Mistake in title on the CVT, learned this car is not CVT thank you!

Just curious if anyone can lend a helping hand. Just purchased a 2006 MCS convertible in hot orange. The car has just under 110k miles and the transmission feels pretty rough. All three of my previous Minis have been manuals and I've never driven one of these cars.

The owner says the transmission had a significant valve body replacement done probably about 4 years ago or so, which involved removing motor mounts and dropping the transmission (?). After the new valve body, he was expecting the car to "learn" a correct shift pattern over time but that never really happened.

The car can be a little jerky at low speeds, occasional hard up and down shifts. I've read this is typical and so I'm less concerned. I mostly dislike the fact that the car always seems to hold RPM and never wants to up-shift when I think it should. I find myself often up-shifting to drop the RPM. Sometimes, within about 30 seconds, the car will just down-shift back to holding the higher RPM.

Idle throttle response feels weak or sluggish and there is a SES light and EP advisory set. The previous owner told me the correction for most of this was to take it to the MINI dealer where they can reprogram the computer for the new valve body.

Any help is greatly appreciate!

 

The S did not have a CVT rather an Aisen. The issues between the two are not the same. Hopefully somebody with more knowledge of the auto will chime in.

Also moving you to the Stock Problems/Issues section as the transmission is not different in the Verts.

 

If you are certain that you have an "S" then you do not have a CVT.

 

Thanks guys. I updated the post to reflect your inputs.

 

If they put a valve body in it and it didn't fix it more than likely you just need a trans as we see this all the time.

You can try to clear the adaptations, but after 4yrs it should have learned on it's own.

 

After more time driving the car, I should clarify the problem a bit. There really aren't many "hard" shifts. Instead, it just doesn't shift when I want it to.

Typically, the car just runs at a higher RPM than I would prefer. I would describe it as always "spooled" up, "high strung," or just not up-shifting early enough. It runs high on RPM all the time, which is OK for acceleration I guess, but I find myself wanting to upshift over 50% of the time to drop the RPM. Even when I up-shift to drop the RPM, the car will often down-shift again with just the slightest increase in throttle position. It's also in EP mode basically all the time. I'm still researching what could be causing that and how related it is to the transmission shift pattern.

I feel like its worth mentioning that the car is averaging about 20 mpg. It spends a lot of time on city roads and in traffic. The vehicle is located in Honolulu. But I also think the higher RPM would reduce gas mileage. At idle the RPM will be just below 1000 but the car pulls forward when I take my foot off the brake, even on a small up-slope.

 

Sounds like you are stuck in sport mode all the time? Does the gauge indicate that even when you have not pushed the gear level to the right? This could be a switch issue in the gear lever.
Certainly in sport mode the revs go higher between gears and the revs are always above 3000. You should be able to override and keep a higher gear though when in sport mode. In normal mode you can select a higher or lower gear with the steering wheel controls, but it will revert back after about 20 seconds. That is regular operation for the auto trans.

You need to get your codes read. The SES and EP lights could be very much related to your issues.

Too late now, but when a seller says something is an "easy fix" or "just needs adjustment" he is lying because he would have just fixed the issue and sold the car for more $$.

 

you should reset the adaptions, so it learns your driving style.
It is important to use the sport mode, for this to adjust.
Also, if the engine has any codes for cat, O2 sensors, cam position, or crank position, the trans will usually not shift well.

 

Sport mode all the time! Maybe that's my problem? It would explain what I believe to be poor gas mileage?

This car does NOT have a Sport button, which I realize now is very strange. The car is located in Hawaii so I guess it just didn't get the button. Also, because I have the EP indication on the dash at all times I can't tell what mode the car is in.

I'll research how to reset the adaptations. I'll also get the codes read. Interesting thought that maybe the normal/sport switch is broken?

 

There is no sport button, you slide the gear shift lever to the right to engage sport mode. It will then hold revs higher between shift points and shifts will be harder. It still does all the shifts until you override it by selecting a gear using the paddles. The paddles will then allow you to hold a gear until you hit redline when the trans will auto upshift. It will also auto downshift so you don't stall out. You will see which gear you are in the display. It shows in my speedo, M1-M6, I believe M stands for manual.


