As the proud new owner of an '06 MCSa, I'd like to keep it running tip-top shape for many years...many many many. I was wondering how many higher-mileage MCSa's are out there...say 50,000+ miles...if any, and how is your transmission holding up?

I have been told the automatic tranny in the MCSa is "sealed for life" and the fluid cannot be changed. Is that true? There's got to be a way to flush out the old and put in new fluid, correct?

I wonder if any MINI dealer would do this service (at say 75,000 miles or so...that sounds about right for an automatic tranny fluid change, yes?) and at what price. And more importantly, do they even stock the proper fluid?

I owned a 1998 Oldsmobile Intrigue with a so-called sealed for life transmission...and it (the transmission) promptly died at around 80,000 miles and 6 years of service. I'd hate for the same fate for my MINI, especially if it is preventable/serviceable.

Thanks and rock on,

-boognish

 

Only 2500 miles so far, so I can't offer any help, but I wonder, too about the sealed transmission. I've always heard it helps to keep the fluids fresh and changed at regular intervals. My husband drives a humongous Buick Roadmaster with the former Corvette LT1 engine on his long work commute, and he's always had the transmission fluid changed every 50,000 miles. 265,000 miles on that transmission so far and no problems.

 

I know that its not the same year, but i have a CVT Automatic in my 03', with 50,700 miles on it. Tranny seems fine to me.

 

The CVT transmission fluid is in fact, changeable. The dealer will do it free of charge around 30,000 miles (they did it on my 03 CVT). Then subsequent CVT fluid changes must be paid for by the owner...don't know the cost but it's a good preventive measure.

The MCSa has an Aisin (Japanese-built) 6-Speed Automatic Transmission, not a CVT, correct? What other car makes/models share this exact same transmission, anyone know?

-boognish

 

Sorry, I am not there (50,000+ miles) yet.

Sealed for life only applies to the life of the factory warranty - if anything breaks from the failure of the transmission due to a failure to properly maintain it (replace the fluid), the factory will fix it. The fluid can be replaced, but that takes some effort. Basically, drain and refill the transmission pan will only get around 40% of the total fluid (you still have not replaced the fluid that is in the transmission body and torque converter). To replace the fluid involves multiple iterations on the drain and refill process. If you do a drain and refill and then take the car for a short (~5 miles) drive and then drain and refill for three more times, you have probably replaced approx 97% of the transmission fluid. An alternative might be to do a drain and refill every 15,000 miles.

An alternative might be to find a good independent transmission shop. Their rates should be lower than the dealer and more importantly, they do transmissions day-in and day-out.

At least you have an experiential basis to not trust the "sealed for life" claims. I have run into some people (especially the BMW owners) who are adamant about the sealed for life. Then when the transmission fails at 70,000 miles and there is no warranty, they start to complain as vehemently as they asserted the sealed for life argument.

Net, net, if you can swap out the transmission fluid before it fails and then causes the transmission clutch friction packs to fail, you will have a longer-lived transmission.

 

Correct. Other manufacturers that I know for a fact use the Aisin-Warner transmission are Volvo. Other manufacturers I have heard use the Aisin-Warner but don't know for certain about are Audi, Nissan, Porsche and Toyota.

 

I believe Porsche does use an Aisin tranny in the 911, not sure about the others. The "lifetime fluid" is hogwash IMO. My 330i has the "lifetime fluid" as well (not an Aisin tranny) and I changed it at 50K and now have 58k with no problems. Unfortunately it cost about $400.00 at an independent shop. I believe BMW is now recommending a change at 100K. Before they started covering the routine maintenance I believe they recommended it to be changed at around 35k, go figure I heard too many stories of failed trannys in the BMW forums not to change it. I believe the consensus was to change it around 35-60k but once you got much above that to take your chances on not changing it. Something about gunk buildup in older tranny's that's best left alone.

 

The transmission shop that I use for fluid changes makes a ton of money on BMWs that dump their a/t right around the 55,000 - 60,000 mile point. Given that there is no provision for fluid replacement on the BMW a/t, their recommendation is to drain and refill the transmission pan (and replace the filter in the pan) every 15,000 miles.

