So I have an automatic r50 Mini Cooper, and I've had it for about 3 years now. I love it, and it's awesome to drive. I had it sitting for a while because I went out of town for a while. The battery went bad and then my shifts started being really weird. I read that sometimes changing out the battery could solve that problem. But I changed out the battery and it still acts weird. The RMPs will go down a bit before spiking back up, right before I shift. Then I would put it in neutral while driving, and the RMPs spike up like crazy. That's just one problem. My car also starts to overheat very easily. It has all the proper fluids and everything, it just gets really hot really fast. It'll run normal for about 5 minutes then overheat. A friend of mine said it could be a water pump issue, but I just wanted to see what you guys believe it could be. Please let me know what you guys think.

 

There are howto's to change the fluid on those trannys. I had an R50, sometimes while stopped and in gear, it would feel like someone hit me from the back. I didn't have the car long to change out the fluid to see if that would fix the problem.

Overheating, those cars have bad thermostat housings/gaskets. I was having the overheating problem and took the thermostat out and noticed how crumbly the gasket was, just changed out the housing, new gasket, new thermostat, bled the system and that took care of the problem. Make sure you get the overheating problem taken care of str8 away.....

 

Thank you very much, I'll check that out.

 

Could be two separate issues, neither of which caused by the battery. First you have the CVT transmission that does not have the best reputation. With luck it could be just needing a fluid change, no luck and your trannie is hot. The overheating could be the water pump, the t-stat or low coolant.

Going to move you to the Stock Problems/Issues area

 

I agree, you could have 2 issues at foot here. First, plug into your DME and check for faults in each system. You'll want a tool that can connect and check all systems. You could do a CVT fluid change and do an adaptation using a scan tool to see if it helps fix your issues there. Next, check VERY CLOSELY for fluid leaks under your MINI. It could be that it is being burnt off before making its way to the ground. How is the coolant level in your tank? If it's low, top it off and keep an eye on it to see if it drops. You could also maybe have air in the system is there is a leak as well. I've posted some links below that may be helpful.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm
http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...tech_index.htm