I've read replies from my original post cvtneverland. Yes I had the fluid changed!! I treated this car with care! A stinkin' transmission ought to go 200k miles! After the fact, I find all these bad things out about the cvt.Like I said- mini is laying a fat you- know -what on consumers. Not to long ago you could go to the junkyard and pull an old ford or chevy trans outand it would do ok. Right now I'm just looking for options. Is there a web sight that would help this consumer out? Recalls? Class action? One mechanic I spoke with said he tells all customers -DO NOT BUY European.

 

Your mechanic should have told you to research the vehicle before purchase. It's an obvious problem with automatic Mini's.

Nothing wrong with Euro-Cars.

Lesson learned for next time.

 

You mention you had the fluid changed, but mini doesn't do it, nor recommend it. It is something one has to research, buy the correct fluid, then do themselves or pay someone to do it. Mini dropped the ball on the "lifetime" designation for the fluid.

Some say cruising without changing speed wears it faster, who knows. It sure is bad for those in your position. Recently replacement parts are available, but the trick is finding someone willing and able to fix them.

 

I never changed fluid and my CVT performed flawlessly!

 

Some folks think that changing the oil every 5K will make the transmission last longer (perhaps). The CVT in the MINI was a hunk of junk and expensive to replace. It is so complicated that nobody will repair them. I don't ever recommend the CVT that MINI sells to anyone.

That being said, for the 100 people that may have complained here, there are thousands on the road that have had no problem which is why there has not been a recall.

Should a transmission do 200K as the OP mentioned? Maybe but it is made by man and everyone will have different tolerances and if you are looking for a car that is reliable, there are other vendors that are better suited for that.

 

Does anyone know what exactly "breaks" inside or is it a part or parts that wears out or ?? Most auto tranny's can be rebuilt and it's usually either the bearings or the plates are worn out.

 

In a recent posting, a CVT owner showed the remnants of the belt in the transmission pan, so in that case the belt (made of numerous odd shaped metal pieces) self destructed. Not sure if that's the leading cause, though.

 

Our other car is an '04 Justa with the CVT and the owners manual recommends the transmission fluid (its not oil) be changed at 30k miles and that is part of the 3 year service work. This is a $250 expense if you don't get it done under the warrantee.

The manual transmission oil is listed as "life time" but there are other threads about that and how that should be changed out also.

 

Transmission fluid isn't oil? You might want to check your sources.

These cars use 75w-90 transaxle oil for the gearbox. Specific ones mind you, but it's still an oil lubrication.

Edit: Actually, that weight is for the manual transmission, however the concept is identical.

 

If what you mean by saying "the concept is identical" is that what is inside the CVT and a manual transmission provide lubrication, in a general sense I agree. However, beyond that the fluid inside a CVT is as different from transaxle oil as transaxle oil is from automatic transmission fluid. I understand that the CVT uses a special silicon based "fluid" which is designed to lubricate and but not lubricate so much that the drive belt doesn't work. Much like automatic transmission fluid, it is not referred to as an "oil". That is all I intended to mean by my statement.