Hello all. I recently bought my first Mini Cooper and I’m having a bit of an issue with the transmission. It’s a 2006 S automatic with 90k. Sorry I’ve been searching on here and I see similar problems but I’m not seeing my issue exactly.

It’s intermittent but very often it doesn’t shift clean between 1st, 2nd and 3rd. It feels like it lags a bit and jerks when it connects. It happens both when it’s cold or hot and I mostly notice it when I take off pretty slowly. If I use the sport mode it seems to work a little better and works best when using the paddles. It still jolts a little more than I assume it should. After 3rd gear it’s seems really clean. It also occasionally downshifts prematurely when I’m coming to a stop and will jump up to 3500.

The previous owner had to the fluid changed the the valve body replaced about 2 years and 15k ago. They explained it was much more severe than what I have when they got it fixed. I assumed this was the culprit after reading some posts but since it was already repaired I’m not sure. Also a lot of those posts mention that it’s fine cold but gets worse when it’s warm. Mine is very consistent with its inconsistency.

 

My 2005 R53a was the same way back when first bought the car and the problem happens on the first gen TF60SN's. My first action was a fluid flush as well and they found aluminum flakes in the fluid. What happens is the solenoids in the valve body have a ball bearing in them that deteriorate over time. Once they do, if it's not address IMMEDIATELY, then the drums and rings inside the transmission will burn. Once this happens, you have to completely rebuild the transmission which is above my expertise and yearly salary. What it seems like you are experiencing right now is the residual effects of this issue. I replaced my valve body with the upgraded solenoids back in 2012 and still deal with hard down/upshifts between 1, 2, 3, and 4, but I will say that the problem has not worsen over the past eight years and I've learned to drive the car in way to compensate for the shifts.

Also, BMW's "lifetime" claim for the transmission fluid is crap as they define "lifetime" as 55000 miles... the fluid in these transmissions should be changed every 40-50k to prevent wear.

I did read a thread on NAM recently that the solenoids can be adjusted to fix hard shifting by turning an adjustment screw on them counter clockwise, but I do not know this for fact and once again, it's above my expertise to try. I know how to do research, loosen a bolt, and plug in a connector. lol

 

That’s unfortunately what I was thinking too. I guess the previous owner let it go too far before they replaced the valve body. I’m in the same boat as you as far as mechanical skills and financial ability to get it rebuilt. Glad to hear yours hasn’t gotten worse over the years.
I’m getting a little more used to driving it as is. Currently I use the paddles and just start in 2nd. There’s plenty of power and I hope that it’s not a strain on anything.

 

I did that for a while. NEVER used 1st gear because it would slam me too hard. Would always pull away from stop signs and red lights already in 2nd and would never leave it in drive... until one day I forgot to put in second gear and first decided to start working properly. Been great since. lol

 

Great. Maybe I’ll get lucky like that as well. Today I decided to try out “drive” again and it worked great almost all day. Just a little hiccup or two. That’s what I don’t get about the issue. It seems like it would be more constant if the damage was that severe.

 

Here's my 2-cents if you want it. This worked for me ...
My symptom first: Car would behave while the fluid was cool. So first startup Gerta (my 05 Mini cooper S - super charger) would behave. The problems happened after the transmission fluid heated up. In my case I would stop at a light, and it would begin violently shaking in gear. gear transition was a nightmare.
First course of action: I flushed the transmission fluid 3 times. I used the cheap Asin stuff. think that process cost me $60. That really helped. Mine you my car had 110k miles on it.

That worked until I got up to 170k. The transmission demons showed their ugly head again.

Second course of action:
In which case I replace the solenoids. Cars at 230k now and cooken


FYI: I change my transmission fluid every 40k miles

Dee (I live in Boston Ma & SD Cali)