Hello everyone,

I got in my 2003 MCS today and found that I could not put the car in gear to go anywhere. The shifter freely moves front to back, too easily, very loose and will not move from right to left at all. The state of the clutch seems to not matter much and actually whether the cars is running seems unimportant. I have no noises recently and of course the car's warranty ended about 2 months ago. Any one seen a problem like this ?

thanks

 

my bad.

 

Maybe one of the shift linkages has come undone or out of adjustment? If that isnt the problem you may be looking at some expensive repairs. The linkages under the shifter itself arent to hard to get to. Just drop out the exahaust and pull of a cover and it is right there.

 

Since you "just" passed the warranty period, I would get the dealer involved. As long as it is not caused by misuse, they may still cover it under warranty. Has there been any symptoms related to this before? The reason I asked is that if it was recorded in the service history you have a better chance getting it covered under warranty. Just to give you an example, the dealer replaced the whole clutch at 52K (for the second time) under warranty. If the dealer is not cooperative, make an appointment with the MINI regional manager, who would meet you to evaluate the case/car. His/her decision overrides the dealer's... All this would help you if the issue turns out to be something expensive (e.g., new tranny). If it is just the linkage, you may not need all this.
Good luck!

 

I have a 02 that had something similar symptoms. On mine the end of the shift linkage that is underneath the airbox has some plastic fittings. The fitting broke so the fittings would not stay in place which the the entire cable move. The dealer said this is very common in 02-03. There are two sets of cable that used ones with plastic end and another with metal ends. I have a set of the cables with metal ends if you need some, I had to go back and get the ones with plastic ends for my car.

Good Luck

 

thanks for all the advice. I'll see what I can find this weekend.