A couple of weeks ago, i noticed a droning noise from what i eventually traced to be the gearbox (52 plate cooper with 76k miles and midland 'box). The car was 6 weeks out of warranty and BMW (Fairbairns) confirmed it sounded like a bearing or broken tooth. As it was out of warranty, things were not looking good, however the service manager offered to speak to BMW to se about a goodwill gesture, which they agreed to, however it was only 60% of the parts, which woult still have left me with a £1300 bill:blackeye:

So i spoke with a tame mechanic we use, who recommended a chap in Cambuslang to recon the gearbox, so the whole job, inc labour for removal and refitting of the gearbox, the complete reconditioning of my box, and a new clutch (as a precautionary measure as the original was worn but still servicable, however there would be no additional labour cost to renew it at this time), came to £700. - bit of a "bargin" all things considering!.

Our tame mechanic did the removal and refit and clutch work and a for £400 in the clutch and the gearbox was recon'd by a really pleasant specialist father and son firm who i visited to let them diagnose the problem before they received the 'box and all for the miserly sum of £290.

I would thouroughly recommend should anyone need their services It might have been another £100 for the main shaft and differential gear had they been damaged, however they weren't (luckily!!)


If anyone needs a clutch or gearbox job done in the Glasgow or East Kilbride area and is not afraid to have it done outside the dealer network, get in contact and i'll put you in touch with Craig. The only downside of this is that i dropped my car in on monday and should have it back this arvo..but I can live with that because i've saved over £600 on the dealer cost.

Gerry