what ? 6 Litres ?

If you drop just half that and add your synthetic now you have a 50/50 mix ?

 

It is impossible to drain all the fluid from an automatic trans. because it will not drain from the torque converter. Mobil 1 or any approved synthetic ATF will blend with what is left with no issues. It holds about 6.5 quarts. You can only drain 2 to 2 1/2 quarts at a time. You need to do at least two drain and fills so have you over 50% synthetic/new fluid. If you do 3 drain and fills you will have replaced 85% of the fluid. That is how Honda advised replacing the fluid on my 1992 Civic and stated what the end results would be. You cannot flush the MINI trans as there are no cooler lines. It may be possible to do a fluish with a Trans Tech machine but you have to drop the pan then hope they have or make the fittings to connect it to the trans. And find someone willing to try it. I have no idea of that actual cost but would guess at least $150.

You need to find old stock Mobil 1 ATF that states it is Toyota T-IV approved as that meets MINI specs. The new Mobil 1 no longer makes that claim. I found some old stock at the local Advanced Auto on Saturday, so it is still out there, I cleaned out the last of their supply. However, Redline (D4 I think) or Amsoil or Royal Purple or Schaefers synthetics will all work just fine.

 

So a few weeks ago I was visiting my trusted independent mechanic and asked him about doing an ATF change. (Yes, I realize it's easy enough to do yourself if you have the wherewithal, but....) He in turn referred me to my "local" (2 hours' drive) MINI dealer....

The dealer had given me an estimate of 4 hours and $400 for the job... but when I got there, it turns out they forgot I had an "S" (I've been there a few times previously, mind you) and gave me the old "it's lifetime fluid, so you don't really need to do this" line.

I persisted and am glad I did!

However, since this was the first ATF drain/fill the dealer had ever done, they only had 1 quart of MINI ATF on hand! What to do???

Well, thanks to NAM and a very helpful MINI parts rep (you know who you are ), a phone call or two to a nearby Toyota dealer turned up the requisite amount of T-IV.

Total bill was for ~$290 and I was back on the road almost exactly 4 hours later... bearing in mind that a good chunk of that time was spent tracking down the Toyota ATF.

I have to say that I didn't think my transmission was too bad beforehand, but wow... what a difference the drain/fill makes!!!! It felt like a brand new car driving home from the dealer -- much sharper and better-timed shifts; what a world of difference! THIS is how the transmission should feel!

If you have *any* sort of significant mileage on your R53 or R56 automatic transmission (I'm at 60k, myself), I highly recommend having this service; you won't be disappointed!!

 

hey quick question because I'm going to the the drain/fill on my 05 mcs and i was wondering which oil you used and how much was it so the dealer wont try to charge me super expensive for their oil

 

MINI got some Toyota T-IV from a nearby Toyota dealer; I was charged $5.65/qt

 

All JWS-3309 ATF is made by Mobil. It is then sold and bottled under many other names such as Toyota T-IV, the MINI version, the Mazda version, the Ford version, the Volvo version and the VW version. What they all have in common is that these manufacturers all use Aisin (a Japanese company) supplied automatic transmissions and the fluid is for those transmissions. Aisin is wholly or partially owned by Toyota and is their exclusive automatic transmission supplier. From reading at Bobistheoilguy.com I learned that Toyota T-IV is basically Dexron III with more adiditives for a longer change interval. It is nothing special. That is why so many multi-vehicle ATF's and synthetic ATF's are compatible.

In 2010 VW had so many failures in their Aisin 6 speed automatic transmissions (same trans model as is in the MINI) using T-IV (JWS-3309) as it was originally specified as a lifetime fill by them, same as MINI, that they came out with an emergency service bulletin which they sent to all owners and dealers telling them to change the fluid every 40,000 miles. Unfortunately for us the MINI version of the same Aisin transmission does not have the VW's easy access drain and fill ports!

 

This weekend is the big day for my first the ATF change! Wish me luck. I bought Redline d4, i'm looking forward to see the difference in performance.
I'm curious if at the dealer they are just doing a simple drain and fill or if they are actually draining out all 6.5 quarts of fluid. Has anyone actually watched the dealer do it? and if so what method do they use?

 

Unfortunately I didn't watch -- I really wanted to see how the old stuff looked -- but they only used 4 quarts of ATF, so it seems likely to have been a drain/fill rather than a true flush.

Vast improvement in any event!

 

I have done it twice to my car and you can only drain 2 to 2.5 quarts out at a time. The rest of the fluid is inside the torque converter. The trans has to be running to drain it. That is how flush machines work. However I doubt the dealer will do that as the MINI requires you to drop the pan and attach a flush machine to the fluid pick up inside the trans. Only a few flush machines operate that way and you won't find that model at Jiffy Lube, I think it is made by Trans-Tech or T-Tech.