Thanks for the info,
If i were you i would just put back the six quarts and get it up to temp and drain out the fluid.thats what i did.. When i did it i made sure to get it through park, neutral and reverse for about five to ten seconds then put it in park and drain out what is over the standpipe. I did manage to get about two quarts back out of it. I used maxlife in mine, it's okay but i feel i can improve it with TIV from what people have told me..
Good luck i hope it works out well for you, mine was rough at first but smoothed out after a few drives. My friends on the other hand had trouble , reset the tcm via dealer and is having some issues again. i think they are going to send out another valve body to try based on his issues.... i get to do it again!!!!

 

Well as a follow up I wanted to say that I completed the valve body swap and everything is doing great so far. It's been about a week and I'm getting smooth shifts throughout all gears. I put 5 quarts and about 8 oz of Toyota TIV fluid in and called it a day. I did not drain any out from the stand pipe and all is well.

I also wanted to say that I never disconnected my battery which might have helped save the short term adaptations. When I buttoned everything up and got to driving I never got any EP codes or engine lights. Lucky? Maybe. I was able save about $75 in code/adaptation clearing from my dealership.

RevMax was very easy to work with and would recommend considering them for the valve body.

Just as a side note you'll probably want to buy an extra torx bolt to replace the difficult to reach one hiding under the frame. This is one of the bolts that holds the pan to the transmission. I barely stripped mine when removing it and thought it would be better to replace it with a new one.

 

[QUOTE=eyeckr;3678574] I put 5 quarts and about 8 oz of Toyota TIV fluid in and called it a day. I did not drain any out from the stand pipe and all is well.

QUOTE]

Hi, congrats on your repair. I think you are supposed to see some fluid dripping from the standpipe when the fluid is warm (not cold and not hot), that's how you know that it is at the proper fill level. The car should be level.

 

Eyeckr - sounds good.

Do you have any pics of the rebuild?

Are you talking about the Eneos fuild ?


http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/3103300/ES2173522/


And the filter Kit: R52 Cooper S auto, R52 Cooper S Auto


http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/24347551087KT/ES2602655/




Thanks

 

Thanks Aspen. I'm sure if I took the drain plug off right now I'd get some fluid to come out. I figured that the Bentley book called for 4.8 quarts for refill and I got a little over 6 quarts out that I'd split the difference and put 5 quarts 8oz back in. Maybe I should go back and do the level standpipe test though.

I wanted to add a quick tip for refill. When I got ready to put the pan back on I put about a little over a quart of new fluid in the actual pan and carefully bolted it up on the transmission to save me time during refill. I didn't have the special refill tool and refilling from the top takes a long time with a funnel. This will save about 15-20 mins of slowly pouring a quart back in through the top.

I forgot to mention that when I took my transmission pan down I luckily did not find a single metal shaving attached to either of the two magnets in the pan. That was a big relief. If I did I would've known right then and there I may have been in for some real problems even after a valve body swap.

Oh also after I got everything put together and started driving it was perfectly fine from the get go. I had no rough shifts or anything from even pulling out of my garage.

 

ECSTuning. I do have pictures of the rebuilt RevMax valve body I put in but it actually looks just like the original except were they did some etching on the valves where they numbered them. If you are talking about the DIY it starts at post #223.

I did not use the Enos Synthetic fluid as I read that it might be better to just use the Toyota T IV fluid although others have had good results with synthetic.

Yes that was the filter and gasket kit that I ordered from you -best pricing btw!

 

Eyeckr - "Yes that was the filter and gasket kit that I ordered from you -best pricing btw!"

Like the service thread. Did you replace the wire harness sensors also?

Thanks we appreciate that.

Let us know if you need anything else.

 

I had German Motor Specialist in Sunnyvale, CA repair for $750 in labor, they took about 1.5 days. You need to order the transmission fluid, you need 6 qts of redline d4 atf from amazon. I provided 5 qts, they supplemented until it was filled. I ordered the valve body from revmax converters and gaskets and filter from pelican parts. Mechanic took it out for a drive, said the symptoms drastically improved. They did a TCU reset and they are a dedicated BMW/Mini Shop. I will be having my wife drive it for a week and seeing if the problem is resolved since the adaptation has been reset. If it is fantastic. I would've practically replaced every essential part in this car.

Now I just need new rear wheel bearings... another $75/each...

