Midland gear box 2004

[J9monkeyman]

Hi, after some advice please.

Just fitted a secondhand midland gear box to my 1.4 petrol 2004 Mini Cooper.

Went to test it before i bleed the clutch, put drivers side axel in and started engine, sounds good but I can’t get it into gear, it’s seems to be stuck in neural.. going though gears feels fine but it’s not connecting at all..

1. Have I put the gearbox in wrong or
2. Do I need to bleed the clutch?

The car was standing outside with gearbox off for 1 month and clutch plate showed signs of rusting. Any advice would be great.

[E-bmw]

We will need more information than "changed the gearbox".

Is it the old clutch?

Is it a new clutch?

Is it a full new 3-piece clutch?

Have you since tried bleeding?

Is the drive shaft "home" properly?

You say second hand gearbox, what is its history?

Are just a few that spring to mind.

[J9monkeyman]

It’s just a car that I’m playing with to learn, so haven’t replaced clutch, gear box is a recon one and drive shaft is in place.. all this I though would be enough to test

[MikeMnemonic]

I may be missing something but ..

1) If you only have one driveshaft fitted, all of the drive will go to the other (non fitted) axle as the diff will drive the side with the least friction. Fit both shafts!

2) All of the oil in the gearbox will leak out of the side without a driveshaft fitted?

[Armitage.Shanks]

Did that gearbox work OK before you put it in? The fault with the Midland box is a sudden loss of all gears without any warning. Try selecting any and all you get is neutral meaning its knackered. They are shoite. Ask me how I know!

There's a repair kit for c£90 but you're better getting a replacement for c£500 IMHO