Did you need any special tools?
Get the parts from a dealer or aftermarket?

 

All questions are answered on the other forum. I'm not repeating the DIY writeup here. And this site doesn't like links off-forum... so use your imagination. :-)

 

Try googling blimey transmission rebuild as you can see they block the link!

http://www.*********************/for...#axzz3GDIUDnDl

I'm already in this sites administrator's bad books on the way to being banned so what ever.

 

Is it practical for me to do a DIY repair on the valve body?

I'm rather uneducated in this regard, so I wouldn't know what parts to buy. I don't know if there is a degree of precision machining required, if there is, I certainly wouldn't be able to do it, but if not, maybe I could? I may have to park the MINI for a couple months before I could afford a revmax + core, so this thought crossed my mind. I could probably pull off the repair if I was <$300 in the hole.

 

Well, I have read this entire post and I still have questions.....
I had mine rebuilt and the only thing that bothers me is that from 1st - 2nd and 2nd-3rd it shifts quite hard. It does get a bit better after it warms up though. The shop that did the rebuild said that it should shift this way!?!?

I was thinking that it needs to be relearned/ flashed?

Any advise, thoughts would be helpful. My daughter is going to be using this car to commute back and forth to/ from collage.

 

It's definitely not suppose to shift hard like that. I have read that the car will need a reflash after having any type of transmission work.

 

That is what I was thinking.... Just trying to find out for sure..

 

In a perfect world it should shift nice like any other car. Mine has had two rebuilt valve bodies. This first shifted harshly, I put up with it about a year. The second shifts weird for 1 and 2. Sometimes holds 1 too long and abruptly upshifts. Second sometimes flares a little. This has been there for 18 months.
A relearn can't hurt, but may not eliminate all issues.

 

Thank you for that info.. This helps! I think that I will try and replace it from another source if the shop that did the rebuild will not replace it under there warranty.

 

I recently finished up building a custom fog light bracket setup for the wife's MINI, and was planning on putting the manual MINI's Oil filter housing to route an oil cooler that would sit on the bracket, but I changed my mind, and am working on making a cooler setup for the transmission. When I find time to post any updates when I get around to working on it, I'll let you guys know, but basically it's going to need two 90* hoses from the heat exchanger into a thermostat (165-185*), then run AN stainless steel line, and bend it to the front, and use AN fittings into the cooler.

EDIT: Forgot to mentino the hardest part is a block off plate that would reroute the fluid, THAT in itself would need to be machined, but with having 3000GT VR-4 calipers and bracket setup second on the to do list, this will be a little while.

 

My son just purchased a used 2006 Mini Cooper S with 85k miles on it. He actually got a very good price on it. However this was a vehicle that was neglected. By the time he brought it home, the timing chain rattle started. Thinking it was a simple fix, we replaced the tensioner. The noise was still there and upon closer inspection the harmonic balancer fell apart. Since we had it apart, why not replace the timing chain, guides, inlet/outlet oil gaskets, front seal, timing sprocket bolt, harmonic balancer bolt, belt, and timing cover gasket. Thank god we did that, because the prior owner had some inexperienced person work on the vehicle. The harmonic balancer and cam sprocket gear was torqued with less than 20 ft lbs. Since we were at it, we serviced the supercharger and changed the oil. We also flushed the brake fluid, coolant, new NGK plugs and changed the oil (Mobil 1) and filter.

The transmission was having a delay with shifting from park, reverse or to drive. It would jump/slip/shift hard during shifts. The shifting from 2nd-3rd gear was horrible. It felt like there was a 2-3 second delay before it would shift. The motor would rev up high and it would shift hard. We did a transmission fluid change and used redline d4. We replaced the filter and gasket since we were there. All of the shifts smoothed out, but 2nd -3rd had more slippage/delayed shifting. Shifting from park to drive or reverse was not any better. The fluid that was taken out was extremely gritty and dark. There was very little metal in the pan, but it appeared someone recently serviced it. We took a chance and decided to replace the valve body. I looked at a bunch of forums and it looked like Revmax reputation and warranty seemed very good.

It came in a week and I just finished installing it. Replaced the fluid with redline d4 again and took it for a spin. Fist thing I noticed was the car went in to gear without delay and did not jump. Off for the test drive as I babied it through the shifts. No issues and super smooth. I re-initialized the tranny so it could learn my son's driving style. The old valvebody looked like it was rebuilt by someone, but I have no idea who did it and It was not a very good job. My recommendation is to try a Revmax valvebody if you are having shifting issues and changing the fluid.

