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2 months ago I bought a 2003 mini s, 107k miles, first couple weeks everything worked fine, later, 3rd gear started to kind of grind if I shift quickly, it's mostly feeling, you can't really hear it, but it feels like it's going steps before engaging.
After ~2 more weeks all gears started to do same, and the annoying fact is that it's intermittent, sometimes it will shift good, some times not, and I can't find any specific pattern, cold/hot/high rpm/low rpm/morning/evening/sunny/rainy. I literally have to push it really slow into gear to avoid this.
First thought was that synchros went bad, but I can't believe that in all gears and so fast, plus it is happening on up-shift as well as downshift.
Next I went and replaced transmission fluid to RedLine 75w80, can't say that this helped somehow.
Then I checked slave cylinder for sign of leaking, everything is dry there, only thing I've noticed, when depressing clutch, there is rubber like sound, which is loud enough to hear it if windows are open, from the area where slave cylinder is, wasn't able to locate it more precisely, it's something in clutch assembly or the cylinder it'self is doing this, and not sure if this is somehow related to my problem.
Next thing, I removed air box to check for shifting cables, they looked good, no extra play, no torn or bend pieces there.
This also happen if car is off and clutch engaged/disengaged.
Spent some time researching this thing and wasn't able to find anything that will explain my problems, if any of you have any ideas that I could check before going to mechanics that will most likely suggest to replace tranny, please advise.
Sound like the same symptom I had, before I totally couldn't shift the gear to 5th and 6th. Out of the blue when I speed up on the ramp into a highway, I just couldn't get into 5th gears and above. So I had to replace the tranny at the end.
Not many things it could be. If the clutch or clutch hydraulics are weak then you could be trying to outshift a worn clutch, a possibly bent clutch fork would keep from fully disengaging the clutch during shifts which could also cause grinding, but synchro problems are also a possiblility.
How does the fluid look when it came out of the trans?
Not many things it could be. If the clutch or clutch hydraulics are weak then you could be trying to outshift a worn clutch, a possibly bent clutch fork would keep from fully disengaging the clutch during shifts which could also cause grinding, but synchro problems are also a possiblility.
How does the fluid look when it came out of the trans?
Fluid was good, not dark black as it comes out from engine, was dirty but ok, and didn't smell like burnt or anything.
Not sure if previous owner changed it, but considering that car wasn't well maintained when I got it, it's more likely to assume that he didn't change it.
What will cause a bent clutch fork?
I'm still not quite sure that syncros will fail in all gears simultaneously.
Fluid was good, not dark black as it comes out from engine, was dirty but ok, and didn't smell like burnt or anything.
Not sure if previous owner changed it, but considering that car wasn't well maintained when I got it, it's more likely to assume that he didn't change it.
What will cause a bent clutch fork?
I'm still not quite sure that syncros will fail in all gears simultaneously.
What do you mean by "outshift a worn clutch"?
How does the tranny shift without the clutch? If the synchro's are good you should be able to change gears without the clutch, just don't get in a hurry---give a slight pause between the gears and let the synchro's do their job. I drive my copper s 6spd all the time without the clutch but no speed shifting or power shifting.
I've only had to replace one clutch fork from being bent, but it was damaged due to the throw out bearing exploding. Other people have bent them from aggressively driving, but you really need to be hard on them to bend them.
Synchros aren't really a companion failure, no, but if you are passing metal through the gear stack they'll go quick, they're only brass. I had bearing failure on a previous MKIV TDI I owned and it started as a stiff shift to first then slowly got worse in all gears, and finally it just collapsed the gearstack as I took off from first at a stop and that was all she wrote.
A clutch that isn't fully disengaging the powertrain could cause grinding due to the sychros having to try to pick up the slack, which they can't, they're just there to speed up the next gear to synchronize your shifts.
I've only had to replace one clutch fork from being bent, but it was damaged due to the throw out bearing exploding. Other people have bent them from aggressively driving, but you really need to be hard on them to bend them.
Synchros aren't really a companion failure, no, but if you are passing metal through the gear stack they'll go quick, they're only brass. I had bearing failure on a previous MKIV TDI I owned and it started as a stiff shift to first then slowly got worse in all gears, and finally it just collapsed the gearstack as I took off from first at a stop and that was all she wrote.
A clutch that isn't fully disengaging the powertrain could cause grinding due to the sychros having to try to pick up the slack, which they can't, they're just there to speed up the next gear to synchronize your shifts.
If syncros are dead, will they always cause grinding, or it will be intermittent at the beginning? Is there a procedure to test them and to know that it's 100% syncros, or clutch is not disengaging or is something else?
No real testing procedure for synchros, but you also need to get a better look at what is going on, and that means to remove the trans from the car.
If the clutch has never been done and the car has been rode hard and put away wet in its past, it may need a clutch.
I've also seen failed thrust bearings on the crankshaft cause the crank to walk forward and back that caused a weird clutch pedal feel, but again that was a hell of a failure that we didn't catch until the trans was out and I was reinstalling the new flywheel.
When I inspected salve cylinder it was looking pretty new, could be that they didn't bleed it properly when replaced? Will air in system cause this issue that I'm having? If so, what else symptoms could it cause?
When I inspected salve cylinder it was looking pretty new, could be that they didn't bleed it properly when replaced? Will air in system cause this issue that I'm having? If so, what else symptoms could it cause?
There's one easy thing for you to try, put a stick on the clutch pedal overnight.
Like nkfry said though, if it's not the slave, the tranny is going to need to come off. Would really suck to wreck the transmission grinding on the gears when it could just need a clutch. Needs to come off either way, syncros or clutch.
I drive my copper s 6spd all the time without the clutch but no speed shifting or power shifting.
You're brave!
I'll drive my work truck all day without using the clutch to shift, but occasionally I'll miss and grind em. It's a crappy work truck so I don't really care.
Too afraid to try it on my Mini though lol. I actually have to remind myself sometimes to make sure I use the clutch after work
My car is starting to have that problem too. I may try replacing the clutch slave also since it's cheap. My clutch slave right now doesn't look like it's leaking either.
I'll drive my work truck all day without using the clutch to shift, but occasionally I'll miss and grind em. It's a crappy work truck so I don't really care.
Too afraid to try it on my Mini though lol. I actually have to remind myself sometimes to make sure I use the clutch after work
I have been changing gears in trannys for years-----big trucks------little trucks-----cars etc----the trick is: feel what is going on and be patient and positive----let the synchs work for you and match the revs to the tranny going up or down. I cut my teeth as a youngster on an old IH gas dump truck with a 5 spd main and a 4 spd auxiliary and since it did not have enough power to get out of it's own way every main gear needed all gears in the aux box to go anywhere so after awhile you get real good at changing gears. You are a pro when you do it with out the clutch and these were straight cut gears and no synchros!!!
Last edited by sherman89; Aug 3, 2016 at 09:04 AM.
Quick update, last weekend replaced shifting cables, even thought they looked fine, and this improved things dramatically, 5th gear is the only one that still has this crunchy feeling, but this should be tired syncros, other than that everything works great.
So I had a grinding issue putting into gear, but I changed to
however now my car whistles like rubber on rubber or like a semi. I'll post a video of anyone want to help.
My transmission is shuddering when taking off from a dead stop and growls while engaging clutch in other gears. Help please.
