I just noticed that there's a hidden "extra" mini radiator tucked inside a vent, right above the driver side fog lamp. (on a 2013 O.S. SE 4WD)


The fins of the unit is barely visible through the slot-opening that's molded into the black plastic bezel of the fog lamp housing.


Any one else notice it?
What is it for??

 

It's the transmission cooler.

 

^
indeed..
Well, I didn't realize we can work the CVT that hard to warrant a trans. cooler. Good to know we have one. Thanks.

 

The CVT's are fragile and I'm guessing a trans cooler on every car will save Mitsu big $$$ in warranty replacement transmissions. IIRC the JATCO CVT's are not serviceable, so if you break your CVT in any way at all they have to replace the entire transmission.

 

yikes! oh no.. That sounds just like all the horror stories I've read about in MINI Cooper's CVTs.

Wife wanted one, but after I came across all the poor reliability and nightmare warranty service issues (EVEN those who were still within warranty period!), I convinced her to look into another brand.

From what was posted online against MINIs, if anything went wrong to the transmission and it did (apparently) quite often! You MUST have the MINI dealer "fix", ie: Replace the entire transmission, which took a long while to have it ordered from Europe... And the only place you can get those transmission units IS from the dealerships, no one offers parts for the CVTs individually.


Hmm... so now I guess my question is - Has anyone experienced (or heard stories of) Mitsu's CVT failure or shifting issues? How was it resolved?

 

i have a coworkers still struggling with trans problems on his mini cooper s turbo, its been months


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Ouch!
Sorry to hear about that..
What happened... is he documenting the issue(s)?

Don't mean to throw this thread off track, but your coworker might want to go here:
> ConsumerAffairs - MINI complaints, LINK
and
> Edmunds - MINI Cooper Clutch & Transmission Questions, LINK

Hope he gets his trans. problems resolved soon.

 

towed it to a trans shop thought he could get it fixed there they ****ed it up more, towed it home cause get was out of money... then had it towed to a dealer n now they still have it...


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What a freakin' headache...!
I can't imagine the nightmare it is now with having to fight with a dealership over who/what caused the initial trans. problem and how much it's going to cost to get the car fixed "correctly".

 

Look into Jatco (I THINK that's the name). They are the main CVT manufacturer in the US. Our trans is the EXACT same CVT as the Juke, Dodge Caliber, Jeep Compass, and plenty of other makes and models, so MINI may be using the exact same trans.

Now, what kills the CVT's is pressure, which is mostly caused by torque. Luckily for us, our anemic motors have almost no torque, and the CVT should do OK. But on a MINI with a turbo, there could be a good amount of torque at full boost, and that is what would cause your friend problems.

 

Interesting..

From what I have personally experienced with the Nissan brand - Altima, Juke, Rogue... even their lowly Versa - None of their CVTs make as much noises as ours, if they are from Jatco.


I don't know what to say about MINI's CVT failures, couldn't they just use thicker (heavy duty) metal belt for the main linkage to solve (counter) the torque problem.

 

I don't think any other car makes as much noise as our anything lol. Wind noise, engine, Trans, it's all super loud.

 

Just to keep this thread on topic about CVT trans. cooler, I've started another thread to focus on CVT noises here > LINK

 

I noticed it also, I asked the dealer thinking a cover might have fell off because the other side was different.