The mini is back together and since I enjoyed working on his vehicle so much, my wife and I are a proud owner of a 2012 Mini Cooper S with JCW package.

 

Good job H. Chi. Glad it worked out. Changing the VB is not a terrible thing to have happen, but it sucks if the replacement is not A1.

 

H.Chi - do you mind if I ask you how much did it cost you to do that? I may be in the same boat with my 05 MCS 6spd. The symptoms you have (esp. from 2nd to 3rd) sound exactly the same. I was going to do a flush but my shop is being wary on it as it could be worse than what I have now. It drives fine for the upper gears with the occasional slippage from 5th to 6th... but I just did a swap in my subaru and just finished paying it off.. now this -_-

 

Revmax valve body 1069$ shipped with $350 returned after core is received
6 quarts of Redline d4 $12.99 each
Transmission filter/gasket $85
Transmission fluid pump-I used a lower gear fluid pump for marine outboard application. It was the one for a Mercury outboard motors. 9$ I filled from the bottom or you can buy a bug sprayer and modify it. I put 4 to 4.5 quarts in and filled according to TIS instructions. Two days and no issues, just spoke with son today.

 

When I had my VB replaced and the comp reflashed, it made the shifts about 70% better. I still deal with rough shifting from 1st to 2nd and 2nd to 3rd, but I've learned how to drive the Mini with the rough shifts. Nothing bone jarring, but definitely not perfect. I thought about doing a rebuild, but that's nothing I'll undertake while it's my DD.

 

There are several companies that rebuild valve bodies and Revmax had an excellent warranty and a good reputation. I did find some less expensive ones but after talking to Revmax and reading about the process they do to rebuild valve bodies, I would strongly recommend them. The old valve body in my sons Cooper was rebuilt before. It was not done very well. That is just my opinion.

 

Yeah, the mini was my daily as I was getting work done on the Subaru. Now the Subaru is done, I can leisurely drive the mini. It is driveable... I hate driving in traffic because of the shifting, but it is bearable. I'm leaning towards just a flush for now, but my shop guys are going to check it next week

 

im having the same issues with my 06 S auto. Its giving me a code p0500: for trans speed sensor A.

has anyone encountered this before?

 

I'm planning to do a valve body change from Revmax, should be getting it next Wednesday. I hope to get it out of limp mode when the new valve body goes in. Does anyone knows how to get the mini back to 'reset' out of limp mode after a valve body goes in? Revmax said it has to be out of limp mode after installation of the valve body. I'm hoping someone that done a couple of valve body installs can help me on this question.

 

I just wanted to give an update on my RevMax valve body swap I did 3 years ago. So far it is holding out pretty well. Very rarely I get some questionable shifting but for the most part I'm happy with my swap. I guess I could go back and double check my fill level but haven't gotten around to it.

Just as a friendly reminder the Valve Body Replacement DIY write up with pictures starts on post #221 of this thread.

 

I'm just posting this to see if anyone's encountered what possibly can be a wrong valvebody shipment from Revmax? Did they send you the correct valve body or is this what is called "updated" valvebody.

Please take a look @ the picture. The solenoids are different and from Sonnax it says this pose a problem.

Is this the case for Mini R56 2009 Cooper S??

http://www.sonnax.com/articles/295-0...identification

I didn't want to do anything yet.

 

Interesting thread... Last year my 05 JCW was rear ended/totaled. Subsequently found an 06 MCS Vert at a San Rafael, CA Lexus dealer for a good price and very low miles... 37k! I lost 40 HP and the manual trans, but figured the low miles would make it a long term daily driver. At about 45K the shift from 1-2 started flaring and has subsequently became worse. I currently have 49K and my mechanic is going to change the fluid/filter and update the software. Hoping I don't have to go the TB route, but we'll see. Thanks for the info!

 

Thats low miles for the auto trans to have issues. I would change the fluid and get that software update for sure , first.

 

The tranny service is complete and the problem decreased somewhat, but is still there. Very irritating! Now I'm contemplating the next move... get another valve body and try that or bite the bullet and find a rebuilt tranny. Either way, it's going to cost me $$$ which makes me grumpy...

Has anyone ever determined what caused this problem in the transmissions?

 

Yes, the valve body is made of aluminum and wears too quickly and the solenoids are not very good. A new valve body "should" fix your 1-2 flaring and any hard downshifts. If you are slipping in 3rd that is a different problem.
Mine started to go at 55k miles as have others. So 49k miles is not unusual.
Swapping the VB will cost about 1/3 of a reman tranny, so I would definitely do that first. The book hours for a tranny swap is like 20 or something silly vs a couple of hours for a VB swap.