i feel ur pain..i am in the process of looking for a rebuilt tranny..the car i once loved, i cannot even look at for over a week in the garage...

and whats worse this would be my second tranny within 75k...when i got the first one at 10k the dealer said it was a fluke...yea right my a$$

 

I replaced my CVT with a 6-speed. Not cheap, (is ANYTHING on a MINI cheap?), but not particularly difficult, either, if you are willing to get greasy.

 

Details!!!

 

Hmmm, well, the tricky part is to source the stuff you need on the cheap. This is not my daily driver, so I had the luxury of time to hunt the internet.
My reasoning went like this: a) I hate autos anyway, 2) I could hardly sell/trade the car with a duff CVT and expect to get diddly squat, and III) the cost of even a used CVT was absurd. So, I decided to get the trans I really wanted if I was going to spend a bunch of money. You'll need the trans, flywheel, clutch assy., pedal/MC assy (including switch), hydraulic lines, slave cyl., halfshafts, shift cables, shifter assy., and the mount for the trans.
Additionally, you might want to get a new ECU configured for your car, otherwise you'll have a constant CEL telling you the CVT is not responding, and you might not have cruise control when you are finished- I'm working on resolving both of these issues now. The CEL may require the official MINI black tape over the light!
You'll have to do a bit of wiring, such as for the backup light, and jumpering the wire to the starter, and you'll have to tie up the key/shift interlock cable, which takes about 5 minutes.
The CVT starter and the 6-speed starters are interchangeable, but if you go with a 5-speed you'll have to get another starter. I also went with a slave cylinder from a '90 S-10 pickup because it's cast iron, fits, and works beautifully, whereas the plastic MINI one was absolute pants.
My total cost after scouring Craigslist/eBay for bargains was $ 1960. I do all my own work, but I have a typical garage, so I didn't have a lift or anything- just a jackstand and jacks. There are other pages in her detailing swapping a 5-speed to a 6-speed, so they will be helpful too.
One more thing: I went with a Fidanza lightened flywheel and clutch set up- with the non-S engine, it really helps. The whole combo works really well. Hope this helps.

 

I'm in the exact same situation - transmission died at around 88,000 miles, hearing numbers like $7-$8,000 thrown around.

At that price, it would be more worthwhile for me to junk the car, buy a Honda, and pay off the $6,000 I owe on the car.

 

My wife just had some work done on her 2002 Mini, to include a transmission fluid change. The shop said there was metal in the transmission fluid, and that she probably had about 6 months on her transmission. Their estimated repair price was around $7k, which I found hard to believe until I found this thread.

Man...

 

wow this just brought some chills back to me....actually I just picked up my car because the radiator went out on me.

Well here is the 411 this was my third transmission that died on me. I went all the way up bmw to complain. Just crazy as heck...luckily they were so nice to help me out with costs and have me just pay for labor...more like they screwed me over with a defected part and just put another part in my car which will last maybe 2-3 years if i am lucky.

if you think the transmission is the least of the problems...google the power steering issue. that died within one week of getting my car....if i were you i would get another car...the only reason i am keeping this is that it has a tranny 2year warranty...when two years come close this baby is going out the door like no tomorrow

 

I'm glad I found this topic. I found a $5,000 2004 MC with a blown transmission on eBay thinking it was a heck of a deal. Knowing that fixing the transmission would be more than the car costs doesn't seem like a deal now.

Does this transmission issue apply only to automatics? Or do manuals have these issues and high repair cost issues too?

 

As far as automatics: applies only to Justa Coopers. MCS Autos (non-CVT) are much more reliable.