Hard side-to-side shifts
 

Hi-
My daughter purchased a 2005 Base Mini Cabrio (R52). From the center of the gearshift (3/4 gears), trying to go to the 1/2 or 5/R gates are very tough. There is a lot of resistance.

I assumed it was the shift cables, so I replaced those. It did absolutely nothing. It's still very stiff going side-to-side to 1/2 or 5/R. I tried to see if anything might be binding, but nothing really stood out. I did notice that the shift arm(?) within the shift cable box seems to flex a lot. It's made out of plastic. When shifting from 3/4 to 1/2 (or 5/R), the arm seems to bend. Looking at the Pelican Parts picture, there's seems to be a steel arm (there's looks like an older mini). So, I'm not sure why mine is plastic and if it's supposed to be bending like that.

This is what I'm talking about:
https://flic.kr/p/xqDQzm

Any ideas? Thanks in advance!

So, I'm thinking it might be the switching unit. This thread sounds exactly my issue:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-now-what.html