Interesting. Does the MCS have magnetic plugs? I didn't get any fillings on the plugs when I changed mine.

 

I didn't see any filings on my '06 MCS either. The transmissions were made by completely different companies, so it's distinctly possible that we don't have 'em.

The filings on the '03 MC were hard to miss, though. It freaked me out a bit until someone suggested feeling them and, as soon as you touched 'em, they disintegrated into a fine paste.

 

+1

 

Thanx for the great write up! Very helpful indeed.

Since we are on the subject of tranny fluids, does anyone know if the Redline MTL is also good for just a standard MCS 6-sp w/o LSD? Or is there something better to use?

 

Well I changed my fluids out last night thanx to this post. I used Royal Purple Max Gear 75w90. With all of the help, it only took about 45 minutes. New oil went it real easy with the use of the 3/8" hose. Only thing I did different was route the hose up from the bottom, instead of the top.

When done, I went out and motored for about 30 mins to test out the new stuff. A very nice improvement indeed. Not that there was anything wrong to begin with, but still a noticable improvement. I think the biggest difference I felt was the gates almost felt slicker, making the 2-3 and 4-5 shift very smooth.

Again great write up, thanx!

 

I'm not saying that there aren't torx plugs on one of the MINI transmissions, but I've never seen 'em. My '06 MCS required a 8mm hex insert and the '03 MC was a standard metric bolt.

 

I know a couple of others here locally who have used the Royal Purple oil as well, but someone (maybe posted in this thread, above, or it might have been on my local board, www.metroplexmini.org) spent some time on the phone with RP and Redline and RP said that they didn't have a product out yet that matched the BMW spec perfectly. The Redline MTL product does match it (both with and without LSD) just fine.

The guys I know ran the RP hard... track and auto-X... with no problem.

 

The plugs were always 8mm on MCS...

The same fluid that was reccomended of the LSD can be used in the non-LSD trans. If fact changing the fluid of a LSD trans that groans can be solved by switching the the standard MINI non-LSD fluid. That in conjunction with going in very tight circles to the left and right ten times will quiet them down.

The same fluid can be used in all the MC and MCS trans regardless of the type as long as it is a Manual trans.

 

...I'm confused, which isn't hard to do

I'm holding an OEM LSD in my hand and it seams to have only gears, no clutches, etc... I'm not clear on why this would be characterized as a friction type LSD. it looks sort of like this inside )_( it has 2 gears with a shaft that has gears on both ends. And that shaft would appear to mechanically synchronize the larger gears thereby not allowing either drive shaft to spin independently???

 

I believe the small gears you are describing are the spider gears found in every open differential. A great animation of how those work can be found here. A regular clutch type friction LSD essentially stuffs springs and clutch plates between the side gears to resist their turning at different speeds, but an Auburn type friction diff hides the clutch surfaces on the edges of the side gears themselves. The cone-shaped side gears and diff case itself are the only friction surfaces (no clutch plates at all), and that's why this type of LSD is generally not rebuildable. But it is well known for smooth and progressive LSD action, which is exactly what's needed for a front axle. The cutaway photo of the GKN version shows the friction surfaces pretty clearly, and adding a little friction modifier (or using fluid that contains it already) when following agranger's excellent instructions should prevent this sort of diff from making those embarassing groaning or chattering noises.

Unlike the limited slips mentioned above, which are clearly lightly modified open diffs, the Quaife and Torsen look completely different inside with all those worm gears.

 

Thank you. Thank you. Now I understand what I'm looking at. Next step I need to figure out how to get the LSD from sitting on my bench to intalled in my car.

 

I just changed out my tranny fluid today on my 04 MCS with 45K on the clock.

I had a bit of a hard time with the stupid skid plate from Moss (heavy steel one) and the bolts were just shot (6mm allen - why frick do people use these stupid bolt heads???) so I had to take the car to a local shop to have them saw off the bolts (which reminds me, I need to get a compressor now with some serious power tools).

I used Redline MTL and had no issues whatsover with the install otherwise. Used 3/8 ID fuel line hose I had lying around (around 2 feet) and found the fill and drain plugs very easily. Used an 8mm allen socket and did indeed have to use a bit of force to loosen them at first.

After a spirited test drive I'm really happy with the results - as others have pointed out, much smoother shifting in general.

I have the Helix short shifter, which really makes shifter a lot stiffer from factory since you're putting pressure on the cables by extending the length of the stock shifter shaft and putting Redline MTL in has definitely made it easier to shift.

Going to do the same for my 06 MCS with LSD just as soon as my wife isn't looking. Heh heh.

Also I initially jacked the car up onto jackstands because I was trying to get the damn skid plate off....but this is not necessary. I have a set of low profile Rhino ramps and there was plenty of room to work with.

And no need to take off the wheel (on the MCS) since the bolts point towards the passenger side.

Thanks Agranger for the great write up.

 

The tranny does have a magnetic ring in it. When I took my tranny apart to install the Quaife I took it out and cleaned it. It had some filings on it but nothing to worry about.

daniel

 

One thing not mentioned in the "instructions post" is the fact that the car should be level when refilling the gearbox. If is is not level then the fluid level will not be correct !

 

Exactly. Make sure your off the ramps or jackstands when your filling it back up. It's a tight squeeze but I was able to reach under there and put the hose in the fill hole with the MINI on the ground.

 

Did you just reach down the same way to replace the fill plug?

 

Yeah, once the fluid is full and it begins flowing out of the fill hole, just take the hose out and put the bolt back in. I was able to do it by reaching under the car. I don't think there is enough room to reach down from the top.