hey, i live near new york city, and lately its been bitterly cold... around 15 degrees fahrenheit at night, which is a good 10 degrees below in Celsius. anyway, whenever i leave the mini sitting around eg overnight or for a long time during the day when its this cold, the shifter won't move. its not sluggish, its frozen. it won't go into or out of the shifter gates. i usually sit there for a while so the engine warms up, and then after a while i'm able to force it into a gate, after which it be comes much easier. i feel like i'm bustin on my car, and it always seems that the transmission is a little wobbly after i do it. what's going on?

sander

 

This has been discussed at length over at the mini2.com site. Try this link: Frozen gearshift
I'm in New Jersey and I've had this happen every morning since last Friday. It's apparently due to water getting into the shift cables and then freezing.
I'm hounding my dealer to get the cables replaced.

 

is it going to damage the transmission at all? will replacing the cables prevent the problem or just fix the damage?

 

Get the cables replaced.

Don't force anything.

Let the car warm up and cables will free up. If it is frozen in gear then you get to hold in the clutch for 5-10 min while it warms up.

This one was badly overlooked much like the "cold start" problem that we all had to deal with for so long.

Not impressed to say the least. Dealers are just starting to realize there is a problem.

Good luck.

 

No problem with mine, and it's colder here in Vermont.

Of course, mine stalls :smile:

 

In order to better classify this problem, perhaps some basic questions might be in order... If you've had this problem, can you say:

1) Geographic location (e.g., VT, NY, MN, etc.)
2) Type of car (S, or Cooper)
3) Do you garage your car, or park it outside?
4) Did you recently WASH your car (particulary, did you spray water underneath or under the bonnet)?
5) Did you recently drive through any water (puddle, slush, etc.)?

Just a thought.

 

We've had -7F to -13F here in WI and my car has been fine.

-J

 

Just curious if this is happening with anyone's CVT? I don't have my MINI yet but yesterday I had to have my '88 Dodge Shadow towed to the dealer because the shifter was frozen in Drive. It cost $250 to replace it. I hope I won't have the same problem with the MINI.

Bill

 

>>Just curious if this is happening with anyone's CVT?

Not mine. Molly doesn't stay out in the freezing weather all night, so she may not be a great gauge, but she has stayed in single digit temps for over 8 hours with no problems.