2002 MC with 35,000 miles. I have owned it for 6 weeks. Sigh.

Started "studdering" on take off from a dead stop. The wheels would not fully engage unless I let the clutch out very slowly and kept the rpms very low. Any attempt at a normal or quick start resulted in the gears not fully engaging, a sort of ugly noise from the tranny and the wheels "studdering."

I stopped driving it. Took it to my mechanic yesterday and took him for a test drive. I tried a quick start to demonstrate, the car made a horrible grinding noise and completely lost all gears.

Clutch feels perfectly normal. It shifts perfectly normal. I cannot generate any forward motion in any gear.

4 months out of warranty. 2 weeks out of used car lot warranty. ARRGGHHH!!!!
Estimate on a new tranny: $2693
Estimate on a new clutch: $870

I had the seals checked prior to this. I had a slow leak in one of the transaxles seals a couple of weeks ago. Fluid level was only down a tiny amount. I had it filled and was scheduled for new seal replacement in 1 week. I don't think this is a case of lost fluid. Will have that checked tomorrow - but I just had the thing filled and haven't seen any fluid loss.

Any ideas? Any way to know if it's the tranny or the clutch without pulling it apart?

Thanks

 

I hate to be a bearer of bad news, but the MC tranny isn't the the strongest part of the car. You are most likely looking at a new tranny. Get the clutch done while you are at it. It should only add about $400 more to the tranny job. The estimate you have is a pretty good one. Mine was recently replaced due to crash damage and the tranny portion of the repair was over $4,000. I had them do the clutch while they were in, and it only added the $400.

 

actually, I bought a crx with an extremely weak clutch that did the exact same thing. Clutch had plenty of tension but you couldnt engage gears and it wouldnt move unless giving it minimum throttle until it finally just died about two blocks away haha. It sounds like the clutch, not tranny. You can never be sure though unless you pull it apart :impatient

 

I've owned two CRXs. Had over 170,000 miles on each of them - original clutches and trannies in both. I've got a 1988 Honda Wagon with 220,000 miles on it. It's getting me around as the MINI sits at the garage. I love BMWs and MINIs but they will probably never be as dependable as a Honda

 

And they will probably never rust as bad!! I guess the only way Honda sells new cars it to make them rust out so people get rid of them. Otherwise, they'd keep them forever.

 

ya I bought an 87 crx for a project car so I wouldnt tinker with the mini (reallly didnt work) it had 215,000 miles, I replaced all the seals stage 2 clutch, new oil, put alil lube back in the shifter, removed all dirt/dust and she runs amazing =]

 

Yeah, unfortunately, BMW slapped the Midland R65 crapbox into the '02-'03 Coopers, and unfortunately the owners are the ones stuck with the problems. My '03 that I just got rid of actually had 54,000 miles on it with trouble free driving. I wouldn't have trusted it any more. My 1996 Suzuki Sidekick has 95,000 miles of mudding and offroading, burnouts, jackrabbit starts. It's still on it's original clutch and tranny. It's sad when an $11,000 truck is more reliable than a premium hatchback by BMW. I'm sorry you have to deal with this, and I wish you the best of luck.

 

BRGDragon, I've got an extra CRX tranny in the shed if the one in that car goes out.
Condolences on the bad timing for the MINI tranny.:impatient And best of luck getting up and running soon!

'04 MINI - 36K
'85 CRX - 199,600...

 

I will definatly keep that in mind, im not willing to spend to much on the crx right now though ^__^

 

I've heard that the 5-speeds in the early MC's are a bit weak, but what you describe sounds like the clutch went out. Good luck, and let us know the final word.