has anyone experienced stiff/hard shifting?

      Has anyone out there experienced stiff/hard shifting with your MINI? I have parked my Cooper S on my driveway for the past 60 days on my driveway. Temperatures haven't been very cold. Last week when i took it out for a drive I noticed the gear shift was a little hard to shift-as if it needed oil or lubrication. It was even stiffer by the end of my hour long drive. I was concerned it may be a tranny problem and asked an auto parts employee when buying oil, and he said it's not a tranny problem but just needs gear oil. I have driven stick all my life and have never experienced a stiff shifter. I don't see any puddles of fluid on my driveway as I thought maybe my tranny fuid leaked out. I a had a little front end bender during the winter, but it just seems cosmetic, cracking/damaging the front driver skirt. I don't think the tranny could have been damaged could it???

I am no expert, but I am pretty sure that the manual tranny is a sealed unit. This means that the only way to lose the lube is to have it leak out. I do not think you can burn it.
 
I have not experienced any stiff shifting yet, but it might be due to a clutch issue, rather than a tranny issue. I would take it in to have it checked out, but that is just me.
 
If it is an automatic tranny, I do not know what to tell you.
 
Good luck!

Thanks for the reply/feedback froglips. I appreciate it. Hopefully you or anyone else will NOT ever have to experience this! It concerns me though about the posts about the S's tranny problems from 2002-2004 models!

Just to be analy correct here , I beleive that the posts you speak of are actually referring to the clutches wearing out really fast (Within 30k miles or so sometimes), rather than there being a problem with the actual trannies. I am pretty sure the trannies are rock solid, or that is what I hear anyways.
 
Good luck.