2005 r53 aisin trans problems
 

Just wanted to start out by thanking you for reading this, and hope somebody can help me.
I have read through many post concerning the aisin six speed transmission. I am having a problem with it where it is great when it is cold but is soon as I drive for about 5 miles or so it starts harsh shifting along with delayed shifting, and slipping/reving between gears. I try to put it in reverse and it will delay and then slam in gear. I have thoroughly flushed the system and put new fluid filter etc. and and it did not help. So from what I am reading I assume I need to Service of the valve body. But I am somewhat confused on how to do that. Some people say to buy an updated solenoid kit, others say to replace the entire valve body? I'm just wondering what is the most efficient and price effective way to do this? and what people have had the most success with? I would like to save the expense of replacing the old valve body solenoids will do the job. But I wanted to get others opinions in this matter. Thanks in advance!!

Not sure if the valve body is your problem but that seems to be the most prevalent issue with this trans. If you are mechanically inclined there are upgrade kits for the valve body available. I’ve never rebuilt an Aisin but I have rebuilt other transmissions. They are not that complicated and are easily rebuilt if you follow proper instructions and maintain clean environment. A few special tools are required that are not that expensive or can be fabricated.

Getting a replacement / rebuilt valve body fixes the issues 85+% of the time, I opted for a completely rebuilt unit on mine but it was like ~2750$ if memory serves.

Transgo kit
 

THere is a TransGo kit you can buy online ebay amazon to rebuild the shifting selenoids its about $100US this is what I am currently working on. One reputable tranny expert says in his video he rarely touches the valve body hard shifts and stuck gear after getting hot ... use the transGO kit! how ever this is not a beginner job not saying you are just a warning.....many videos online watch Aisin 09G videos it is a similar model transmission. The reason this is not a beginner job is because you have to drop the subframe disconnect suspension joints etc. nothing about this is trivial. if you cant do it yourself it is a fairly expensive fix and is not guaranteed so shops opt to just replace the whole body chance are they will not just rebuild selenoids but I have no idea im just guessing :) you would have to check with your shop... new valve body runs about $600US + plus gasket, strainer and ATF. hope that helps maybe we will hear from someone who has already done this ;)

I did that TransGo kit, now mind you I am not a transmission guy and it did not work for me at all, in the end I spend about 6 hours, wasted a bunch of Fluid and a filter kit to absolutely no change. Your mileage may vary and I am not blaming the kit, I am blaming myself, but it was a waste of time and money for me.

interesting from what i understand the valve body isnt much but redirection of fluid via the selenoids so i have a hard time believing replacing my body would fix anything ...im waiting on power steering hoses so i should have it all back together by wednesday next week ill let you know if it worked for me. cheers

so im just about done ...did the transgo kit and that got rid of the problem when transmission got up to temperature no more temperature related problems. but i had massive flares in every gear especially 2-3 and 3 -4 after I applied this kit and cleaned the valve body, i didnt have flares before. it was near impossible driving in auto in fact i had to let of the gas in between shifts. anyways i adjusted all four selenoid valves that control K1, K2 , K3 and B1. I have already dropped the subframe twice to make adjustments ...its 95% perfect now just have a small bump in D mode from 5th gear to 4th , in SD mode it doesnt bump and using shift paddles only if i let speed drop below 40kms /per hour before downshifting from 5 to 4 will it bump in manual mode. will drop the subframe one more time and do a clockwise half a turn on selenoid N92 which controls the K1 clutch. cheers hope this helps someone. this was a 2006 cooper s with 96,000 miles (or 155 000 kms for my Canadian brothers).

ps .. i did not drain the oil nor did i drop the transmission pan to make adjustments. the 8 bolts used on the tranny pan are one inch long so i bought two extra bolts 1.5 inches long and replaced 2 of the one inch bolts temporarily to lower the pan enough onto these two bolts so i can make the adjustments. I installed these bolts opposite the side where the adjustment screws are. the remaining 6 bolts i removed that allowed me to lower to pan about an inch just enough to expose the adjustment screws for my allan key. some tranny fluid will leak out but not much roughly 1/3 of quart depending how level your vehicle is when jacked up it helps to jack it sligthly lower in the front then the back maybe like one inch lower ...make sure you catch and measure how much drained out and top it up after you reinstall the pan bolts.

