Zamojers

I suggest you get a bit more persistant with the matter. Hope they gave you a loaner car. Schedule a time where you can have the service manager sit as a passenger in your car when everything is stone cold. First shift; make it grind as you know how. Do it again and again. I did exactly this and the service manager had little say except ok, now I hear it. If he tries to fight you with saying "the oil is thin/thick/cold" or "Its the way they all are" DO NOT GIVE IN. Tell them you've been driving manuals for years and never had any grinding what-so-ever even on your oldest model car. I told my SM that my 20 year old Mazda RX7 shifts like butter next to my brand new Mini. Be direct and avoid conservativeness.

My new tranny replaced the old at 1000 miles and its been rock solid perfect for almost a year and 12k miles. The original one was a pos.

Also, if you get them to agree to replace try talking to a sales advisor and get an LSD upgrade (Should be $500). I dono if they will do it but I sure wish I had tried.

You can still buy an extended warantee from Mini as long as you are still under the original warantee period btw.

 

One more thing to add which I forgot about. My last warantee repair for an unrelated problem they loaned me an 08 Cooper S w/ manual tranny and guess what... THE LOANER COLD GROUND 2nd GEAR the same way my MCS used to before I had the transmission swapped almost a year ago.

Its unmistakable that this problem does not exist for any other reason than a mass-produced hardware defect. Im so freakin happy Mini replaced the tranny in my car but after hearing about so many other complaints...

Just keep persisting.

Also, Zamojers,

If you have the problem on file before warantee runs out then you are probably safer so to speak.

 

Thanks for the info unclemeat. I'll stay persistant and see what happens. I replied to MINIUSA back on monday and they still have not replied. Hopefully this means they are looking into this for me or they are going to ignore me. I plan on giving them a call tomorrow.

 

Finally received a reply from MINI. They have requested 7 things from me:

1. Your vehicle's VIN (vehicle identification number)
2. Your current mileage
3. Your MINI dealer
4. The name of your MINI service advisor
5. Your current address
6. The best phone numbers at which to contact you.
7. A brief description of the situation

I would like to ask that anyone that has had the similar transmissioin grind (tranny replaced or not) to answer question 1-3 and send me a PM so that I can give them additional records to research; I understand if you do not want to send me your VIN, but as much information as possible would help me out a ton.

Thanks,

JZ

 

Hmm, I have an automatic (bought it so my wife can drive it, I prefer manuals myself) and I have no such troubles. In fact, I've been impressed just how well it shifts, both up and down. And yes, I do some pretty spirited driving with it.

I don't quite follow what you mean when you say the transmission lags. Depending on your manual shifting technique, the automatic could be shifting quite a bit differently than you're used to, particularly if you usually shift at very high or very low engine speeds. This transmission will change it's shifting points quite a bit based on throttle position and will typically keep the engine between 1800 RPM and 3500 RPM when at a constant vehicle speed.

That might be what's causing that indecision you're seeing at cruise. If you're in 6th gear and really press down on the throttle, the tranny assumes you want more performance than is possible at that gear and engine speed and will downshift to allow the engine to generate more power. That's universal to all automatics and if you don't like it, pull the shifter handle to the left and use the flappy paddles to control the transmission. I do it all the time, usually in the mountains.

Another thing to keep in mind, even thought I can't sure of it, but just because your warrenty might run out before this problem is fixed doesn't mean it won't be covered. Since the dealer now has a record of this problem happening BEFORE the warrenty expired means it should be covered, regardless of when the problem is actually fixed. This depends on your state's warrenty laws, but here in CA car problems are covered by the warrenty based on when they started, not when they get fixed.

 

'Nother update. I got my mcs back from the dealership yesterday. There was a weird clicking noise coming from my clutch pedal which they fixed simply by replacing the whole mechanism. The dealership told me they couldn't reproduce the grinding sound after I had left it there and I was in disbelief. Either way, seems like my 1st to 2nd grinding seems to be largely gone. It's still a rough shift - but not really grinding. My theory is that whatever was causing' the clicking noise was also preventing the clutch pedal from fully depressing. Even this am in 18 degree weather. Will keep testing and update.

 

This seems to be a problem mostly with the Getrag 6 speed gearboxes in second generation MINIs. I wonder what changed from the 6 speed Getrags in the R53?

 

far as I know, nada. sounds like a batch O bad trannys built post-beergarten happy hour.

 

Hi folks-
My Mini is in the shop right now. It also grinds from first to second gear. If I drive like my grandmother, and shift slowly and don't rev much, it will not grind. But who the hell buys a Mini for that?

At first the dealer said they couldn't duplicate the problem. So I went back and had the service manager sit in the passenger seat and took him for a spin. Grind city. He drove it himself and same issue. He's going to check it out further, but when I told him I was concerned about damage to the gearbox long term, he assured me that of all the car manufacturers out there, BMW/Mini stood by their cars and would give people like him the ability to extend warranties well beyond the norm when issues arise.

I hope everything goes well but I am skeptical. We shall see. But for those of you wondering, it is absolutely damaging to the gearbox when you hear that sound. The synchromesh gears are not doing their job. Period. Now--reverse gear is not synchronized. Nor should it be, since shifting into reverse while moving briskly forward is a bad idea. So if that gear grinds, I'm afraid that is the driver's fault.