 

With the MCSa only being out since Jan 1, 2005 you will be hard pressed to find one with over 50k miles. My car is 15 months old and has 17k miles on it and the tranny is holding up fine. Others such as GBMINI and 1FNMINI are in the 20k range.

I haven't even considered messing with the tranny fluid at this time. Although when my engine was replaced under warranty they had to top off the tranny fluid. This was at about 12k miles.

 

Do you recall how much fluid had to be added? The one thing you don't want to happen is for the a/t to run out of fluid.... Since there is no way to check the fluid level in the a/t, there is one more reason to at least do a drain and refill every 15,000 miles.

 

They told me they needed 2 quarts as they lost some during the engine swap. I don't know how much the tranny takes.
I agree I wish there was a way to check the fluid to see it's health.

 

I also have a 15 month old MCSa, I'm at 27k.

Car still running fine but the rough shifting has been there since day one. The car seems confused in two situations: 1. stop and go traffic 2. mountains.

But no transmission "problems" yet.

I will probably seek to have the fluid replaced at 50k.

 

We have 5500 miles on our 06 MCSa. We just replaced the passenger side motor mount which helped make the car drive smoother when rolling on/off the throttle. We also had the tranny ecu "reflashed" as it had picked up some bad behaviours from being stuck in NYC traffic. Running much better now

 

Only 10k on our 05, haven't thought about doing the fluid yet.

 

I'm at about 27,000 with no tranny problems so far. At about 50,000 I'll probably look at replacing the fluid.

 

... (*please see below posts from 2006) is spooking me PRE-purchase. I would be needing to SEE my trans fluid every month or two (old habit) - and of course engines/motors needing replacement under warranty doesn't sound like a good indicator to me. My warm-fuzzies are turning cool and brittle ...

Please someone(S) help alleviate my concerns here. I'm actually looking to hear from "long-time" owners and/or "high-mileage" owners (the longest and highest I can get) though I welcome ALL replies.

Thanks,
g ...

 

Has anyone written up a good How-to for this? Ive been searching for about an hour now on how to change the oil in an automatic and havent come up with much....

 

My wife's June '05 build MCSa has just under 34K miles and is shifting smoothly still. She drives mostly short trips around town and travels only a total of 14 miles to and from work (pretty much rural, back road, light traffic). I drive it two days a week almost all highway to put some mileage on it (total of 76 miles/day).

 

Transmission fluid can be changed. Dealer says 100k but I wouldn't wait that long. The transmission shop which is rebuilding mine recommends to do it every year or 24k. I have 102k on mine 05 MCSA. trans started acting up at 95k. Almost every part is being being replaced. The fluid is very expensive to do but so is rebuilding the trans.

 

My 06 MCSa has 52k miles now. Trans is still fine. how much does your shop charges to replace trans fluid?

 

Well, my 2005 MCSa has 57000 miles on it and I just had it towed to South Bay MINI to have the tranny looked at. On the way to work this morning the car started slipping badly from 3rd-4th, then let go altogether. Pulling over, letting it downshift and starting over again got me moving, but then the whole thing stuck in 3rd gear and wouldn't move up or down, even with the paddles.

Cycling through park and then back got me going, but nothing but slippage above 3rd.

There is a thread here for someone who was asking earlier how to do a fluid change in their "lifetime" transmission.

 

I have 06 MCSa now at 62K. Auto Transmission is still OK.My local MINI shops says its not neccesary to change it because the transmission on the S model holds up pretty well. Unlike the manual or the CVT.

 

Well, 7k over warrantee and I'm screwed according to South Bay Mini. Fortunately Steve's Auto, a very reputable MINI mechanic, is on the case is being reasonable and not jumping to conclusions.

I've heard many anecdotal stories about dealers making reasonable considerations to owners of this supposed "100k" transmission, but I guess not me. Last trip to the dealer that I bought the car at, for sure.