11 replies to this topic

[KrisTheZombie]

I have a 1987 Mini Mayfair 998 Auto, and it's reverse gear will no longer engage, the lever will go into "R" and the reverse lights will come on, but no movement. The rest of the transmission is fine, no knocks, rattles, or anything out the ordinary. It will quite happily reach 65+mph. I bought an automatic because I wanted an automatic, so no talk about ripping it out and putting a manual gearbox in please.

Can anyone shed light onto weither it may be a simple selector problem, or if I might have to repleace the whole transmission.

Thanks

[olds_kool_lews]

if it ends up being a gearbox problem, i have a complete 11k miles from new auto engine if you need to replace it!

as for the problem i cant help on that. sorry!

[Guess-Works.com]

Suggest you contact MRA-Minis

[mk1leg]

Hi..I had this problem a few years ago and this is what I did .........

get yourself 2 bottles of flushing oil and pop 1 bottle in your engine take your mini for a 20 min drive using the auto box like a manual through all the gears........when back home change oil (very hot) and filrer canister then refill with cheap oil and pop in the other bottle of flushing oil..........then repeat.... then redrain oil only and refill with good quality oil.......this may work as the flushing oil cleans out all the tiny oilways in the auto box...........good luck...........

[KrisTheZombie]

This sounds like a good place to start looking. What oil would you recommend, as the mini shares its engine sump with it's transmission sump, I don't want to get it wrong, especially being an automatic. Halford's say 10/40 engine oil will do the job, but I'm suspicious engine oil will work in the transmission as well. Where did you learn that flushing would help the gears re-engage?

[chrisandsarah]

Ive got an auto 998! Change your oil.... simple fix but it has saved me having a new gearbox!

[ShoutforJoy]

Hi

Halfords classic 20w50 mineral oil (in an old style can with a picture of a mini on the front) is the one to go for if you're shopping there. That's what I (and most of my friends) use in their auto minis. If your not a Halford shopper then any good 20w50 mineral oil should be ok. Accepted wisdom is to steer well clear of synthetic or semi-synthectic oils and stck to mineral ones only.

If this doesnt solve your problem then I would agree with Guessworks - make contact with Martin from MRA Minis.

hth

[Joloke08]

Hi..I had this problem a few years ago and this is what I did .........

get yourself 2 bottles of flushing oil and pop 1 bottle in your engine take your mini for a 20 min drive using the auto box like a manual through all the gears........when back home change oil (very hot) and filrer canister then refill with cheap oil and pop in the other bottle of flushing oil..........then repeat.... then redrain oil only and refill with good quality oil.......this may work as the flushing oil cleans out all the tiny oilways in the auto box...........good luck...........

Dont ever put Flushing oil in an Automotive Products Automatic Transmission your transmission wont like it at all
Some of it will be Swollowed up by the Torque Convertor and the only option to remove it will be to strip the Transmission and drain the Torque Convertor

Engine flush will only make the Transmission Slip

I agree its worth Flushing the oil in order to see if it improves things but the best way is drain the original oil and use a cheap 20w50 Mineral Oil to refill run it up to temperature and drain again,you may have to do this more than once to flush the trans once your satisfied its cleared all the old oil out Refill again with a good Quality 20w50 Mineral Oil

Then with your foot firmly on the Brake Cycle through all the gears several times (especially reverse in your case) then see if the car will engage reverse?

If all else fails and this is most probably the cause i would say your reverse clutch has failed

But Please do not put Engine Flush or Transmission Stop Leak or Stop Slip etc in the engine it would only cause you more Problems

As Guessworks and Shoutforjoy have Said Martin at MRA Minis is your Man if it needs further investigation

Even if The Oil change Fixes it temporarily it will probably need an Overhaul again sooner or later

Just out of interest what milage has the car done?

Edited by Joloke08, 15 August 2010 - 10:01 AM.

