Crunching gearbox and Mini Warranty?

[Conor D]

A good friend of mine drives a convertible mini one, SHE took us out in it the other day and there was a horrible crunching going into 3rd gear. Apparently its been doing it for ages but she just put up with it.

She bought the car in February second hand from the BMW/Mini dealership in town, so I think it has a years warranty with it.. I'm trying to get her to take it in and get them to look at it because she wants to sell it in January.

What's a crunching gearbox most likely to be? it won't crunch if you take the gear change VERY slowly. I'm considering heading in with her tomorrow, and I'm just wondering if Mini would cover it under their warranty?

I know Toyota were fine doing gearbox work for us.

[anonymous-user]

Sounds like a syncro fault, she really should take it back as soon as the fault arose, otherwise they could reject any claim as more damage may be done. I seem to remember previous issues with Mini transmissions?? Maybe reverse gear though........

[itz_baseline]

Sounds like a problem with the synchromesh - might be a worn blocker ring which means the 2 cogs are not going at the same speed when they engage....hence the crunching gears.

[HellDiver]

Gearbags on Minis are rubbish. They'll be familiar with fixing them.

[Conor D]

Dave_ST220 said:

Sounds like a syncro fault, she really should take it back as soon as the fault arose, otherwise they could reject any claim as more damage may be done. I seem to remember previous issues with Mini transmissions?? Maybe reverse gear though........

Doing a bit of reading on Google, there seems to be an issue (or design fault) causing it to crunch in reverse. But I haven't read anything about other gears yet.

I might just take it into them tomorrow and see if there's anything they'll be prepared to do.

[itz_baseline]

Conor D said:

I might just take it into them tomorrow and see if there's anything they'll be prepared to do.

I thought it was your friends car, wouldn't SHE be taking it in? Are you sure you aren't a closet Mini One owner? There's nothing wrong with that.

[Conor D]

itz_baseline said:

Conor D said:

I might just take it into them tomorrow and see if there's anything they'll be prepared to do.

I thought it was your friends car, wouldn't SHE be taking it in? Are you sure you aren't a closet Mini One owner? There's nothing wrong with that.

Ha, a bright orange convertible Mini One? No thanks!

She won't take it in herself because she doesn't know what to say.. And didn't want to because it would be too expensive. So I offered to go in with her.

I hate the Mini dealerships though.. Makes me want a JCW!

So is it something they'd be prepared to fix under the warranty?

[davepoth]

Stupid question, but is she changing gear properly? is there a chance she's not putting the clutch down fully before changing?

[Conor D]

davepoth said:

Stupid question, but is she changing gear properly? is there a chance she's not putting the clutch down fully before changing?

She took me and another lad out in the car yesterday, we both took it for a drive. Same story, crunching going into third gear..

[8400rpm]

If you do it slowly and there's no crunch then it's almost certainly a synchro.

The original fault with the first MINIs wasn't synchro related at all. Someone I know had an '02 plate MINI One, and the whole gearbox shat itself as a result of the fault.

Might be at some point she did a truly terrible gearchange and damaged it. Or the oil needs changing as it's degraded and not offering the correct lubrication anymore, hence causing it to crunch now. How many miles on it?

[Conor D]

8400rpm said:

Might be at some point she did a truly terrible gearchange and damaged it. Or the oil needs changing as it's degraded and not offering the correct lubrication anymore, hence causing it to crunch now. How many miles on it?

I think there's around 58k miles on it..

[undred orse]

HellDiver said:

Gearbags on Minis are rubbish. They'll be familiar with fixing them.

very true.we had 2 of them - a cooper s and a jcw.never will i buy anything from them again.

mrs orse's cooper s developed a gearbox fault after 10k miles and it needed a change of box.they returned it with the exhaust heat shield put back so that it jammed the steering in the approach to a bend.idiots.then they denied touching said shield until forced to produce the mini guide to gearbox replacement - section 1 remove exhaust heat shield.

2 weeks later my jcw developed the same fault.1 week later sold them both.

[Matt UK]

itz_baseline said:

Conor D said:

I might just take it into them tomorrow and see if there's anything they'll be prepared to do.

I thought it was your friends car, wouldn't SHE be taking it in?

Good moves Conor, nice plan you're working on there.

Sort car, drinks as a 'thank you' that evening, move on somewhere for a bite to eat...

[Conor D]

Matt UK said:

itz_baseline said:

Conor D said:

I might just take it into them tomorrow and see if there's anything they'll be prepared to do.

I thought it was your friends car, wouldn't SHE be taking it in?

Good moves Conor, nice plan you're working on there.

Sort car, drinks as a 'thank you' that evening, move on somewhere for a bite to eat...

Haha,

Me: "Yea, gearboxes are expensive, about £5000 the last time I checked... But don't worry i'll cover it.."

Her: "Oh my, really? you're amazing.."


To the Dealer: "Hello please, I'd like you to fix this gearbox under the warranty.. But keep it quiet!"

It'll go down a treat..

[Conor D]

Bit of an update.. She left the car in yesterday, and got another courtesy Mini etc. But she got a call today to say that they had looked at it, the gearbox was out of the car and she needs a new clutch (and that the old one was burnt out) she said she told them to call her dad, I think they did.. and he might of agreed to pay for it. I think she told me it was around £300.

Now does that sound right, or does it sound a bit rogue. It's funny how so many Minis have the same fault, and it's only in the one gear.. I'm no expert, but it doesn't really sound like the clutch to me. I drove the car, and it was fine in every other gear?

Anyone have any thoughts?

[Mastodon2]

If the clutch was gone, it would be horrendous going to and from any gears. If the oil was degraded and not lubricating properly, likewise I'd expect it to be dodgy in any gear. If it's just one gear that crunches, that sounds like a knackered synchro for that gear. Maybe they simplified the lingo for her, maybe are ripping her off, who knows? If it was my car, with that fault and that was their explanation, I'd take a very personal interest in the repair, thats all I can say.

Edited by Mastodon2 on Friday 30th July 18:36

[catman]

If the clutch was "burnt out" as they put it, it would cause slipping on acceleration.

It wouldn't cause the car to crunch when changing gear, certainly not in only one gear! That's a gearbox fault.


Tim

[hyperblue]

The Midland gearbox on the early One's and Cooper's is made of chocolate, very common for them to fail at low mileage. The Getrag gearbox in the S is much more solid.

Edited by hyperblue on Friday 30th July 18:45

[Jonboy_t]

Gearbox fault, NOT clutch!!! Almost certainly synchro from the sounds, ask for one of their top-techs to look at it again and show you the results and the clutch once it's out, chances are, if they're pulling a fast one, they will probably think of some rubbish health and safety reason why they couldn't possibly show you the worn clutch!

[bazking69]

Syncro.

Our old Mini had a whine in 5th, and her new one is becoming increasingly hard to get into reverse without multiple attempts.

Both sub 50k cars btw....