2005 MINI CVT automatic, 95K miles

Over the past two years I've noticed my MINI slowly increasing the "default" RPM it drives at. I don't drive it hard, but do use cruise all the time.

I have a mix of country/city driving - 55, 35, 30, 25mph into work, 20 minute drive.

When I first got it it stayed around 2,500 RPM, sometimes going up to 3,000 when accelerating... but in the last two years I've noticed it driving at 3,500 and the last few times I took it on the road 4,000 RPM. This is all at 55MPH. Around 70MPH it tends to stay around 3,000.

Any ideas? Does it need an computer reset?

 

One other oddity - when exiting the expressway, slowing down to 55mph, the RPMs have a tendency to jump up. Not sure what's going on there as well, but switching into SD mode essentially fixes these issues.

 

Have you done an advance search on posts concerning the CVT? There ain't very much nice to say about them.

 

I’m have not - but I know people dislike them and have had numerous issues with them. I know of one CVT that failed early on (within warranty), but the driver might have been the kind that pushed it beyond it’s safe parameters :D Ultimately I know it’s the one weak point on my MINI.

Personally, I love the lack of specific gearing (even though it tends to settle on specific rpms when driving), the idea of a giant segmented metal band powering it (essentially living up to the gokart moniker), and the (rare) need to step on it where it feels like the car is winding up and launches you forward. I also have adjusted to the right pedal pressure so it doesn’t piston back and forth while initially taking off from a start.

I paid a bit more attention to the dials on my latest trip out, and I think I’ll record a video of them as well. The tachometer stays around 3,800 when going 50, to get to 55 it increases to 4,000-4,200. It drops to 3,900 when cruising at 55. I have an obdii reader, I’ll also see if my app supports recording the rpm / speed history.

 

Check your crank pulley. The rubber center slowly detaches from the outside pulley causing the center to turn faster than the actual pulley (higher revs, less power). Have you noticed a burning smell? That would indicate a failing pulley.

 

FWIW, the R50 crank pulleys don't seem to be particularly failure prone.

 

So… dumb question here - this doesn’t connect the transmission to the engine though, does it? Are there other systems on the car that will cause the engine to rev higher?

As for the burning smell - funny you mention that. I thought I smelled a burning rubber smell tonight, but I dismissed it. Where should I try to sniff if I wanted to get the strongest smell?

I decided to book an appointment to have it looked at - Nov 11 - but I’m only driving into work once a week for the time being.

 

But it is possible, right? In the years owning my mini, I’ve had:

thermostat, o2 sensors replaced under warranty

door, rear quarter panels replaced due to rust

front shock/strut mounts replaced due to rust

my neutral selector switch is probably bad (probably my fault for not driving it regularly during covid)

all of my brake lines rusted and had to be replaced

Honestly, a mixed rubber/metal part failing would not surprise me. Granted, a lot of the problems I listed are common for my year/model, but while I dearly love my car it has had its share of issues.

 

It's the pulley that drives the belt for the alternator, water pump, and a/c compressor. Sure, it's possible that it's bad, but I just haven't heard of many people having issues with them.

I seem to remember reading about issues similar to yours some time ago, but I don't claim to know enough about the CVT to say anything much about it. My car has the stock Getrag in it, and I've never driven one with the CVT.

 

Hrmm, again - one other oddity I noticed recently. I have the cockpit chrono pack, and while I've heard it doesn't report "real" values (ie, I think it's all electronic readings from the computer, instead of dedicated sensors), my water temp has been slightly to the left of vertical (on the warmer side), and when I drove for about an hour the other day the radiator fan ran after I turned my car off. No temperature lights, but I don't recall it doing this before. Coolant levels are OK.

I did some other "research" - some people mentioned CVT issues could be related to battery voltage, but I recently had my battery checked and it is good.

Also... the local repair shop looked up the price for a new CVT transmission - something in the range of $4,000 - labor not included. That's a lot... and probably woudl be better to save to put towards an electric MINI (I'm still waiting for more range/better platform, probably not going to happen anytime soon).

 

Water temp is real. The oil temp and pressure are “fake.”

 

It's not unusual for your fan to stay on after turning the car off. Minis tend to run at the upper temp ranges and the fan helps cool it off because the temp rises immediately after shut off. My Jag does the same thing. Crank pulley separation is a common problem on older Minis. I would definitely have your shop check that out when it's in for service since you recognized the burn smell. That's the first indicator of separation.

 

Do keep in mind that the R50 harmonic damper is a completely different, non-interchangeable part than the R53 part that always fails. The R50 pulley does still have a rubber isolator, but it seems to be under less stress than the one in the R53.

edit: That reminds me. If it is bad, just put another stock one on. Some places claim that the ATI R53 damper fits the R50. It doesn't. The R50 crank has a bigger snout than the R53.

 

I got a bad feeling about your CVT...... Sounds like something on the insides is slipping OR the computer that controls it is wonky for some reason.

 

Yeah, and I want to say the higher rpm issue has been a more recent thing. The issues with going from 70 to 55 on an offramp have been around for a couple of years, possibly 3 or 4. I rarely drive the xway, so it never caused me much concern, except that sinking feeling that my CVT was not doing so well.

The next time I go to work I’ll stick with SD mode all the way and see how it behaves. And maybe I’ll check my battery voltage to eliminate that possibility, even though it’s a long shot.