My 05 has been sitting at the dealer since Tuesday. My warranty expires tomorrow and I took it in to get the once-over before then. I bought it used just a little over 4 mos ago and it only has 30K miles on it. Had some leakage around steering pump hose and asked if they would replace my stained bonnet stripes (which they did ). Also asked them to check an occasional annoyance that popped up a few weeks ago...sometimes it would be very resistant to go from neutral to 1st gear. Clutch feels great, everything else seems OK and it only did it occasionally. I was 99% sure I'd get a "cannot duplicate or cannot find anything wrong" with the tranny.

Well lo and behold they called Wed afternoon and tell me there are metal shavings in the fluid, could be the synchros, and that the clutch feels really stiff (I thought it was awesome but I came from driving a 350Z so what do I know). Anyway they want to replace the entire tranny! Well at first I'm thinking..."cool I get a new tranny just before the warranty expires." Then comes the BUT. But there is a notation in the database from the Mini factory that I have Dinan upgrades and sorry not covered...it will be $6700. So I call Dinan and they say, that's BS, your upgrades can't cause tranny issues, and we are the ones that put the notation in their database..we'll give them a call.

As of this AM the service writer and service manager have both talked to Dinan. Now Service Manager is trying to get ahold of the Mini factory service rep to see if it will be covered. If not, then they will call Dinan to "work it out."

First off I'm a little disheartened to think at only 30K miles, a new tranny is in order. Also disheartened to learn that the Dinan upgrades that the previous owner had had installed --which the salesman (VW dealership) assured me was A-OK with BMW/Mini and all would be good, are causing me issues. From what I understand Dinan will cover any parts directly affected by their upgrades. I think it's pure nonsense that they could think that intake modifications and software could impact the tranny/synchros. I guess I just get me a loaner car and wait for them to hash it out

I have seen other threads about tranny issues, metal in fluid, replacments etc. so any info. others have had with this experience would be very helpful to me . If it is not an entirely uncommon issue I would like to know as it helps my case.

 

I hope you're covered.

No problems with my tranny, but with BMW in general, it seems they seem quick to replace things and charge these exorbitant rates under warranty. It's good service and makes you so thankful that the car was covered and makes you want to continue coverage. (I recently brought my X5 in for last service and they did about 3k in maintenance before I went out of warranty. I wouldn't do some of that if I was paying.)

So take the tranny if covered, but maybe in a out-of-warranty situation, it is not really bad enough to "have-to" replace, certainly not for $6700

 

Yeah my experience with them thus far (had it in a few weeks ago for 02 sensor replacement) has been pretty good. Even squeezing in one last service for me (coolant flush). The funny thing is, this service writer, whom I really like, tells me this am that last night he and his manager came to a mutual agreement that he would no longer be in service but going back to the sales floor. Makes me wonder...did he get in trouble for something?? I mean they could have easily said "cannot duplicate" (tranny was working great the morning I took it in) then just wait it out until my warranty expires tomorrow.

 

Sounds like you should be ok. Dinan is the only after market parts BMW does work with so either MINI or Dinan should cover you.
Does not make the waiting for who will cover the transmission any easier with the potential (although very very small chance) it will be you.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

 

Well I never did hear back from the shop forman yesterday who is now supposedly handling my situation. Dinan was nice enough to call me back and tell me the ball is in BMW's court. They (Dinan) are being very helpful. I did finally manage to get me a loaner (they finally had one come back in) so now driving a nice BMW 328i. I have not however been able to get anything in writing yet...by the time I stopped by yesterday to get the loaner they had all gone home .

 

Ever hear back?

 

Nope still waiting. Shop foreman did leave me a v/m on Friday and said that it can "take a little while" with email exchanges, etc. with Mini USA regarding warranty coverage...so 3 days and counting. I plan to give them a call again tomorrow to see what's up...

 

Well it took 12 days and several unreturned phone calls in between (since my service advisor left the day after this started), but I FINALLY got the call that they will cover the tranny on warranty!

Although it ran fine, our poor little Mini has been sitting at the dealership all this time. I figured I had a better chance of getting the repairs done if it was taking up space in their service area .

Only thing I am ending up paying is for the parts for the clutch. I thought the clutch felt perfect, but they said it was "a little stiff" and recommended that, since they will have the car torn apart anyway, we do the change now and they will not charge any additional labor. So for a little under $400 hopefully I will have extended the life of our Mini's clutch for a good deal of miles.

I just hope it still "feels" the same as it did before. I really did love the way that clutch felt.