 

whoatemyrice -it seems like you got a fair deal with the labor charge. I couldn't hardly get any transmission shops around here to even have a conversation about doing this for me. The one place who said that they could do it was asking around $1K in labor but actually encouraged me to try doing it myself. I'm glad I did and I ended up giving the owner a call back to thank him for the pep talk he gave me.

I hope your valve body swap does the trick. It sounds like you are good to go. Did German Motor Specialists recommend using the Redline fluid? Keep us updated on how things are shaking out.

 

I am going to be driving it this weekend to see how much it has improved. They recommend OEM fluid and they supplemented the missing difference with OEM, but synthetic I believe is always better since it breaks down less than conventional.

 

Recently replaced the valve body in our recently acquired 2005 R53 (@ 87,000 miles) due to the slip/hard shift and everything seems to be good. Replaced the valve body, filter, gasket, harness and RedLine D4ATF fluid.

I have noticed another issue though, if we do not push back the shifter all the way back into drive or all the way forward in reverse we get some slip or no engagement of the transmission. There is movement of the shifter back and forth and the "D" or "R" are lit at this point but no or slight engagement.

Anyone seen or have experience with this, I'm thinking some type of sensor.

 

Sounds like the selector arm isn't on properly.

 

Thank you for the reply.

I wonder is that easily checked from the interior at the gear selector or do we have to have it up on a rack to check from underneath?

 

Hi to all of the NAM members that did the Valve Body swap; Great work !

I have yet to do mine as its not acting up yet.

I'm only at 27,000 miles and I used the JWS 3309 fluid; purchased a case from an oil distributor up here in Nevada.

I did want to comment that when I switched my fluid three times at 24,000 miles it was dark brown already ! That is not a good sign at all.

Since you all have spent all this Time & Money to repair the transmission, include a regular fluid change.

New VW's have a transmission somewhat like ours but I want you all to take a look at how they change the fluid. Not from the top but from the bottom !

Maybe one of the NAM members can find out how to make a kit like the one used in the attached info. ( kit VAS 6262 )

Anyway, please review this info and lets get this kit going so we can stop filling from the top ! Maybe drill out an old oil pan plug and weld in a brass or copper tube ?

Here is the info which is VW, but it will work for us as they use the stand pipe in their transmission too.

http://www.myturbodiesel.com/1000q/m...ge-service.htm

Let me hear your thoughts . . . . . . . . .

 

The Mini is now fixed. Test drove it, my wife broke in the adaptive relearn. Floored it and released it multiple times to try to resimulate the problem. The valve body from RevMax performed better than OEM, held revs for longer, and makes the car drive like new. I'm installing the rear wheel bearing once the part comes. My recommendation is that since the valve body is going to fail at 80k, do not waste your money with transmisison fluid flushes, since it's $30 each time you drain and flush it.

If something has a specific lifespan, just let it die. However with the new valve body with updated parts, I will be flushing it every 50k when the coolant is due, the supercharger oil, and brake fluid (Super blue ate). Just save up for every 50k miles for maintenance. Live with the Mini's problems and drive it happily when it's fixed

 

SpeedBuggy if your selector arm is loose I don't think you could check that from up top. You would have to take the pan off to check that.







If it is the actual shifter then that might be worth checking out from the top. You might want to check that out first before you pull the pan off again and have to do another refill. I'm suprised that you changed the wiring harness but I guess it wouldn't hurt.

MiniKar that is a good idea. I think I've read that some have already used a connector or pump that allows them to do quicker refills from below but I hadn't look much into it. Maybe that device can be posted here.

whoatemyrice that's good to hear. I'm somewhat with you on the flushes but it does seem to help some people. My thing is that I should've just quit with the flushes after three tries thinking it would help. If you don't see results after your third flush just go ahead and swap your valve body. I wasted money on my 4th and 5th flush attempt which I could've just used toward a new valve body.

A better fluid change technique would be just to pull your pan off and drain that way. That way you can just pretty much get it all changed out in one sitting and check your magnets and pan for metal shavings or other material.

 

i did 3 flushes before swapping the valve body. I was actual able to determine it was the valve body because there was a significant improve with transmission flush. If you transmission was on its way to actually dying, the flush would NOT improve the symptoms for a short period of time. With that said, if you flush your transmission with Redline D4 ATF and the symptoms improve, it is most likely your valve body.

