Post by duck on Aug 23, 2020 6:55:23 GMT
Hello! I own a 1996 Mayfair Mini, approximately 53,000 miles off the Japanese Factory Line...or so I've been told by the previous owner. A lot of the car's identity to me is a bit of a mystery and its been hard to track down.
However...!
I’ve been having some transmission issues lately on my automatic and suspect it is most likely an oil problem. I’m currently living in vicinity of Seoul, South Korea and take my mini to get serviced as the guy who claims he’s the only one in the entire country who knows how to work on them (I obviously can’t corroborate his claim but I have yet to find anyone possible else).
After the last time I went to him to get an oil change and a couple other things done, my mini started doing some peculiar. On the first engine start of the day, the car will run fine, no problems, regardless of however long the drive (I’ve done up to 1.5 hours, no problems regarding the transmission). However, on subsequent starts the mini will start up in 3rd gear and remain stuck in 3rd gear throughout the entire drive. Sometimes, on a colder or rainy day, the second drive will also be normal.
My speculation, especially after looking at your research, is that in colder days, the oil is more likely to stay and remain at a higher viscosity / thicker, providing it the adequate pressure for normal transmission operation. I guess this hypothesis doesn’t, however, support the fact that regardless of the length of drive on the 1st start of the day, the transmission operates with no issues.
When I took it back to the mechanic, he said he wasn’t sure what the problem is.
When I took it back to the mechanic, he said he wasn’t sure what the problem is.
Have you seen this problem before or what do you think it might be?
Thank you!
Duck
