Okay, the subject like of this message is maybe a little overdramatic but I wanted to get people's attention on this.... just in case others run into the same problem.

I got the Whalen shift **** about a year into ownership of my car, love the thing and it is one of the first mods I reccomend to everyone I talk to. A true piece of working art, a beauty to hold and behold.

Anyway....

My car's tranny is very sloppy in shifting, and has been so ever since I got the car. Even brand new, it didn't feel snappy and crisp like I expected - but never having driven a brand new stickshift before, I didn't have anything to compare it to. Sam J and others have commented on it when they drove my car, but again I blew it off because I never got to really compare it to another car. This year at the Dragon rally I got the chance to check out a few other cars, and a couple months ago I helped deliver a car for my MINI dealership - and the difference between those cars and mine were night and day.

While at the dealership yesterday for some unrelelated warranty work, I mentioned that my tranny felt very sloppy and asked if they could just take a look at it and see if there was anything wrong with it or if there was something that could be adjusted.

When they got done with it the service rep that was handling me told me that there wasn't much that the could do, that the extra weight of the Whalen shift **** made it difficult to test the tranny and that the weight of the **** itself might have done the damage. Never mind that it's always been this way.... he said I should take the **** off, replace it with the stock one, and bring it back in. No promises were made about anything, but he did make it clear that they were not very happy about the ****....

I casually told some of the Motoring Advisors about it, as well as the MINI sales manager, and they all thought it was rediculous - at least that's how I read their reaction. As soon as I get some time I am gonna snap the original **** back on and take it back in.

In the meantime, jiust a word of caution to others with Whalen or other aftermarket shift ***** - put the originals back on before taking the car in for any tranny related work.

I'll follow up on this when I have something to tell, and if anyone else has had a similar problem I'd be very interested in hearing about it.

 

I'm not surprised. I've always been told that resting your hand on the shift **** while driving can damage a manual transmission. The heavy **** is kinda like resting your hand on the ****. In your case I'm sure the **** had nothing to do with the problem that has existed since day one. That MINI tried to use the shift **** to deny warranty work is consistent with their attempts to deny warranty work after any mod, no matter how small.


R.E.

 

This is insane... there's NO way that the extra weight of the Whalen could or would ever cause any problems. Man, some of the stories these service people are telling MINI owners out there are so completely ludicrous they are LAUGHABLE. If my service advisor ever told me that, I would serious laugh in his face!

MINI USA really pisses me off with their attitude about modding cars... Seems like some dealers could care less abour mods - until there's a warranty claim. And then, when MINI USA steps in everything goes to h*ll in a handbasket.

 

There is no direct, hard linkage between the **** and the tranny - this is Cable-Actuated ; Cables, even syout ones like these, Flex . The weight of a ****, or resting your hand on the shifter Will Have No Adverse Affect on the functioning of the gearbox.

... seems like another case of dealership service people needing to go back to school ...

 

normalizer- huh, that sucks that they can't take a look at the bushings or
linkage to see if there was anything loose or out of spec. The gates should
not feel that sloppy...and blaming the **** is a very typical way of dealers
flushing you out of their service station. they should at least have put a
factory **** on there for them to see how much play there actually was and
given you an idea what may have gone wrong (?) to give you a couple
options even if it did cost some money.


scobib- As you already know, you have to remember though from a
manufacturer's perspective that parts are all made within tolerance and
specs.

You put something other than the part which was specified by the
OE designers and you're out of spec from their point of view. Most
non OE aftermarket (fun)parts are never validated under the automotive
standards nor run through rigorous in-vehicle level qualification tests.
Manufacturers can't be held responsible for parts that they did not design
into their drawings... and they should not have to spend their time trying to
figure out what the aftermarket designers did or did not do which may
have contributed to the problem... if they were forced to, expect prices of
mini's to go up.

But the dealer should have at least shown some gesture to help normalizer
out.

 

it may be interesting to note that a higher-up I know at the MINI factory in the UK has had 16 MINI corporate cars over the years and he's used his Whalen **** on almost all of them. He told me it's the first thing he does when he gets a new MINI - the old **** comes off and goes straight into the glove box while the Whalen goes on.

 

The weight of the **** isn't the issue, however if you hold your shift **** while driving, you could be nudging your shift forks enough to cause undue wear. Of course, it says NOTHING in the owners manual or dealership service guides about this, so I'd say it's not your fault.

Rule of thumb When taking MINI back to dealership for ANYTHING, put it back to stock as much as possible. Reduce the potential for dealership having a basis for whining.

 

Next will be that the metal valve stem caps for your tires are too heavy and throw the balance of the wheels off and voids any alignment warantees...I guess back to plastic!!

What happens when you change the shift boot to leather, makes the shifting tighter?

 

That's remarkably absurd, and it sucks that you might have to deal with it, Normalizer.

 

I appreciate all the comments.... they were cool about it, never actually said the **** caused the problems but just said they couldn't accurately test with that ****. I don't agree with their logic, but I understand it....

It does feel a little tighter in shifting since taking it in though, don't know if there was something they could have altered or if it's just my imagination. The new car I helped deliver a month or so ago was really precise in it's shifting, almost clicking into place and there really wasn't much room to shift other than into the correct gates. Mine since new has had more "slop" to it than I expected, and has never "snicked" into place like the new one I drove. Mines not bad... but after having driven other cars I definitely feel it's below average from what I'd expect from an MCS.

Having described it so eloquently like that, what can be done to rectify the situation I have (if indeed I do have one?) Is there any room for adjusting in the throw or do parts need to be replaced? I don't expect a nearly 2 year old car to drive like a brand new one, but why not shoot for it?

 

I know what you mean. I'm having transmission problem too. I think Mini just doesn't want to own up that they have a problem. I'm going to give my dealer and Mini one more chance on fixing my car. If it doesnt work, the shi@ will hit the fan. Mini , some of us are tired of getting jerked around. Countless problems and NONE are fixed to this date. 4/03 build date.


Rob :evil:

 

Nothing else to say but that's just asinine...

 

My shifter has always felt like garbage to me as well. And like you I have nothing to compare it too. I have attempted to get a test drive at the dealer, but was told the loaners were out at my last visit. So I settled on askin the guys to look at the linkage and told them at times it won't go into third easily. They aparently test drove my car and since it never gave them trouble going into third, they used the unable to recreate problem door, and never looked at the linkage. Now presuming they drive a lot of these cars and since they didn't notice any problem it is either correct or they are lazy.
However, my last 3 cars had sticks, a S-10, a Miata and a Beetle. Every one of them had a much surer feeling to the shifter, much more obvious gating and with the exception of the s-10, much shorter throws.
Hopefully MINI has this on the list of future improvements. The car feels so well connected to the road in all other aspects, it is kinda a shame that the shifter in some cars would aparently feel slow sloppy.
I am going to see if another MINI owner wants to swap for a test drive. Although I am not sure if I would take mine back to my dealer so they could test drive my car so more anyway.
The original post seems to be the exact same kinda thing I have been ranting about lately. My guess is they were laying the ground work to pass off any expensive repairs back to the evil modding customer, just in case. They must send these guys to school for that kinda thing.