You should start with getting the codes read.

One more thing, I only use sport mode/manual when I want to get better mileage. Even in normal mode the trans likes to hold revs about 2000 rpm, so I will force an upshift when I am cruising along. You can get it to turn 1500-2000 rpm this way and I can see on the instant consumption display that the economy increases typically by 1-2 l/100km. Sport/auto is good for anything spirited like drag strip runs or autox. I have found no way to better the computer in the 1/4mile and trying to shift with paddles in a short tight autox course is a waste of time. Open track may be different, but I haven't used this car for that.

 

When the shifter is moved over to sport mode, you can up shift and down shift it like a manual, then when you want it automatic again, pull the lever back into regular mode.

 

Update! I think my descriptions have allowed us to stray from the problem. Fortunately, I have more info now.

Problem: EP advisory, SES light, and car is shifting a little aggressively when NOT in Sport mode. I'm fairly certain the car is not stuck in sport mode, although tough to tell with the EP advisory always on.

Details: Codes set include FC 0700 (AISIN TCU OBD), FC 1661 (DME:timeout EWS telegram, FC2720 (EGS solenoid valve, S2), FC5E15 (ABS-DSC, possibly pinched or failed sensor?)

When simply in Drive, the car is aggressive and late with its upshifts. While this happens in all regimes, I road tested from 20-30 mph and the car upshifts from 1st-2nd-3rd at about 2500 rpm with maybe 30% throttle. Not heinous, but it is late enough to have a pronounced shift event and sometimes the car is later in other regimes. Perhaps this is just how the car or updated valves are supposed to function? My three other Minis have all been manual trans.

Selecting Sport with the shift lever seems to have little to no change on the up-shift programming. When in sport with auto shifting it does seem to downshift on deceleration much more aggressively than when in normal drive. Therefore, I don't think I am stuck in sport mode. When in Sport with manual shifting on the gear selector, I can control most of the upshifting and I can get the car to shift when I want it to and perform basically as desired.

Looking up the codes I've ready right now, it appears only the FC2720 EGS solenoid valve, S2, is very useful. Its worth reminding that the original owner claimed these codes set after the valve changed. Perhaps one is not registering correctly or is failed? I don't notice it missing any shifts. In general it is actually performing pretty well. Right now I'm leaning towards a fluid change and/or diligent flush. Thoughts?

Additionally, at idle, there is a rattle that seems to come from the transmission when in reverse or drive. This only occurs while the car is cool, seems to go away after just a few minutes or motoring.

The transmission valve body was changed about 4.5 years and 30+k miles ago. That appears to be the last time the fluid or filter were changed.

I thought there was a sport button, my mistake! I think I understand how the tranmission / sport selection and shifting works. Thank you.

 

After more research, I'm wondering if the adaptations were just never reset after the new valve body was installed. The original owner says he installed the RevMax valve body at around 85k miles, in 2014. He mentioned that the Mini dealer wanted to charge him to make the computer accept the new valve body.

I'm researching using INPA to reset the adaptions. Unfortunately, I'm in the middle of a move to Hawaii so the cable and computer I've used in the past are all packed up. I may be in the market for a new cable...

 

I've owned a 2006 R53 for about 9 years. I had to replace the valve body about 6 years ago, and there is a specific process that you have to go through to re-train the trannie computer. Search around on the forums here...there's a long thread about replacing these troublesome valve bodies and the process for re-training. It's not hard to do, but there is a specific sequence.

As to the shifting, I've noticed that in regular driving mode, this car shifts moderately aggressively both up and down. It also holds RPM higher than would seem comfortable. But I think this is part of the design. This is not a luxury cruiser, after all, but a sporty little hatchback. The bias towards holding a higher RPM, rather than shifting, is so that you can jump on the pedal and zip around people in your way

This performance characteristic is even more prominent if you put it into sport mode. I really wouldn't worry about it.