My shifts felt slammy, especially 1-2-3. On my first drain/fill using Amsoil I noticed a dramatic improvement. The first 3 gears engaged butter-smooth. Second drain/fill a few days later some of the firmness returned. On the third drain/fill no change and the tranny has "settled" to firm shifts but nowhere as slammy and jerky as before (which meant the fluid was thin/sheared).

 

well, after a little bit of time mine came back again and now its worse than before. With my job bieng busy i can't have this. Im definetly not paying 8K to replace the trans in a car worth almost that. Im going to have to get rid of mine it looks like.

 

The primary problems with these transmissions is the valve body. If you or a friend are mechanically inclined, you can replace the valve body and it may fix the majority of the issues you are experiencing. VW has been using these transmissions for a few years and in 2010 they issued a recall to have the valve bodies swapped on affected cars.

 

Darth, how about starting a thread on valve body replacement? That would be sweet!

 

After cooling down from being angry about this..
I am on my third drain and fill. My symptoms come and go. I notice if i stop the car every once in awhile it goes away again for awhile. For now i just take it to work and back and its only 15 min away so i don't get any symptoms. Does anyone have the part number for the mini's valve body. i see a few online and can't really find one specific for the minis aisin.
can u acess the valve body from under the car?
I'll admit to me my mini is perfect looking (lowered on bbs wheels and looks brand new)and if it's easy enough i might ride it out till i can replace it.
Mine didn't like lubeguard red i know that much! Would a thicker fluid help soften the harsh shifts? I am using maxlife and it is slightly thinner at operating temp. than the mini fluid. i noticed that everyone using the thicker redline D4 seems to like it in the aisin.
valvoline it 6.1cst vs 7.2 for oem at 100c

 

kb30: You may get better results using a true full synthetic such as Royal Purple, Redline or Amsoil. They have greater cleaning power and flow faster at lower temps than a partial synthetic or dino fluid. I am not sure what Maxlife is.

You should check the web page for bulkpart dot com as they are a transmission speciality store for the valve body and they also sell the repair manual for about $25. http://www.bulkpart.com/

Call them up as the MINI tran is grouped with the VW tran on their site. We have the 09G in VW talk. http://www.bulkpart.com/Merchant2/me...ory_Code=VW09m

You need to confirm if the VW valve body is compatible.

 

I posted some info about the valve bodies in another thread. What you are looking for is the Aisin Warner TF60SN or VW 09G valve body. There are a few different types of valve bodies for the transmissions based on cooling and pressure switches. Our valve bodies are the Case Cooling, No Pressure Switches model. I believe the model on Bulkpart is Case cooling with pressure switches. Before you buy a valve body, be sure to ask about Sonnax updates. There are something on the order of 7+ updates for the valve body, if those aren't all completed, then the problems experienced may creep up again.

 

thank you guys,
When i get the spare time i am going to start looking further into this valve body and see if i can replace it. again thank you very very much!!

 

The state of the ATF should be taken into account before swapping valve bodies. I fear they are not the culprit but it also largely depends on symptoms. If the gears slip, that means the clutches are toast. If it shift very harsh/slammy, again this may be a clutchpack issue. From what I know valve bodies fail either when they get clogged, at which point you're already looking at worn clutches if there is THAT much material suspended into the fluid, OR the solenoids fail in which case there SHOULD be a check engine light triggered.

Either way, I cannot stress enough the importance of proper fluid level. Since I have received a question regarding how to check this, I'm going to recap, but you can read my original description here
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...17-post70.html
This procedure is a LOT easier if you have OBD access to the temp sensor inside the tranny and can take a reading. If not, the directions below SHOULD work just fine.

