Hi fellow member, I know there's talk about the MCSa ATF change and shifting harshness issue. What about shifting habit from the driver and whoever gets behind the wheel?

I recently brought in my 06 MCSa to a reputable independent BMW/MINI/MER service shop for coolant flush. When the service manager (owner ?) backed out my car before handing it back to me, I saw and heard him shifting from R to D while the car still had a very slight backward roll. I heard the shifter mechanism, not gear grind justto clarify. Is there any harm to the transmission? I know it's bad to shift into R while the car is still in forward motion, it's true for both manual and auto. But what about out of R?

I sometimes suspect pre-mature tranny failure is sometimes due to this kind of abuse by non-owners. Like parking with P only, without using hand brake in N, then to P.

What's your take?

 

It will be fine. Why do you park in N, set hand brake, then P. Sounds like a pain. The idea of getting an auto is to be lazy Get in P->D, stop, D->P and leave.

 

I'm with you on the throwing the car into N, brake, then park. Well only on a hill did i used to do that when I had an auto....if you're as OCD as me it probably makes sense

I think your car is probably fine

 

Thanks for your input. Yeah, I do have OCD , especially when it comes to cars. If the manual says 3.1qt of oil, it's 3.1. Not 3.0 or 3.2

Yetti96, the reason why I first put it in N, set hand brake, let go the brake pedal, then step on the brake pedal again before shifting from N to P, is because it helps taking off any unnecessary pressure on the locking mechanism when the tranny is in P. If someone parks my car on an incline, up or down, and just put it in P; the car rolls forward or backward until the gear/mechanism inside the tranny stops it from rolling further.

The next time when I shift out of P, there's a louder clunk and harsher jerk going from P --> R or P --> D. I guess it's due to the friction created by the weight of the car and the parking gear inside. It's very pronounce with my other Acura. It even makes the shifter harder to be shifted out of P. I recall reading in one of my cars' owner manual, mentioning this parking technique to help minimize pressure applies to parking gear set.

Any professional mechanics, please chime in if what I describe is non-sense.

 

Dummy me, I live in FL. We don't have hills to park on.