I have been working on my grand daughter's 2004 R50 for some time now. I have searched all the web and have never found any one that has experienced a similar problem. She says it was driving wierd and made unusual noise on her way to work. (Young girls don't explain things very well). When she got in it to go home, the engine started but the car wouldn't move in forward or reverse. The tow truck driver had to manually get the car out of park by taking the trim off around the shifter. That tells me that the battery must have been dead (familiar, huh) Of course, now no codes in the computer.
I now have it here in my shop and engine runs fine, but when I put it in drive and give it gas, the car doesn't even act like it wants to move but the tranny is loading the engine down as though the brakes were on. When I put it in reverse, again, no move but here the engine revs more like it may be in neutral. It does also put a small load on the engine as well. I took note that the exhaust is rattling like bad catalytic converter. I got a generic code reader and was able to see the step motor positions as I shift. In park and neutral, it shows position 56. In drive, it moves to position 13. 13 in reverse also. that seems to indicate that the step motor is working to me.?? As I was playing with the code reader that originally showed no codes suddenly showed P0500 (speed signal), P1787 (actuator open circuit) and P1698 (gear box control error). Those codes were never again able to be retrieved after that time and there was never an EP or check engine light.
Now I got the INPA program and cleared the adaptation, got the XP on the shifter. I did the clutch learning sequence and the car still won't move-no change. Today I am going to pull out the battery box and see if I can get to the electrical connections to check continuity on the speed sensor and the step motor and solenoids. I was putting that off till I was able to try the adaptation. I will note that before I saw it, she took it to a shop that took a quick look and told her $5000.00 for a new tranny.
Has any one seen a Mini that just wouldn't move like that?

 

Moving this to the Stock Problems/Issues area.

 

Didn't the '04 have the CVT transmission? If so, it's probably not gonna be a simple fix. There are a couple of vendors on the site that deal in used Mini parts if you end up needing another trans, etc. I'm not that familiar with the 1st Gen cars, but I'm sure someone with a lot more savvy will chime in soon.
And, welcome to the forum.

 

Thanks, vetsvet. You must have a corvette! I am in the process of restoring a 1962 Corvair. Yes, it is a CVT. I am determined to fix this even if it comes down to opening it. I have done several conventional automatics in the past (including corvair powerglide many years ago)
I have the battery box and the air box out and haven't found the tcu yet if anyone knows where it is.
Rich

 

Yes on the Vette, although it's been in storage for the last six or seven years. Love the Corvair. Got to drive a 2 door for a month back when I was in high school. An old girlfriend had a 4 door with the auto on the dash. That one was a dog, but I have always lusted after a Monza Spyder, Coupe or Convertible. Even though Ralph pronounced them "Unsafe at any speed".

 

mine is a monza spyder coupe! right now it is a bare body, ready for paint. I drove the same car for years in high school and college.

 

Thinking there are rebuild kits out there but also wondering if you need some special tools.

 

Well, 2 days later and I now know what happened. I wanted everyone to know, so here it is:
Tranny is still in the car. All I had to do is pull the valve body to see what happened. I found about 8 little pieces of aluminum in the pan, about 1/16 inch square and from 1/8 inch to about an inch long. Where they came from--they were tabs on the case that holds the snap ring in place. That is the snap ring that holds the entire reverse clutch assembly in the case. The snap ring and reverse clutch is wedged tightly against the forward clutch. I can't turn anything. The good news is that it looks like the tranny never turned from the instant that broke, so there are no shavings through the system.
Any one have any idea why this happened? My guess at this time is excess reverse clutch pressure, caused by a valve stuck open? Just a guess. I will follow up after I get the tranny out of the car and opened up.
Rich

 

I know nothing about the CVT, except that we have one in our '04. So I am tracking these thread about problems with them.
Here is a thread that seems to be really good for doing a rebuild. It may not answer the question you have asked but it might answer your next questions (how do I do a rebuild?). Let us know what you find out...

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...built-cvt.html

 

BTW - I learned to drive on a '63 Greenbrier. I was always partial to the Corsa 140 Hp convertible 4 speed. Of course a Crown conversion with a Z28 302 stuffed in the rear seat would be fun too.

 

ANY HELP, PLEASE!

I have my mini cooper CVT transmission open in my shop. The only thing I can find wrong is that snap ring (circlip) that held the reverse clutch in the case. The tabs in the case that hold it in broke off .The good news is that I have all the pieces out of the trannny so there are no fragments hidden in there somewhere. That is the only thing I can find that is wrong. It is easy to see why the car had no reverse gear, but why wouldn't the car move in drive? It just acted like the brake was set when I gave it the gas. The tranny was loading the engine down. Now that it is in parts, everything moves freely. My concern is that if I replace the case, how can I be sure it isn't going to just break again? Something had to cause this and the only thing I can think of is excess pressure in the reverse clutch or maybe just a defective casting that finally gave out. Any help will be appreciated, I doubt that mine is the first one this has happened to.

 

Seriously, post this on the CVT thread I provided a link to in my post above. I doubt that, with this thread, you are reaching people who have done these rebuilds and might know something about your problem.

 

It is possible that the stepper motor failed and allowed two directions at the same time. (forward and reverse at the same time)
The stepper motors are a known failure point, along with the valve body.

 

I have been so busy looking for something inside the transmission that I forgot that I had checked the stepper motor a long time ago, before I took the tranny out of the car. Back then, I checked between pins 5 and 6: and pins 7 and 8 at the transmission control unit. Both readings were supposed to be between 18 and 30 ohms. I got a reading of an open at those pins. Now that I have the valve body out, I checked those pins right at the stepper motor and I do get the proper readings there. Thanks for the reminder, Tomorrow, I will check the wiring harness inside the tranny from the stepper motor to the connector on the transmission. Then I will check the wiring between the transmission and the control module.
I don't see how this would cause the tranny to not go in drive, since the reverse clutch can't engage with the snap ring off. The stepper motor may have caused the clip to pop out of the housing though.

 

Eddie, I still don't know what's causing the broken snap ring tabs. You suggested I move my thread to a CVT thread. I can't find the link you refer to in your reply or any previous replies. If you could help me move this thread to where it belongs, I might get some replies,
Thanks!

 

Up in post #9, above, should be a link to the thread I was talking about. If it not there or you don’t see let me know and I’ll PM it to you.