So I have a 09 Clubman S, automatic transmission. During the summer, I went to change the oil and ignorantly pulled the transmission fluid inspection plug. The fluid was so dark that I thought it was motor oil and didn’t think anything of it. I then realized what I had done, and with the help of a friend, got her up on stands to get level, pulled the left front tire and forced fluid in the side of the transmission with a hand pump. We figured we had enough oil in it, due to the fact that we had oil coming from the inspection plug with what we thought was a hot motor. Anyways, I didn’t have any issues until about a month or 2 ago, during a shift from 3rd to 4th gear, I would get an RPM spike of about 1k and then it drop and level off. It was also not throwing any codes. I finally got it in to the shop yesterday, and they said it was a little low on fluid, so they topped her off, and ran it with the scanner on it too. No codes, but after they ran it after the service the pulled the inspection plug and got really dark fluid out of it with evidence of some type of wear around that plug. They’re telling me that the 3rd and 4th gears are shot and that I’m looking at a new transmission. I’m able to drive it, (I have no choice, I have to get to work) and if I use the manual shift option I can baby it during that transition into 4th and avoid a spike in rpm. The garage has yet to get me quote but he’s guessing around 5k he knows for for sure the labor is 1.8k. I called the local mini dealer and they quoted me 8.5k and it would take 3 weeks to get here from Germany. I only paid 5k for the car. It has 114k miles. I do burn about a quart of oil every week, and I’ve changed the valve cover. I don’t know what to do. I love this car but I can’t drop $8.5k into it. We’re trying really hard to get out of debt and we,re really close. This is a huge setback, especially if I have to get another vehicle with a monthly payment. Any advice or encouragement anyone can give would be appreciated

 

A used transmission will cost you less than $1000
https://www.allmagautoparts.com/coll...ions-and-parts

R&R front a decent shop should only cost another $1000-1500
Don’t give up until the engine explodes!