in addition in between adjustments i did not install the front wheel well covers,and the front bumper components but i am on a remote road with almost no traffic, its possible to leave the crush tubes off as well to save time in dropping the subframe just make sure the plastic frame that houses the radiator is secured somehow.. be carefull when test driving though front end collision could be catastrophic to your vehicle or even worse ...it maybe fatal to you, so in reality not installing the front bumper is really not a good idea not is it recommended.

to an give idea of how time comsuming this is i spent probably close to 35plus hours in between applying the kit(fixing the selenoids and taking apart the valve body) and dropping the subframe which will be fourth time total (3x to make selenoid valve adjustments) tomorrow to make what im hoping is one final adjustment.

Good info for other future brave souls!

if i was faced with the same choice next time i would just spend the $800 on a reman valve body .from a reputable source ofcourse. too many unknowns its a crap shoot the money i saved was not worth it lol and like i mentioned i have no idea how permanent this is going to be.

I have a 2005 Mini Cooper S also 6speed And pretty much dealing with same situation with slipping gears ect ect. My boyfriend is very mechanically inclined and has said this is the most difficult car he has had to work on in his 50 years. We purchased new Solenoids but haven’t placed them in yet also he has completely flushed out the old oil and put new. Right now my car has been collecting dust in our garage since I first bought in in February with the transmission already taken out, he says I need a ‘transmission rebuild’,,that apparently there is a Kit you can also buy on eBay. Was wondering if anyone is familiar with this and or has used before...with any success?

Transco makes a rebuild kit, I tried it and I did not have success - but I had never opened a transmission before. I ended up buying a complete remanufactured unit and it has work flawlessly

When first trying to drive -bf says it had no 1st gear at all, until putting into manual mode. But would not stay

I have been telling him from beginning that I believe the problem could be the valve body but he kept saying it need transmission rebuilt, but now he says he thinks it could be the valve body after all, that if def. looks like it’s already been rebuilt but whoever did it didn’t know wtf they were doing... Either that or needs a new torque converter.

here are some factors:

-clutch disks are free moving, does not get stuck into gear. Clutch packs look new
-pistons look rebuilt (has writing/scribbling)
-valve body has rebuilt,(has writing/scribbling on back) the center gasket for the valve body is aftermarket .

Any thoughts...

I know this is old but the issue with these units is that the solenoid valves are made of hardened steel. The valve body itself is aluminum. After approximately 50-80k miles of shifting, the steel valves will wear out the bores allowing fluid to escape past them. That is the cause of the flares, hard shifting, and possible stalling when coming to a stop. The only way to fix an existing valve body is to get the full Sonnex kit that includes bore sleeves for the valves. It is almost cheaper to buy a reman'd valve body than to rebuild the valve body as it requires specialized tools typically found in a transmission shop or machine shop.

Hey guys/gals I have a 2005 Cooper S with the Aisin, it's only got 30k original miles and I've got a check engine light, as well as a few other lights popping. The scanner says something about the transmission causing the problem. I've been researching for a while and I see the solenoids seem to be the most common culprit, however, the symptoms don't match at all... I have NO symptoms. The car runs and shifts smooth as butter, as it should considering the low mileage, but I still can get the code to stop coming back.. Any ideas? My guess is a bad sensor, but I really have no idea. At 30k it seems to me nothing should be bad.. But it's spent the majority of it's life sitting there looking pretty, so who knows... I was assuming clearing the codes and just driving it more regularly would solve the issue, but it hasn't helped. I'm really at a loss here. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance! I'm loving how big and devoted the Mini R53 community is! I'm looking forward to going balls deep and having a blast! haha