If its under warranty, demand a fix/replacement. Gears shouldn't be grinding under any condition. Linkage, synchronizers, clutch should be suspect. The exact circumstance of the grinding should point to a culprit.

 

Wow - what a story! I have been concerned about my tranny for some time now. All forward gears are fine, it is the reverse that I get a metal clunk sound (not gears scraping to find grip)- I always make a bad face trying to get it into reverse. Sometimes it is good and smooth, but about 60% of the time I get the metal clunk. Because I am careful when putting in reverse I depress the clutch as if I'm digging a hole into the floorboard. I have heard about some Atlanta owners that have had tranny replacements. I do have a short throw shifter on my 03 MC (build date of 10/02), but the dealership installed it for me. I have 41,000 on my Mini now and powertrain warranty runs out at 50K. Any ideas, is this reverse problem enough for me to stop driving it and have the dealership poke around in tranny area? I have a great Service Advisor so I confident that if I had a problem I'd be in good hands. I plan to keep my Mini for a long time and don't want this minor problem to escalate into a bad situation. Thanks in advance for your input!!! You guys are very helpful.

 

are you sure you arent just poping it in too fast? i know i do it alot when parking quickly (i back in everywhere) its just a quick slip and a grab sound.

try going forward, stop, wait about 15 seconds, then try to put it into reverse, you may just not be giving it enuff time to stop rotating. remember, all the gears are going from one direction, then trying to go to a dead stop, then going backwards, the same reason even with the clutch depressed, you cant pop it into reverse while moving forward.

also, reverse isnt synchronized.

 

Yes I do make sure I am at complete stop, got that habit from a psycho Mercedes I used to own - anyway, one situation is very evident is I park in a garage, start it up, wait, and slide gently into reverse and clunk - it makes me sick to hear it. I guess I will get them to check it out at MINI. All other times when I am going from a parking spot or going from a forward gear I will wait more - good point and see if there is a difference. Like I said before, sometimes it goes into Reverse like butter with no sound at all. Thanks for the input.