2002 MC with 35,000 miles. I have owned it for 6 weeks. Sigh.

Started "studdering" on take off from a dead stop. The wheels would not fully engage unless I let the clutch out very slowly and kept the rpms very low. Any attempt at a normal or quick start resulted in the the gears not fully engaging and a sort of ugly noise from the tranny and the wheels studdering.

I stopped driving it. Took it to my mechanic yesterday and took him for a test drive. I tried a quick start to demonstrate, the car made a horrible grinding noise and completely lost all gears.

Clutch feels perfectly normal. It shifts perfectly normal. I cannot generate any forward motion in any gear.

4 months out of warranty. 2 weeks out of used car lot warranty. ARRGGHHH!
Estimate on a new tranny: $2693
Estimate on a new clutch: $870

I had the seals checked prior to this. I had a very slow leak in one of the transaxles seals a couple of weeks ago. Fluid level was only down a tiny amount. I had it filled and was scheduled for new seal replacement in 1 week. I don't think this is a case of lost fluid.

Any ideas? Any way to know if it's the tranny or the clutch without pulling it apart?

Thanks

 

you could drain the fluid and look for metal shavings. that's an indication that your gears are done.

the clutch should gradually let go. you would notice some slippage and the pedal feel would be drifferent... sorry but it sounds like a bad trans.

 

Slave cylindar?

 

I had the same thing happen with a Ford Fiesta. The splines could be stripped in one of the CV joints and/or the transmission output shaft. If the CV joint was worn, it may have wallowed out the seal and caused the leak in the first place.

I don't think it's as bad as you think it is. I sure hope it isn't. If the Midlands gearbox has crapped its pants, there's a chance that MINI might still make it good. I edited my post when I realized you didn't have an S with the 6 speed.

Rawhyde

 

I've received a number of emails from others with similiar problems, so I thought I'd update my situation.

My car had a transmission failure. The original Midland transmission apparently had gears made of butter. Because it melted down with virtually no warning and for no reason.

The clutch had 50% life on it and was not the cause of failure.

MINI wanted $4000 to replace the transmission and clutch. Since my car was 4 months out of warranty they wouldn't pay for it. Even though it only had 35K miles on it.

After much "discussion," they finally agreed to pay 50%. So I had a bill of about $2000. MINI thought that should make me happy and grateful. ??

At least I got a Getrag transmission installed. I'm guessing they had to rebuild so many Midlands they used them up.

If you have an 03-04 MC about to go out of warranty, I'd suggest you'd get it on record that the car has a "studder/shudder" when trying to take off from 1st gear and that it has a harsh downshift.

Shannon

 

i'd say your clutch is done .if you've got a friend who's a mechanic;he can say otherwise once it's apart. either way it's gotta come out.

 

Trans failure at 35K miles? I'd tell MINI to take their 50% offer and stick it. 100% or attorneys get involved. MINI loves the time cut-off on the warranty because few folks get to the mileage before the time runs out. They know the trans is a POS.
Start researching here and on mini2 for similar problems.
Present your findings to your dealer along with the threat to go legal.

 

I think, since the car is out of warranty, Mini is being quite generous in offering to pay 50%. The warranty does cover 4 years or 50,000 miles and I believe the average driver will drive close to 50K miles in 4 years. This is not exactly buyers beware, but don't penalize the seller for giving a good faith estimate of product longevity.

You bought the car used and possibly abused?

retroom

 

find an aftermarket shop that does Minis and get it done fully out of pocket. But the warrenty date and milage limits are written down for a reason, and if you do go legal, it will be short.

When was the failure?
2 weeks after the warranty expired.
And you want compensation for what?
Because it was close to the cut off date.
Close only counts with horseshoes and nuclear weapons! Case dismissed!

And then your lawyer bill will come in the mail. Including those stupid $2 fax charges. You will be out money for the lawyer, you will be out time for the courte stuff, and you will still have a cooked tranny, and no one offering 50% any more....

Matt