I'm a newbie when it comes to Mini ownership, but I really enjoy my new Mini which is an '04 manual with 138,000 km. I'm big on maintenance so the first thing I did was give it an oil change and new tranny fluid. The old tranny fluid was thick and dark and there were filings on the drain plug. Now I have a quiet but annoying "squeak" coming from the tranny. It occurs at idle and keeps squeaking with clutch in or out. It doesn't matter if it is in neutral or in a gear (with clutch in), it just keeps squeaking. When at idle with clutch in I can put the car in gear and apply a bit of pressure to the shifter and the the noise goes away. Take my hand off the shifter and the sound comes back. I can surmise that I was the first to swap out the tranny fluid. Am I okay or am I facing transmission failure? It's got me worried.