[Joloke08]

also if you havnt joined already

http://autominiregis...s.com/index.cgi

[KrisTheZombie]

the car has done around 50,000. Although I only have mots going back a couple of years, so it may of been clocked earlier in it's life, but the condition of the interior and exterior would seem about right for 50,000 miles. I will cantact Martin at MRA mini's, I would of done this first but after contacting several "mini specialists" they all said they don't touch auto's, so I stopped asking around because I got tired of hearing
"auto's mate, nothing but trouble, we could do a manual conversion for ya"
from so called "specialists".

I was planning on doing a full service soon, pionts, plugs, ail & oil filter, belt, distributor cap, ht leads, the works. So I'll do a couple of oil changes with regular engine oil over that weekend to see it it fixs the problem.

Thank you all for the advice.

[Joloke08]

the car has done around 50,000. Although I only have mots going back a couple of years, so it may of been clocked earlier in it's life, but the condition of the interior and exterior would seem about right for 50,000 miles. I will cantact Martin at MRA mini's, I would of done this first but after contacting several "mini specialists" they all said they don't touch auto's, so I stopped asking around because I got tired of hearing
"auto's mate, nothing but trouble, we could do a manual conversion for ya"
from so called "specialists".

I was planning on doing a full service soon, pionts, plugs, ail & oil filter, belt, distributor cap, ht leads, the works. So I'll do a couple of oil changes with regular engine oil over that weekend to see it it fixs the problem.

Thank you all for the advice.

Myself and Minisniper started The Automatic Mini Register last year to bring together Automatic Owners to share resources and information
I stepped down as Admin there a little while ago as i no longer have a mini auto but still try to help out if i can

The Reason i asked your milage is though there are exceptions general Rule of Thumb the transmission useually starts having problems that require a rebuild around 40-50,000 Miles

Our Mini Boris Developed Transmission problems at around 46,000 and many others i know who have had rebuild seem to have to have them around that milage

They generally need the Seals,gaskets,Clutch Plates replaced at that Milage though once its done you should be fine for another 50k or so

Autos require their Oil to be changed every 3,000 miles though i did Boris every 2,000 just to be sure

A Transmission Rebuild will cost in the region of £800-£1000 Martin at MRA Minis did ours last year for £850 but best check with Martin for Current Prices

If you are handy with the spanners and can do the rebuild yourself Martin can supply all rebuild parts or a rebuilt transmission is usually around £500 but being quite an involved job i would recommend a supply and fit at around £800 ish

Please Please dont put regular engine flush in your engine though you will cause further problems

[mk1leg]

Hi..I had this problem a few years ago and this is what I did .........

get yourself 2 bottles of flushing oil and pop 1 bottle in your engine take your mini for a 20 min drive using the auto box like a manual through all the gears........when back home change oil (very hot) and filrer canister then refill with cheap oil and pop in the other bottle of flushing oil..........then repeat.... then redrain oil only and refill with good quality oil.......this may work as the flushing oil cleans out all the tiny oilways in the auto box...........good luck...........

Dont ever put Flushing oil in an Automotive Products Automatic Transmission your transmission wont like it at all
Some of it will be Swollowed up by the Torque Convertor and the only option to remove it will be to strip the Transmission and drain the Torque Convertor

Engine flush will only make the Transmission Slip

I agree its worth Flushing the oil in order to see if it improves things but the best way is drain the original oil and use a cheap 20w50 Mineral Oil to refill run it up to temperature and drain again,you may have to do this more than once to flush the trans once your satisfied its cleared all the old oil out Refill again with a good Quality 20w50 Mineral Oil

Then with your foot firmly on the Brake Cycle through all the gears several times (especially reverse in your case) then see if the car will engage reverse?

If all else fails and this is most probably the cause i would say your reverse clutch has failed

But Please do not put Engine Flush or Transmission Stop Leak or Stop Slip etc in the engine it would only cause you more Problems

As Guessworks and Shoutforjoy have Said Martin at MRA Minis is your Man if it needs further investigation

Even if The Oil change Fixes it temporarily it will probably need an Overhaul again sooner or later

Just out of interest what milage has the car done?

this has always worked for me I see no problems what this method does is wash old sludgy oil out of the many many tiny oilways that exist in a mini auto box...........and this advice was from an old mechanic with 50 years working on mini engines .........