Hey everyone, I've been lurking around for a while and now have something to actually contribute. I have a 2004 Cooper S with around 75000 miles and just completed a semi-preventative clutch job, swapping out the oem unit for a valeo kit with the smf. Everything went reasonably smoothly and I have put around 1000 miles on since the job including the recommended 500 mile break in. Tonight I decided to do a wot pull out of a light and when I spiritedly shifted into 2nd gear nothing happened. I had no 2nd gear and quickly discovered I had no 4th or 6th either. Reverse, 1st, 3rd and 5th all function normally and there is/was no grinding or other ugly noises from the tranny. The only other symptom is the shifter is just a little forward of vertical in the "forward" gears and if I pull back to where the "rearward" gears would be there is empty space. My initial thought after my heart started beating again and my breathing got somewhat back to normal was the shift cables, as mine weren't in great shape and I did have to pull them off to drop the tranny. Does this sound consistent with a shift cable issue? I've done some searching but I couldn't find any symptoms exactly matching mine. I will pull the airbox tomorrow and investigate further as there isn't much I can do in the dark tonight. Thanks in advance!

 

I'm no expert, but I believe this is due to the differential/synchronizer? I know that the car has three diffs -- one for reverse, one for odd gears and one for even gears.

So the even gear synchro or whatchamachacall it went out.

 

Also, check the cables for the gear selector.

 

I don't know WHAT Deluded is trying to say but your car does not have three differentials.........I think you'll find you have a cable problem, it sounds like one of the retaining clips might have popped out and the cable has shifted out of it's locked in spot. Or you have a stretched cable, end fraying or something.

Replacing the cables is a bit of a job if you have to do that - you have to drop the exhaust center section and remove the heat shielding to get to the bottom of the shift box.

Good luck and let us know what you find.

 

+1 on the cables.

When installing the transmission back and recently installing the cables one might have worked loose.

For example.







For pre 1/2004 production there is a Condition A and Condition B which has diffrent clips.

Thanks

 

Thanks for the responses guys. The more I think about it the more I think it's a cable issue and you're input has strengthened that. I'll pull the intake tonight and see what I find, hopefully it's a relatively simple fix and I can get away with not replacing the entire cable(s). I'll make sure to get some pics so if anyone has any similar symptoms they have a good resource.

 

The car gods were nice to me for once, I pulled the intake last night and found the right hand shift cable had broken one of the ears off the plastic bracket.



The cables themselves are not in great shape but I'm going to run with them for now as I need an exhaust too so when I have to drop that out I'll do the cables as well. I'll be ordering a new bracket from ECS tuning today and it'll be good as new. Thanks again for the help!

 

I used different words... the correct word I wanted to use was final drive. Mini Cooper has three final drives. See here:

www.mini2.com/forum/first-generation-mini-cooper-s/93073-gear-ratio-differential.html

m.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/showthread.php?t=6471

 

Great , glad you were able to find the broken part.