I was on a hour trip to the city yesterday in my Mini Cooper and on the way back my gear changes became very stiff and I had to use a lot more force than usual to put it into gear. It did this for about 10 minutes during which I tried to shift as little as possible in case I couldn't get it in gear. I got to a red light after a few miles of this and I left it in first with my foot on the clutch so I knew I could get going and when it turned green I started off as usual but when I went for second gear it was perfectly alright, like nothing was wrong in the first place. Does anyone know why it would've done this for a short period of time then stopped?

It was a warm day and the car had been running for a while already and I've never had anything like this before. 2006 MINI Cooper S 6 spd getrage

 

You should look at your shifter cables, under the air intake. Sometimes the boots get damaged and crap get in there or start to seize due to water/road salt.

 

I will give that a look on wednesday. Seems odd but we had quite the salt season this year and your idea makes sense. Will post result. Thanks for the input.

 

I had this happen to me tonight. Was driving around in town, mostly 1st and 2nd gear when suddenly the shifter got very stiff between gears. I figured I'd better head home quick before I need to be towed. After just a few minutes once I reached about 40 mph everything cleared up and shift were usual easy again.

I will open up to look at the cables this weekend. Any update or anyone else experience this? Is this beginning of something expensive?

Thanks!!

 

Sorry for late reply but i did service my mini (per ghost) and found the boots on the shift cable were rotted at the tops and the exterior linkage mechanism on the transmission itself was quite dry. I lubed the external transmission parts with Wurth HHS 2000 and then shot the same material into the boot tops until full. I had my wife shift the car to help set the lube in. I then filled the boots with synthetic grease to give some "seal" to the procedure. The shifting has improved 100%. Thank you to Ghost, you hit it spot on! ! !

 

Thanks adainc! I had bad dreams of transmission failure! I'll pull things apart this weekend and follow your instructions. Very much appreciated!

 

You'll be amazed how cruddy it gets back there over time. Good Luck. Have to remove a few things (air filter housing and such) but take your time and go drive the hell out of the car when your done.

 

I just removed my cold air intake assembly so that I could get to the linkages for the shifter. I thoroughly lubed everything up and my shifter is now like butter!

I wish I did this a year ago!