I will keep you all posted on how Mini is handling my concerns.

 

Actually, reverse is impossible to install a syncro on, by the nature of it's design. It's an extra gear that traditionally engages between the engine output shaft and the tranny's input shaft, and makes the the tranny spin backwards. All a syncro does is mechanically match the rotating speeds of the input and output shafts and there's no way to do that when one shaft has to turn opposite of the other.

Actually, I've driven vintage vehicles that had no syncros installed in them at all. All you need to do with them is to memorize the shift points based on engine speeds and with the correct technique you'll never grind a gear. The secret while accelerating is to wait for the tranny's input shaft to slow down before selecting the higher gear.

 

It happens with me only when the transmission is not warm yet.

 

i can do it in third and second but i have to shift really really slow, and move it back and forth to get it to make the grinding noise. i took it to the dealer and had a service rep go on a drive with me and her herd and felt it also. we went back to the dealer and got in a brand new 2009 it had like 5 miles on it and went out for a drive. when i did the same thing to see if i could here it in the brand new mini, it was way worse in the new car 3 times worse easly.

 

Hi folks-
just an update. My dealer is replacing my transmission. I really didn't have to push very hard-I just took a service manager for a ride to show him what is happening. No arguments. So if you are experiencing this problem please pursue it with your dealer and hopefully you will get a new transmission as well. Good luck.

 

When you say that you get a grinding when you "move it back and forth", are you repeatedly moving the selector between two gears during the same shift?

 

My wife’s 07 MINI has 26K on it now, and she is complaining to me that the transmission grinds when shifting into 2d. It’s been doing it off and on now for about 5K miles. After reading this post, it is obvious to me that I need to make a trip to the dealer. Thanks for mentioning the PUMA case #, but they are specific to each car (I mentioned it to the service writer). After driving the car and trying different suggestions listed, shifting quickly w/ force makes matters worse, keeping the Rs up helps. Going from 1st to 3d works, but I shouldn’t have to resort to that. I did notice that after performing about 20 1st to 2d shifts the grinding went away as the transmission and engine warmed up/fluid was flowing.

I took the MINI in on a Thursday, and left it overnight. The service manager drove it the next morning and confirmed it grinds when shifting from 1st to 2d. He told me I’ll get the car back next Wednesday maybe with a new transmissions. He also told me there is a technical service bulletin for the shifter, and the engineers may want to try changing the parts for the shifter before they change the tranny.

 

Tranny update: After the MINI engineer told the delear to change the transmission fluid and then recheck it for grinding, the service manager confirmed it still grinds when shifting from 1st to 2d. So the dealer installed a remanufactured transmission. The service manager informed me there are some parts in the remanufactured tranny that have been redesigned. I hope this is the end of this issue.

 

Same Problem here. 1st to 2nd grind. Dealer acknowledges the problem and PUMA Case number has been issued. Awaiting results.

 

Wow, I'm beginning to wish I lived where it was cold and easy to duplicate this problem. My dealer has yet to be able to duplicate the issue with me and MINI USA is "looking" into the problem for me. It has been 3 weeks since my last communication from MINI so we'll see if they're really going to do the research or if they're just stalling to give me a BS reply. I'll update sooner or later, that isn't up to me...

 

I live in Surprise, Arizona and it doesn't get that cold here. MINI North Scottsdale didn't have a problem duplicating the problem.

 

I wonder what changes Getrag made to the 6 speed gearbox in the R56. Supposedly, the 6 speed Getrag box in the R53 S is identical, yet we never had this 2nd gear grind problem.

 

Update - Transmission Replaced. I too did not have to push the dealer hard at all. They noticed the Grind, made some sort of PUMA case... and about a week later I had a transmission on order.

Also replaced, the transmission mount. It is what's making the slight clunk sound over small bumps.

 

Update - In January, when it actually froze in Houston, I dropped the MINI off and let it sit overnight so that it couldn't warm up while I drove to the dealership. Low and behold it was quite obvious the transmission did grind and they did not hesitate to replace it at all. The other thing I noticed and no longer happens after the transmission was replaced is that when I rev'd higher and higher in 1st gear there was a very noticeable buzzing noise inside the dash. I don't know if this was a buy-product from the transmission failure, but it has not happened since they replaced it. Just thought I would drop that note just in-case it helps someone else prove their case. In either case, I'm happy they finally realized the problem, but will keep close tabs on the two year warranty on the replacement transmission.

 

Took mine into the dealer this past February and unfortunately they were not able to reproduce the grind despite the below freezing temperatures. I was really surprised, but my hope is that it gets worse to the point where it does it so they can see.

 

I'm putting my MINI in the shop tomorrow for this problem. I haven't heard the grind from 1st to 2nd, mainly because I'm not forcing the shifter into second gear - it simply won't go into 2nd gear first thing in the morning. It's worse when the temperature drops below 40 degrees. Once the engine warms up, 2nd gear is still quite notchy.

Is there a service bulletin or any specific information I can mention to the SA? I'd like to avoid the "we couldn't reproduce it" run-around.