After reading a bunch of posts about the tranny issues in the cooper, iam a little worried about my '04 r53 i just purchased, it has almost 60k on it, i am wondering if there is a way to "check" the tranny just to see if iam headed for trouble

 

There's a check plug (8mm hex or Allan socket) you can take out with the car level (jack stands). If it drips a little when warm, it's full. You may still want to change it though, even though it's supposed to be a lifetime fluid.

You could take it to a local lube/oil center and have them check it for you if you don't have the tools/garage...

Do a search and you should be able to find a pic of the plug.

 

Wow, not to sound perverse, but taken in the wrong context, the title of this thread could totally be taken the wrong way.

Related to your topic...

Is it an MC or an MCS? It's the Midlands tranny that has the trouble (I went through it myself).

If it is an MC... simply look under the car from the drivers side and locate the transmission. You'll see two hex plugs placed vertically. Pull the top one (if you don't want to change the fluid) and check it for gear shavings. When my tranny was on its way out there was about an inch of shavings on the end of the plug.

With that said, you should notice odd behavior from the transmission if it's going bad. Stuff that would definitely be noticeable. Mine had really REALLY bad chatter.

 

He said it was an '04 R53. That's an MCS, I think they were only available with manual tranny '02-'04.

 

^^Right. But sometimes people (especially new comers) use R53 as an umbrella term for the Gen. 1 MINI's. Just trying to help control for that possibility .

And that's correct, the MCS was only available with a manual until late 04 early 05.

 

Yup, that is why I checked this thread!