Hi,
New member. Have had 2003 automatic for 2 years (one other owner). 56,000 miles. Transmission seems to have died. CVT trans. Have read about lots of other 2003s with same problem. Any ideas about whether it is worth fixing/replacing? Any suggestion about where to go in North NJ besides dealer?
Thanks so much.
teensybee

 

Died eh? What's it doing?

 

It won't drive in any gear but reverse. I backed it out of my carport, then put it drive, it went about 30 feet, made a weird noise (I know, that's so descriptive), a kind of whirring grinding noise, then would not go anywhere but backwards. Even if I kept it in drive and took my foot off the break and on the gas, it still just slowly backed up. In drive, it sounds and acts like it's in neutral. Three days earlier it did sound like it was not shifting gears right, going up a fairly steep hill. Then it seemed okay and got me home. BUt now it ain't going nowhere. Had it towed to my local mechanic who said it is definitely a transmission problem and it's not in the linkage. But he doesn't want to work on it, doesn't feel like he knows enough about minis.

 

Ugh... i'm so sorry! That's gonna put a dent in the pocketbook. A new CVT tranny runs about $5k.

How many miles does your car have? And did you do the CVT fluid maintenance?

 

Yeah, I know CVT trannys are a major expense and like a whole lot of other people right now it's a hard time for me financially. But I'm not sure I could get a used car that would match this one. Really haven't put much money into it so far. Got new tires, had new brake pads put on. 56,000 miles. Everything checked out perfectly last year, including fluids, except needed new brake pads. From what I've read, this is not an uncommon problem in 2003s with CVT. Lots of folks think BMW should have recalled them. Anyway, it is what it is and I just have to figure out how to pay for it!

 

Since it will still go in reverse it probably means that the steel belt is still intact - may not be a complete replacement.

 

Have it checked out by Mini or a Mini specialist, it's hard to tell if the tranny is completely dead or not with what you are saying.

As Atomic pointed out, your steel belt still seems good so it might not need a new transmision, I hope it pans out for you.

Either that or you might want to consider getting a manual tranny put in but I'm not certain if it's viable or not price wise, I'll let the pros answer that one.