I have an appointment setup for the dealer to take a look at this - but was curious if anyone else has experienced this issue.

Background - my Clubman S has about 1,100 miles on it - still doing the break in period so I'm not doing any "hard" driving yet. The car is garaged overnight so it never truly gets cold until I park it at the park&ride during the days. Its gotten cold here recently (20-30s) and when I get back to the car in the afternoons - I let it warm up for a minute or two then take it easy on my 5 mile commute home. Recently as its gotten cold I've noticed that shifting between 1st and 2nd is harder than normal and on occasion it will grind slightly. I thought at first it was me doing something wrong (letting the clutch too early - shifting slow, etc) but I'm confident I'm not doing that part wrong because when the car gets warm it shifts fine.

Any ideas?
thanks

 

Same problem on my '07 brought it in many times to the dealer with same complaint. The dealer replaced the clutch @ 30k. I knew that the clutch wasn't the problem but I wasn't going to turn down a new clutch . My MINI still grinds between 1st and 2nd when cold, has 70K currently with no other problems. I just try to be mindful shifting into 2nd when the car is cold.

 

Does going from first to third work OK?

 

Do you mean the shifting feels "notchy"? My 2003 R50 does this, too. I posted about it last year I think. I always warm it up for a minute otherwise there's a hesitation when shifting to second. As for the stiff shifting I'm starting to wonder if I should change the gearbox oil.

 

I had issues with hard shifting from neutral to first and the dealer changed the gear box oil and it did help with that and smoothed out shifts overall. Still sticks going into first now and then, but it hasn't gotten any worse after 15000mi.

 

Define cold... I noted that when it's sub 30, the gearbox oil is SO thick the stick feels almost frozen. Warming up the car helps tremendously.

 

haven't tried - 2nd to 3rd is smooth cold and warm

 

Usually the mornings are mid teens - warming up to maybe mid 50s. Car sits all day in those temps. When I get in the car in the evening its probably in the high 30s - low 40s. I let the car warm up for about 2 minutes - then its an easy sub 40mph drive home. Shifting between every other gear is smooth -only 1st to 2nd is the problem.

 

I'd categorize it as notchy between 1st and 2nd - it has a dealer appointment in about 2 weeks (delay in getting a loaner car) - so we'll see what they say then. Until then I'm just continuing to take it easy.

 

Sounds like typical cold gearbox oil issues. The reason this problem manifests itself in 1st-2nd shifts is that this shift is the hardest on the syncros in the gearbox. You're not going to get the oil warm much by sitting in the driveway. Just drive very gently and shift very slowly and deliberately until the shifter frees up. If you force things, you wear out the syncros and the box will start the slow slide towards being crunchy all the time.

- Mark

 

Thanks for the info, Mark. I didn't realize this was typical. Driving around today I was extra conscious of the feel during shifting, and I can say it's crunchy for the better part of a 20 min drive in mild (60 degrees) temps. I ordered gearbox oil today and hopefully its replacement will make a difference. I do always take it easy in the morning when starting up, even in the summer.

 

There's some variance in how boxes shift and how well the syncros work, but this doesn't sound completely normal; perhaps you have some extra clutch drag or there is something off in your box.

When you shift, the way to be easiest on the synchros is to guide the shifter towards the gate with your hand on the sides of the shifter. For the 1st-2nd shift, you'd put your hand on the right side of the stick and apply gently pressure downwards and to the left on the sides of the shift ****, rather than grabbing the **** from above. Let the box find the next gear with gentle pressure rather than forcing it. With cold oil, it may take a couple seconds to complete the shift without a crunch.

If after five or ten minutes of driving, this sort of shifting style still results in a crunch, I would say you've got a problem.

- Mark

 

Here's hoping the oil change will do some good. I will post a follow up after that's done.
And thanks again.

 

What gearbox oil do you replace it with, standard mini or something else?

 

The consensus seems to be Redline MTL. There's a great tutorial here in the "How To" section with details and pics (for an S model but I'm assuming the procedure is pretty much the same with an R50, except the R50 takes slightly more or less oil).

 

Ya might want to double clutch that shift until the box warms up. Might help extend the life of the synchros. I do...

Cheers,

Charlie

 

Thanks everyone - I'll take that shift even slower until the car is fully warmed up. I'm pretty sure you're all right about the cause of this issue - never experienced it in any other manual car - but that was a while ago since I drove one full time. Undecided if I want to keep my dealer appointment now or not - since once it is warmed up the shift is smooth (no grinding) - my hope is I haven't done much damage.
Thanks again !

 

Here's the magnetic drain and fill plugs from my gearbox. Note the amount of metal filings they've collected. Glad I changed the oil out!