Other ways I determined it was the valve body:

-Gears would slam only after the transmission fluid warmed up
-I went into limp mode 3rd gear without throwing a code
-After it went into 3rd gear limp mode, I pulled over on the road, and let the transmission oil cool for 30 minutes and I was able to drive it back home grandma mode. It did not throw a ECU code or TCU code [german motors check the TCU]
-Flushing it the first time drastically improved the shifting and slamming
-Flushing it a second time did somewhat
-Flushing it a 3rd time did not make a difference
-I cleaned the throttle body to ensure it wasn't a sticky TB plate closing during shifts
-I clean the Tmap and map sensors [electric parts cleaner] to ensure it wasn't the sensors forcing the transmission or gears to shift late or early
-I seafoamed the car to remove carbon build-up in the cylinders and changed the oil.
-I added a bottle of techron cleaner to ensure it wasn't the fuel pump, fuel filter, or injectors [I only use premium Shell or Chevron, nothing off brand, and I rotate between the two because Shell has high nitrogen content which causes early morning misfires or hard starts]
-I flushed the radiator and coolant system with distilled water, and shock vacummed anything left over through the expansion tank, I did this because the transmission has a transmission cooler that uses coolant for 2005 models forward, and if the coolant was bad it could cause the transmission to overheat, by flushing and filling with new coolant and redline coolant additive, it ensured the transmission cooler was doing its purpose and the tranny was not overheating and burning the tran fluid and destroying your transmission.
-I checked my engine for gasket leaks [I found one major leak came from the dip stick gasket and replaced it]
Hope the information above helps anybody else.

 

Thanks for the advice, KB30. I had it reset at Prestige MINI (they could find nothing wrong with the car) and it worked well for about a week. Then the same symptoms started returning (EP and limp mode on cold starts). The symptoms degraded overtime to the point where the car was always in limp mode. I then took it to MINI Manhattan (couldn't get it up to speed on the highway to get it to Prestige). They scanned it and said that the third solenoid had failed, but when the code was cleared and the car re-adapted, it began to work normally again. However, the same symptoms returned a day or two later.

Revmaxx was good enough to send me a new valve body, so we'll see if maybe that is the culprit....

 

I'm in the same boat with a friends car, replaced valve body took it for a reset , was perfect. Got it home and let it cool and took it out again and it did the same thing..
The first 1-2 shift is perfect. Then till it warms up it will bang on the shift...
Anytime the 6-5 shift is harsh. We're still waiting on the replacement to come.
All I know is there was complaints on the 09 g in the vw for the same issues, makes me think its a defective valve body.
What a pain, I. CAnt believe all the makes and models that are having trouble with this..
Just got off the phone with the trans shop, They stated that the solenoid is probably out of adjustment for the 1-2 shift. When the car warms up the tcm can somewhat adjust it and make it smoother. Instead of guiding me through an adjustment procedure they finally sent my another body out.
anyway, im just talking this out in the hopes that somebody can gather some information from it. Sorry to ramble on!

 

So if I understand correctly, now the new Valve Bodies that RevMaxx is shipping out are also defective?

Are they paying for all the tranny fluid that you need to replace due to their defective product ?

 

I didn't use revmax so I can't really comment on them but i have heard they are very good. I used someone else, trust me stick to revmax or one of the better known ones just for their customer service and more thorough testing. I wouldn't say they are defective but they can be out of adjustment from what I was told.

 

And what did we learn by not using RevMax who uses updated Sonnax solenoids and dyno tests their valve bodies? It's like buying a rebuilt supercharger from eBay it's going to fail. WMW for Supercharger, RevMax for Valve Body, Amazon and Mini of South Atlanta for all else =D with the coupon "LIKEFB".

 

I think it's premature to blame the issue on the valve body, but even if it was the rebuilt unit, I have to say that Revmaxx has been great in helping to diagnose the problem and they sent me a replacement unit with no questions asked. Based on my experience and the success others have had, I would still recommend them.

I took the car and the new valve body to Helix in Philly to see if they can figure out what is going on with the car and am waiting to see what they can figure out. I would still be surprised if it turns out to be the valve body, but we'll see...

 

Yes, please tell us what the shop finds im interested to hear what they find.
I hope its something easy.

 

bk30, so looks like you put in 6 quarts and 2 quarts backout - so the net was 4 quarts. So, did you monitor the temp when draining out what was over the stand pipe? How did you measure the temp and what was the reading? I have an infrared thermometer which I can measure the surface temp on the pan, but not sure if this is the right way of doing it?