People keep telling me about the inevitable problem with the cvt transmission on my 03 cooper. it has 108,000 miles on it but still seems to be running fine (to the best of my knowledge) but this has spooked me a bit into saving money up and looking for the best deals on replacement transmissions and i have found a few on ebay from wrecked mini coopers.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/02-03...#ht_3574wt_988
this one has 79k on it
http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/TRANS...ht_2549wt_1165
this one has 146k


I have found that manuals (of the same condition) are about half the price of the autos, but through many forum posts about swaps i understand that you need either a match ecu/tcu or you need to get one reflashed to the right VIN.


any help or insight would be helpful, my transmission is currently fine but it's anyone's guess how long it will continue to last

 

You'd be taking a huge chance. The CVT, along with the midlands 5sp are known to fail. If you buy one used without knowing how the previous owner maintained it you could be having to fork out the money again after that one fails. You're looking at about $1500 in labor just to get it installed too (unless it's more expensive for the CVT). You're better off getting a refurb installed with a warranty. You may have to pay more, but it will save you from repeating the process a few miles down the road.

 

Those seem kinda pricey for ones with 79-146k on them already, given
their seemingly finite lifespan. Maybe if the one with 79k has documentation of
at least one fluid change...

 

You mentioned before you want to turn this car into a gp (off road) race car....as such I would strongly suggest the 5 speed conversion...

The midlands 5 speeds do fail....
All in all, if you want a track car, imo unless you want tons of work and a big project, trade cars to get a 5 speed....
The cvt will not live long, or be competative in gp racing....
Good luck.

 

right now it is just my daily driver (and will be for at least 5 years as i'm paying the car off) I'm just looking for the cheapest route to keep it going for another 30,000 (roughly).

what specifically fails in a CVT and what specifically fails in a midland manual?

btw i would doing the tranny swap when the time comes, as i have all the tools needed to do so.

 

After reading all the posts on CVT problems, I have my own theory - according to the manufacturer the fluid needs to be changed every 28K miles -- failure probably occurs when the fluid breaks down. RPM's should not go above 6K -- I don't think they can handle abuse very well. I have had two, my first I put 93,000 miles on without any problems, and my current I have 73,000 miles with no problems. Just my opinion If by chance my should fail, I think I would do the 6 speed conversion.

 

fair enough, thanks for letting me know about the 28k interval. I've had mine for less than 1,000 miles with no service records, so i'll be getting a flush soon.