[Rick Lee]

Took Mrs. Lee's 2006 Mini (65k miles) in today for an O2 sensor warranty repair. Of course, they came back with $1800 worth of work they say needs to be done. I thought it was kind of funny where they wrote the engine oil looks dirty and needs replacing, given it has all of 2500 miles on it. Or how the coolant is old and diluted, given Eric Coffey and I flushed it two mos. ago.

Anyhoo, I was a little concerned about the CVT transmission fluid, as I'd always heard it was "lifetime" and was not meant to be changed. Stealer said it should now be done every 30k miles and I think he assumed it had been done at Inspection I, because he said it was 5k miles overdue. For $200 I told them to do it, knowing the stuff is $20 per litre and a headache to change. They called back and said it took them three flushes and it was already 2 qts. low, old fluid was black, thick and in bad shape. Stealer said he suspected the belt was going south and contaminating the fluid. Amazingly, he said they would no-charge the job. So we got another $0 invoice.

Now I'm really worried that this tranny is on borrowed time and it's stupid expensive to replace, like $7k. Is it time to just trade it in or drive it til it dies? Trouble is that, when it dies, it won't be worth more than a parts car and my wife will need something immediately to get to work. I've not read of any stories of Mini goodwill'ing out of warranty tranny replacements. What to do?