Driving to work today, and the display on my '04 CVT changed to "EP" where the gear indicator usually is. The owners manual states that this is some sort of electronic transmission issue. Has anyone else experienced this? How serious is it? I just hope that, whatever it is, it's not very costly...I'm broke...help!

 

Eh *****! But I'm not sure. Is it driving OK? Is it still doing it or is it intermittant?

Matt

 

So far, it seems to drive just fine in automatic mode, but I haven't tried "manumatic" mode yet.

Also, I realize this isn't exactly a "modification"...so Mods, feel free to move this to the appropriate forum if necessary, thanks!

 

Update: The display is back to normal, reading "D" in drive, "R" in reverse, 1,2,3,4,5,6, etc. Very odd.

 

I don't know what it means, but after I had Jan tune my 05 MCSa, it read EP on the display until I restarted the car a second time. Had anything done to your ECU recently?

 

There were some issues with Brake switches and also the Park/Reverse switch on the bottom of the trans on the CVT. The P/R switch is in a bad spot subject to corrosion. It is located on the trans at the bottom near the subframe. It has 4 wires, 2 for the reverse light switch and 2 for the P/N. The switch is made by Volvo and is MINI P#24357518731

 

EP i thought was the indicator that the tranny was going into limp mode giving you just enough time to get to the dealer. normally in EP you can't go over a certain speed. i would monitor it and then if it happens again- take it to a mechanic who knows the tranny's.

 

hey -
i had the same problem with the "EP" thing and i took it to the dealer b/c everytime i started my car it wouldn't up shift. after i got the car back they told me it was a faulty transmission sensor and/or the transmission sensor wasn't mounted correctly. after two more visits because it happened again they swapped out the sensor and the shifter unit. 10 days later and no EP.

hope this helps

 

Having the exact same symptoms now, although pretty intermittently. How much did the repairs end up costing? I thought complete failure of the transmission was imminently approaching the near future, but perhaps its really just a sensor as you're mentioning.

 

For those who might have this problem intermittently: when the "EP" disappears back to your normal "D," etc., a code is not stored in the computer.

I took my car into the dealer after having "EP" show up intermittently, hoping they might be able to pinpoint if it was a sensor going bad as mentioned above. They came back and said, "oh, good news - nothing's wrong with your transmission - you just need a new O2 sensor!" SES was throwing a P0130 code which I already knew about.

So, they'll only be able to diagnose it if "EP" is on when you bring it in to them...$125 lesson learned.

 

So, if the issue is this switch, the car would still run fine, but would intermittently display "EP"?

I've had "EP" show up twice, each occurrence separated by about 3 months, and both times the car has run fine while displaying "EP" and "EP" has disappeared the next time I started the car.

 

I was afraid it was my CVT circling the drain. Turns out it was just a sensor. Part Number: 24357518731 Can't seem to find it for less than $165 on the internet. Shop that did it for me quoted me $100 for the labor (they said it's rather easy, doesn't take more then an hour) and maybe more if any tranny fluid is lost. I had plenty left from my last fluid change. Find the part cheap and you should be fine.

 

What symptoms were you experiencing before replacing that sensor? Just the "EP" light?

 

I slapped it over to the sport drive mode. Thats when I would get the "EP" fail code.

 

Very interesting. A little different than mine - "EP" comes on once every few months when I start the car. Upon restarting, code has always gone away.

Just curious - how many miles does your MINI have?

 

Shift the gears back and forth and such... try and get the fail code to pop. then take it to autozone or a dealership you trust and see what the code fail is.

 

Were you getting the SES light in addition to "EP"? I'm wondering if Autozone would have the tool to to diagnose it if it was only displaying "EP".

 

I forget what the actual fail code was, but I don't think it was SES. If you wanted to you could also look into your own diagnostic tool (cheap on ebay, occasionally on NAM Marketplace) Those come in handy if you plan on keeping your Mini for a loooooooong time. (Like me!)

 

Did you use your own diagnostic tool to diagnose "EP"? If so, which one do you have?!

Also just wondering - how many miles do you have?

 

I went to a local shop that specializes in Euro. imports and just borrowed theirs.