1. The car needs to be absolutely cold
2. The car needs to be perfectly level on the ground. The entire fluid level check procedure depends on this. Do NOT overlook this.
3. NEVER have the fill bolt off with the car running! If you start the car with the fill bolt off, it will start puking ATF. I have learned this by staining my garage floor with 3 quarts of ATF which spilled out in a matter of seconds.
4. Take the drain bolt off ONLY. Do NOT take the stand pipe out.
If tranny fluid drains, let it drain until it stops and proceed to next step
5. Grab a kitchen thermometer or any other means to measure temperature
Digital is best because it offers instant reads
6. Start the car. With your foot on brake, go R, N,D pausing at least 2 seconds in each and then from D back to N, R and P.
7. Go back under the car and watch for when ATF starts to run out. Be ready with the thermometer
8. As soon as you see ATF coming out, take a temperature reading of the ATF (NOT the pan) by letting the ATF run over the thermometer. ATF needs to be between 35*C and 45*C, which is 95-113*F.
9. If you see ATF coming out that's at that range, you're good to go. Put the drain bolt back on asap.

Here is the idea. Mini says that at that temperature range the ATF should be at the height of the stand pipe that is inside the drain hole. If it is over, it is overfilled and it will spew out and you'll know it. If it is underfilled, the ATF will never reach the height of the stand pipe and you will never see it drain out.
ATF level changes based on temperature

Now that you know this:
-if you see ATF come out right away, it is overfilled
-if you see NO ATF come out after the car has idled for a while, you can touch the transmission pan with the thermometer and see what temp it's at to get an idea if you've waited enough or not. Based on the temperature outside, basically after about 5 to 10 minutes of idling, that ATF by all means should be at the temp quoted above. If it doesn't come out, you are low on fluid. Shut the car off and you have 2 choices.
a) You can warm up the bottles of ATF fluid at 45*C/113*F under hot water in the sink and start filling the transmission until you see it start coming out the drain bolt
OR
b) Wait until the car is cold and then top off with cold ATF like above. Keep in mind this will likely get you to overfill it but it should not be by a severe amount AND you can always follow the previous steps to get it to drain.

The transmission is better off being slightly overfilled than underfilled. Keyword is slightly.
The question is ... what do you do if you DO see ATF start coming out. Do you let it keep draining until it stops? I submit that I would not do that, and I did not do that because of fear of too much coming out. If it comes out gushing, you are WAY overfilled. If it comes out in a thin drain, you're good, don't worry about it. As long as the temp is above 35*C/95*F but NOT over 45*C/113*F. you're OK to just put the bolt on and stop.

I know this is a wall of text but really, there is no other way to say it without covering it. It's not that hard when you figure out how the pan and the stand pipe works.

 

By the way the procedure quoted above is outlined in the service manual, but it is much easier for them and somewhat different because:
a) they have access to the ECU/TCU and can get a reading of the ATF
b) they have the ATF fill tool
We, as DIY-ers are "stuck" with kitchen thermometers and funnels
If my description is wrong, incomplete, chime in and let's keep others out of trouble

Also, it's been almost 2 years now and some 25K miles later since I've changed my OEM ATF to Mobil 1 and the tranny couldn't be better.

 

For those that want replacement parts go to: http://mini.sewellparts.com/oem-catalog/R53-2006.html

For our Aisin Warner auto-transmission GA6F21WA here are some OEM parts numbers:

Pan drain bolt: Screw plug # 24117570791
Pan drain washer: Gasket ring # 24117570792
Overflow pipe: # 24117551083
Oil pan: # 24117551079
Oil pan gasket # 24117566356
Oil strainer # 24347551087

For those that want to start all over:
OEM rebuilt transmission model # GA6F21WA, part # 24007548536 $6,450.35

Change that Transmission Fluid ! ! !

 

What gets me is the shipping rates for a freakin' gasket ring which is all we should need. It comes up to 10 bucks. More than a quart of high quality ATF.

I think we need a group buy. One of us buys a bunch of them, we divide the cost and send them out in an envelope for the grand shipping cost of a few cents.
Who is in?

 

FishBone,

I am planning on ordering at least 6 washers for the drain for myself. That will cover my 3x fluid flush and when I do it once again in 30,000 miles.

How many do you want as I will also be ordering an extra Overflow pipe and the Drain bolt just to be on the safe side.

If you can gather a list of items NAM members want I'll do the re-shipping. Once we gather a wish list have the members forward the funds to me and add alittle for the postage stamps depending on what they need.

