For whatever reason, my shifter suddenly got REALLY REALLY firm for the shifts from 3rd - 6th...5th and 6th being the worst. Shifting from 1st to 2nd, 2nd to 3rd is fine, and the downshifts from those gears as well...but above those, holy cow! Anyone else have this problem? The clutch seems to be engaging and disengaging fine...

 

Bumping this because i'm still having this problem and the dealer says i'm nuts and this is normal...i've driven other mini's that aren't bad and mine suddenly started being like this. I started referring to this problem in another thread but figure i'll put it back here. Does anyone else have a VERY firm shift lever? As in, you have to use some muscle to get the lever into 5th and 6th especially...my mom (who has driven pretty much only stick her whole life) complained about almost not being able to get it into those gears because of how hard it was. If it was her car she'd have to do some serious arm workouts to be able to shift with ease. My 95 Taurus SHO shifted nicer than this does now.

Oh and my mom is 55 and in good shape, not 95 and frail lol.

EDIT: Better yet, can anyone tell me if their shifter stiffened up after break in? Is your shifter stiffer than most other stickshift cars you've driven?

Service Manager said my car is normal but I still don't buy it. Then I asked him if I put a short shifter in if that would be a bad idea warrantee wise...he said not to, "just in case it gets worse, that way we can fix it"...odd thing to say if it's completely normal...or was he maybe just covering his ***?

 

Bumped again...still getting no where with my dealer with this and anyone who drives my car has the same problem. I also recently started getting the "chewbacca howl" on hard downshifts...blah

 

Just going to throw this out there.... but Next time you go to the dealer ask them to look up this bulletin SIM 23 01 08. It refers to a "stiff diagonal shift" on the R56 and R55 manual transmissions. Sorry you dealer isnt keeping up on Bulletins.

There is also a bulletin out about the noise while downshifting.... SIM 21 01 07. I'm pretty sure your MINI falls into the production date.

Hope that helps

 

Thank you!!! Now I wonder even more as to why my dealer didn't mention this...but it saves me a lot more arguing lol.

 

So here's a question - where does one find the details of these bulletins? I was able to find a list of service bulletins on a Singapore BMW forum, but that doesn't provide much more than a short title/summary.

 

And partially answering my own question, found this: http://www.allworldauto.com/tsbs/mini_technical_service_bulletins_1307-1.html but its "search" seems to be pretty poor.

 

sorry..... I get all my bulletins from the inside, name and password needed. Wish I could help more but I try as much as I can. You can't copy and paste the bulletins.

 

Well thanks for the bulletin number anyways, that helps a lot. At least I can go in and say "what about bulletin so and so...?!" It's better than the crazy sounding me complaining about my shifter being stiff constantly and them looking at me like i am nutso lol.

 

No problem, like Colin said, it's still good info

 

Well finally my car has a new clutch in it...all the bulletins performed...they've had the car since monday because of a small problem with the wiring harness but no big deal.

I don't mind too much because my loaner is a 2009 BMW 328XI with a few hundred miles on it :D

Picking my car up at lunch today lol. I'll report back about whether the stiff shifter and the clutch "groan" have been fixed properly.

 

Ok got my car back....AMAZING! the shifter is smooth as butter in every gear, clutch pedal is easy to use again...not heavy like a truck clutch. As a bonus they even are going to do preventative maintenance to make sure my car doesn't get the cold start rattle. The updated parts aren't available yet but they have them on order. So when they come in they will put those in too....and hopefully give me a high end loaner again lol.

 

Uh, you may get an onslaught of posters wanting to know exactly what this means... me included now that I have the cold start problem

bummer about yr clutch, but Im glad it got resolved. Next time just dont try to describe the problem, insist on a drive with a SA or better yet a tech, and y'll save a lot of hassle.

 

Yeah agreed lol....

I've actually gotten to know one of the Tech's at the local dealer very well and he is a great guy. I think he knows I am not clueless when it comes to cars, and he has been the one who has worked on my car the few times its been to the dealership. He even called me personally this last time to apologize why my car took a little longer to do, explaining exactly what had happened and everything. He called from his cell phone too!

 

For future reference -

See sim 23 01 08 -

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-database.html

and-

https://www.mini2.com/forum/second-g...ml#post4372153

Content from link above-
Ok I was looking to find out the cause of a stiff to move gear lever on r56 mini

This is what I did to cure the issue

1. Disconnect the cables on top of the gearbox by removing the clips

2. Once removed try to move the gearstick. If it moves ok then it's the gearbox end. If it's still stiff then it will be the cables or the box under the gear-lever

3. If the gear stick is easy to move go to the top of the gearbox and look where the left ball joint attaches. Underneath is a pin that runs through a nylon bush with a circlip on the end

4. Carefully remove the circlip and using a punch, tap the pin out of the bush

5. Clean the pin using fine wet and dry and wd40 until it is shiny

6. Get a 9mm drill and insert it into the bush and turn it by hand to clear out any debris

7. Lubricate the pin and slide it a few times in and out of the bush til it's a smooth action

8. Put the circlip back on and lubricate the ball joints and reattach the cables along with the retaining clips

Feel that silky smooth gear stick

Hope this helps and is only a 15 mins free fix

 

Yup... you are exactly right... did that to my 07 R56s two years ago still perfect.... best thing... it was free