1st Gen R50 Cooper Most liked posts in thread: 02' CVT

Flush and hope sounds like a good first step.
Swapping to a Getrag 6-speed is an option, but it requires a lot of other
parts and some reprogramming and will be as pricey as a rebuilt CVT or worse.
It's a big, expensive job, but so is replacing the CVT with another pricey failure-prone one.
It will last, though. WayMotorWorks has done a bunch of these swaps, but they're
pretty far from you.

This article gives the lowdown on swapping from the Midlands to the Getrag 6-speed.
CVT to Getrag also requires new pedals and reprogramming and harnesses.

CVT to 5-speed Getrag doesn't make as much sense as it still requires almost all of the
extra parts and the 6-speed Getrag is sturdier than the 5-Speed Getrag (and MUCH sturdier
than the Midlands and MUCH MUCH sturdier than the CVT).

Other option would be to flush and hope it helps the possible slipping and sell or trade it
(but not to a friend).

Another option would be to take a loss and get a manual R50 built after July 2004, or an
R53 (auto or manual).

http://personal.stevens.edu/~jdunn/FixingtheWeakLink.pdf

 

"Flush and fill your CVT every 3k miles". That's what my mechanic said for me to do to ensure the life of CVT transmission. I told him that the dealer always did a flush at the time of the Service checks and he told me "yeah, but not often enough"...every 12k being a tad different than every 3k. So, that's what I did and I can tell that the tranny is more responsive now and I am driving it more often. FYI: Mine is an early '03...09/02 build.

 

Unless you are in any-amount-of-money love...

 

I'd say you're getting some pretty sound advice on this endeavor. The onlyest way I would attempt this project would be if'n I was an extremely gifted mechanic and I had access to a transmission and other assorted used parts for very little cash. Hopefully a flush and fill of the CVT will help.

 

$300 for a peace of mind tranny flush does not bother me, although it might some people. To me, it sure saves a replacement of the transmission at a relatively low cost and I am willing to take that risk. A replacement tranny would cost around $5-7k, and so, spending some "prevention" money now will never reach the pain of a new tranny.

FYI: My R50 has only around 60k miles but in the early years, it saw 2 2-day HPDEs and it has been Dragon and twisty slaying a number of times with nary a tranny twitch.

 

Cut your losses. I'd sell it and buy a manual if you want to stick with a MINI, even if the flush works you're living on borrowed time. I'm mildly shocked you've made it to 150,000, that speaks to you maintaining the car and driving it well.

Buy a low-mid mileage manual, maintain it as well as you have the CVT, and you're in good shape.

 

No idea. I've heard the CVTs had a whole lot of issues though.

I'm sure that someone here with more specific knowledge will chime in. Just give us East Coasters time to wake up.