Let me know................................... MiniKar

 

Acutally, these symptoms can be caused by a valve body that is worn or defective.

http://www.sonnax.com/product-lines/...%5Bunit%5D=205

This is a link to the Sonnax updates for our valve body. If you look through the different kits, and click on the Summary Page PDF, it'll give a primary and secondary complaint.

I will agree that fluid level and condition is very important and should be one of the first things checked. However, these transmissions have a well documented history of faulty and failing valve bodies.

 

I was not aware then of the faulty valve bodies. I was pretty sure the failure cases we have been seeing have been related to worn clutches due to spent fluid. I'll look around some on this forum when I get a chance and see what people have been experiencing.
Knowing that the valve body has some very, very fine passages, I wonder if clogging is the issue.

 

I read through some of this thread but not all ... do dealers still refuse to perform this fluid change? I drive in terrible stop/go traffic daily in NYC and I am pretty sure under normal car procedures the fluid should be changed. What's in this fluid anyway that makes it "lifetime" according to MINI?

 

I went to my sort of local dealer to get a crush washer and plug. They had one crush washer and no plug. This is a big Mini dealer. When the parts guy came back he said I was lucky they had one "cause we don't do this service"
I reused the plug and just changed out the crush washer on the third flush and all has been fine. In fact the original crush washer didn't leak while I was doing the first and second flush. From what I have read there is nothing in the original fluid that would remotely be "lifetime" I put the best fluid I could find in it due to what the others before me suggested. It's a big part of the car and hopefully it will help avoid some problems. My car had about 46k on it when I did this.

Tracy

 

lurch70: No dealer will peform it unless you accidently drain it out when screwing up an oil change. Nothing makes it lifetime except BMW's marketing department. It is not even synthetic fluid. Try to find an independent BMW/MINI shop and take them the key sections of this thread that describe the fluid change process.

AllPepperS: You only ever replace the washer. You always reuse the plug. Folks often reuse the washer a few times with no problems. Nissan engine oil pan washers for the 3.5 engine (around 2005 model) will fit our transmission drain plug. I have one on mine now.

 

Not true.

INSKIP MINI in Warwick, RI, did mine, although it was the first -- and perhaps only -- time they've done something like that. (They actually had to hit up a nearby Toyota dealer for the ATF since they didn't have any in stock; worked out better, actually, since the Toyota brand is less expensive than the same stuff w. a MINI/BMW label on the bottle!)

My local MINI guru referred me, in fact, since he doesn't work on automatic transmissions, and the few local automatic tranmission specialists I checked with won't work on "exotic" cars like MINIs. (And, no, I don't have the resources to change it myself, unfortunately.)

 

@ clutchless I was just trying to cover all the bases in case I screwed something up taking it out and putting it back in 3X. I was doing this by myself. It worked out.

Tracy

 

Thanks for all the info! It's Been super helpful! I just purchased an '08' MCSA w/ 64,000 mi. On it and I'm planning to start the Trans. Oil change on mine. Hope it goes well.

 

Hi guys,
I got one more question. I am probably not going to be to get to replacing my valve body till later this summer.Do you think it will be ok to drive it about 15 minutes a day to work and back? When i do this it shows no symptoms and when i did my drains nothing crazy came out with the fluid. I just got some slight gray paste on the plug. My thoughts are that nothing will happen on short trips so i might be okay. Right now it's running lubeguard and a little lucas trans fix (which did help smooth the shifts) with a fluid that meets the specs for 3309. Thanks for any answers.opinions on this.

 

lwbaldep, since you have a 2nd Gen MINI you should also read this thread in the 2nd Gen forum about ATF changes as there are a few differences due to the different bodies and engines. Getting to the fill bolt is a bit more difficult in the 08 as it is somewhat hidden by more hoses etc. The way to get it off is a little different due to the lack of space: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post3423145

 

kb30, just drive it. The gray paste is normal as the plug is magnetic. You should wipe it off.

 

http://www.gearsmagazine.com/view.as...1-a80c873eabb0
Here is some reading i just found, they talk about the two main issues that are popping up with this tranmission.