Mini Cooper reverse gear .............

[bembo67]

hi my wife has just brought a mini cooper 53 plate,from a main dealer she is 100% happy with the car,but has trouble finding,selecting reverse gear,me being a man said nothing wrong with it,so i had a go and she does have a point,sometimes it goes straight in,but i would say most off the time it is realy hard to get in gear,any one got any help with this annoying problem?
cheers,
Andy.......

[ChuckFickens]

Late 2003/ early 2004

[barb1314]

I had exactly the same problem and so did my OH.Mine was a 53 too but we never solved it,just sold it.We had far too many other problems with ours. Sorry.

[TWR]

Take the car back, it should be under the Warranty.

[Kayless]

when you say hard to get in do you mean hard to find the slot or when you find it it takes effort to push the selector?

If the former it's probably a loose connection on the linkage if the latter it's a good sign that reverse is cream crackered or at least on the way out in that box

[bembo67]

thanks for replies,it dont make any difference if hot or cold,still hard to select gear,and yes it is hard to find,and takes effort to push the selector,think it may be a trip back to the dealer...more hastle i could do with out.
thanks again.....

[gsr600]

If you can lubricate the linkage it may help,(under bonnet - not gear lever end)
Don't know about the mini being cable type or balljoint sort of linkage tho.
worth a try first - not WD 40 maybe - spray grease or similar.

[wilkesneil]

this is a gearbox problem, my ex had this problem when she purchased hers. when it was cold in the morning it was hard to find gears until engine had warmed up and then it just slotted into gear. a few months later i was driving and only had 3rd & 4th gear.
before this the dealer had changed master cylinder, clutch, gearbox cables etc..

[wilkesneil]

gsr - mini is cable type gearbox, the problem is this is on the way out or the gearbox is on the way out