Well, that was quick. I bought my Mini Cooper in January with 96,000 miles on it. Today I was driving my daughter to her school play, and we both heard a faint whining that went with engine speed. On the way home, that whining became much louder, and was worst in 3rd gear, but obviously now gear whine audible in all forward gears. Phooey! (...to use a family friendly word....) As the tow truck pulled up to my house, I see that I actually had a single trail of oil leading up the street, around the corner, and into my parking spot in my driveway from last night. Double phooey and some other guttural affricatives....

So, has anyone encountered leaking seals in a Mini 5-speed manual tranny and recovered without replacing the transmission? Is a Mini Cooper S 6-speed compatible with a mere Cooper? I see that the 5-speeds are rare and expensive on the used market, but 6-speeds are plentiful and only 2/3rds the cost. I have a feeling that, given the lack of transmission failure threads for 5-speeds, that these transmissions are usually long-lived and trouble-free, and I'm about to do some pioneering DYI repairing on this little car....

I appreciate any help you can offer. I also appreciate commiseration too.

Thanks,
Scott

 

Sorry about your dead transmission:(

You can put a 6 speed in. There is a ton of good info out there. Here's one place to start, it's going to take a lot of reading and a lot of parts.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-how-to-5.html

 

They aren't too bad to get rebuilt believe it or not, can be done for around 1500 if you shop around for prices.

 

When the 5 speed transmission on my 2006 non-S R52 was destroyed, there was a quarter size hole in the casing that had drained the oil. However, everybody agreed that it was a puncture from hitting a road hazard. The repair was covered by insurance! Put your car on a lift and determine the exact cause of the leak.

 

There is a guy in England (there the Midlands 5 speed unit has been around and is pretty common)that sells rebuild kits...folks seen to have GENERALLY had good luck...a few iffy reports, but 2 sides to every story right? Name us something like MINI gearbox UK or something.....maybe somebody will chime in with the exact name.

To convert to a 6 speed from a 5 does need lots a parts...not quite as bad as going from the CVT to a 6 speed...also done...but many parts are common...starter, CV joints, flywheel, and a few other extra items...

 

One more thing...what year R50?
The reason...
From 2002-2004 it was a Midlands 5 speed....
From 2005+ it was a getreg 5 speed....

 

The year is 2004, so it's first-gen R50 with a Midland 5-speed.

I put the car up on ramps this morning and had a good look around. It puzzles me. There are no big cracks or holes. The leak comes from the mating side, with oil dripping from above the starter mounts. I've got to find some drawings or photos of this transmission, and where the various seals and plugs are on it. It may be as simple as the input seal failed behind the throw-out fulcrum, but why would oil be thrown sideways toward the starter opening?

Does this tranny have an internal oil pump in it to deliver pressurized oil to bearings? That's a rare feature in transmissions, and I've never owned one designed that way, but I've read about them. If an oil gallery end plug started leaking, it might explain oil leaked out so high up the transmission.

[I've just had a few hours away, running errands with my wife, and thinking about this puzzle.]

After looking at the locations of the drain and fill plugs in diagrams and photos, there's now way for oil to have dripped out from as high on the side of the transmission as I see it dripping... it must have been slung up there by the spinning driveshaft on that side. A failed output shaft seal would explain everything I'm seeing.

I'm going to start by repairing the easiest, cheapest, likeliest cause first, then go to more elaborate items later. Time to see if any seals in my local auto parts stores.... We'll see if the transmission is happier with oil back in it, or if it still grinds and whines from the 15 miles of driving before I called the tow truck.

Scott

 

Depends...
Before July 2004 - Midland
After July 2004 - Getrag

So there were a couple months at the end of the 2004 model year with the Getrag

 

Yea 7/2004 was the big change over , that was also the time for the new R52 production. I have the Getrag 5 speed and its been holding up well.

 

For the production date, take a look at you drivers side door sticker on the post/jamb...where the psi and vin# is...there will be a production date, year and month...
Good to be sure which tranny you have...changes your options a bit.
The changeover generally occurred when the model year switch happened for most markets.....

 

My car was built in 09/2003, so it does indeed have a Midland tranny.

Yesterday I put in two new output shaft seals and this morning I filled the transmission with Redline MTL. I backed the car out into the street, but couldn't shift out of reverse, which wasn't a comfortable feeling, and evidence that something perhaps is badly damaged in my transmission. Luckily, my street was absolutely empty, so I had time to back up a little further, and in motion I was able to shift into neutral. I tested that I could shift into and out of all gears, and all seemed OK. I took the car around the block, and I really like the shifting feel with MTL. When I pulled back into my driveway to look for leaks, I saw a stripe of oil leading up to my driveway from around the corner, and sure enough I had a drip from under the car. :P

I put my car up on ramps, and with pink MTL it was easy to see that the leak was from the gap between the engine and tranny. It looks like my input shaft is leaking, so it wasn't just the passenger side output shaft seal that was leaking.

Still, it's not as bad as having to replace the transmission, but I have to pull the thing to swap the seal. That's a lot of work. Also, if I'm going to do all this work, I may as well replace the clutch too.

Scott

 

Well...to do that much work on a tranny that might be MORTALLY wounded...no reverse...i'd see if reverse is working first...
If reverse is gone...it most likely junk inside....so lots of work too pull it. Fix a seal ..to do it again in a few miles....

 

I was unclear. Sorry. I did get reverse unstuck, and I did use all the gears and I can get into and out of them all, including reverse. I'm only a little bothered by the risk of discovering more damage as I drive the car further, but with the smoothness of the tranny in all gears with MTL, I'm not so worried. I'm a little more worried that any used tranny I buy from a wrecking yard might be equally worn. I'll cross that bridge when I get to it.

Scott

 

Did you fix it with input shaft seal? My mini R50 gearbox has the exact leak. Thanks

 

Wow, bringing an old thread back from the dead. Yes, I replaced the input shaft seal in 2016. It's still holding its oil.

Scott


[Edit: oh, I should warn you to look out for what killed my first transmission in the end. I had a synchronizer come apart in the transmission, and one of the ball bearings wedged itself between a spinning gear and the inner part of the bell housing, breaking a chunk of aluminum out. I had to pull the transmission again and replace it with a used transmission from a junk yard. I replaced its input shaft seal and output shaft seals too, and they're still holding their oil fine.]