The first time it happened, I was like "Oops, maybe I didn't have it all the way in gear"... the second time I was like ok I know I had it in gear, I was moving, like 5/10mph...and now it seems like it does it on a weekly basis, only in 1st gear. I was leaving work yesterday moved about 10ft in 1st gear, pops out of gear really hard, the shifter slings back in neutral really hard, I'm still in the parking lot lol. About a week ago it, it did it twice, back to back, when I tried taking off from a stop light (taking off as in casually driving) and of course there were people behind me and it seriously pissed me off. Anyone else have this issue? I plan on having Mini look at it when I get my first oil change, because it's happening often, and I've been driving a manual for oh, 6/7 years now, so.

 

Could be first gear synchro going bad.
Could be a shift cable or bent fork, but would expect it to happen
on more than one gear in that case.

 

It is under warranty...
There are a few threads of folks getting a new tranny in the "f" series cars due to this...
Tell the dealer what is happening, and it is getting worse....

 

Post #56 here says that the dealership replaced his transmission. Seems like a lot of people with this similar issue. Definitely reach out to your dealer.

-Luccia

 

My 2014 MCS was doing the same thing, the dealer could not reproduce the problem but at my urging the dealer called Mini and they told the dealer to replace the shift tower. It took the dealer 1 week to get the part and about 2 hours to replace. It seemed to solve the problem; at 4000 miles later and the tranny has not popped out first. Also since the repair there is a more pronounced detent when shifting into 1st.
I presume Mini is aware of the problem due to their quick solution; I am surprised they have not done a voluntary recall to inspect the part since the car popping out of 1st could lead to a potentially dangerous event.

 

Yeah dealership time for sure. It's been noted here a handful of times, on the 2014 models. Don't take no for an answer, and no "firmware update" is gonna fix it either.

 

That's what was wrong with my 2014S ....new transmission was in the shop for over 40 days and 3 days back the wiring harness shorted out from improper installation. Then about a month after short in the headlights once again because of improper installation of the new transmission.

All I can say is good luck. ...needless to say I don't go to that dealer for service anymore.

 

Just brought my 2015 mini cooper s in for same issue. The service tech said there is a service bulletin on the issue, and has ordered a part (mentioned something about a bolt on top of tranny. Part will be delivered in about a week. Hope it will be fixed. Also, had a really moldy smell in my a/c. Tech said there is a service bulletin on that too... new evaporator ordered. Otherwise, love the car.

 

 

I had this problem from day 6 on my 2014 MCS (back in April '14). At 4000km they replaced the gearbox. The new fix is that they change a linkage that has caused the problem. Just takes a few hours I think. It's a well documented problem and your deaer will fix it and you shouldn't even have to "prove" that it happens.

 

The dealer has ordered the parts for the linkage for as per the service bulletin. I'm hopeful that this will resolve the problem.

 

Dealer replaced the entire tower, or so they said. Haven't had the issue since.

 

Dealer replaced tower as well. No further problems for several weeks. Has nothing to do w synchros as suggested above. It is a service bulletin issue w an engineered solution with shift crown.

 

Good to hear there was a reasonable fix for both of you.

 

This seemed to be a problem for me the first few weeks I had my 2015 MCS. I had to take the car in (bought it used, 11K miles) for an unrelated warranty issue and asked the dealer about it. It popped out of first four times one day, and another few times the next day or two after. In retrospect, I think it was due to the shifter not slotting completely into first gear every now and then, a situation accentuated by my newness to the car and its habits. There is a tendency - in my car anyway - for the shifter and first gear to be slightly out of alignment every now and then (it doesn't happen a lot). I've developed enough muscle memory with the car now to know when the shifter hasn't moved far enough forward when putting the car into first; a little jiggle, and it slots fully into place. So, a little more attention to detail in that one shifting pattern, and it's not happened since. Is the transmission a little loose and knocky? Maybe so. I've never encountered this issue in a manual transmission before. Glad I was able to eliminate it just in how I shifted the car. My dealer, by the way, hadn't encountered this before and wasn't able to replicate the problem.