Hey folks,

I posted a new Mini owner intro in the 1st gear section. I'll post another region specific intro in this section as well.

Long story short, the 2005 MCS I bought at Ralph Schomp seems to be exhibiting the transmission slippage problem others have experienced with the 6-speed Aisin auto trans.

The car is at the dealer right now getting checked out, but the techs there can't replicate the issue. I'm not surprised since at this stage the problem is rather intermittent/random.

I'm still under Ralph Schomp's 3month/1,000mile used car warranty so I was hoping to get the issue resolved before I turn over that 1k mark. My guess though is that they'll wash their hands of it all with the standard, "We couldn't find anything wrong", and send me on my way only to return AFTER the warranty with even worse symptoms.

So long story short, if I indeed have to replace my trans fluid, or valve body outside the warranty coverage, does anyone know of a good Mini mechanic in the area? I live in Littleton, and work in Thornton, but I can pretty much drop the car off anywhere there is a recommended shop.

 

Hi Lurieh,

I am sorry to hear about your difficulty, but we can certainly help. Please visit us at Ferney's Lube and Auto Repair at 4611 South Santa Fe, just a couple of miles from Ralph Schomp. The owner, Ferney Colorado, and his service writer, Erik Abbott, are both former Schomp senior techs and are factory-certified. Give Erik a call at your convenience at (303) 762-9516. You can also have a look at our reviews on our website at www.ferneyslubeandauto.com and on FB and Yelp. Very best wishes in the meantime!

Melissa (Ferney's wife and marketing department!! )

 

Ferney's is a great place! But since they have it at Schomp, see if they will do a good faith flush or something to keep it from re-occuring.

 

i'll definitely keep Ferney's in mind. From the looks of it, they're THE place to go. Plus, I live like 3 min away from the garage.

I talked at length with my service tech yesterday. As I thought, they couldn't replicate the issue even with around 30 miles of high heat driving. Since the slipping isn't a huge issue at present, I wasn't too surprised, nor worried. At first he recommended just driving it until the problem was more consistent. I knew that if I waited until it got worse, not only would the warranty be way expired, but the problem might be more costly. He assured me they have a little "wiggle room" when it comes to warranty. Since I already brought in the car twice during my warranty, I set the precedent. He mentioed they could extend warranty service on that issue for up to 90 days (at their discretion of course).

I inquired about a tranny flush citing the fact that I was getting close to 100k on the odometer. I know from other posts on NAM that some folks had trouble getting their "lifetime" fluid replaced. However, my tech looked me up the computer and his system said I was up for a fluid change at 100k. I guess they must have changed the replacement interval from "never", to 100k. Plus, I bought the car at 98k, and he said they probably should have done the 100k service prior to selling it anyway.

TL;DR - They're covering the tranny fluid replacement for free.

Hopefully the fluid change will remedy the situation. If I visit Ferney's, I would rather it be for a pulley install, or lowering springs, and not to fix broken stuff.

 

We are so happy that Schomp's is working with you to resolve your concern.A Trans flush could fix your concern.After your trans flush you may also want to use the trans in manual mode from time to time.Also if the problem returns,keep a log or note book on when,where you have your problem so the repair tech can try to duplicate this on a test drive..As always if you have any questions please feel free to contact us and we will be more than happy to help..Cheers

 

I'm taking the gamble that the fluid replacement won't make things worse. Although that might make things easier to diagnose.

In any case, I think I may invest in a bluetooth OBD2 dongle and start logging my drives. That way, even if they can't replicate the issue in-car, I'll have some kind of record of the event(s).