Hello everyone,

I am a first time mini owner. I saw my first mini cooper in Pennsylvania in 2003 and last fall I got a used 2003 after my 1996 Geo Metro started having too many problems.

My question is about the toggle buttons. I'm not sure if that's the right word for them, but they are the buttons that you press to put your windows up and down, turn fog lights on, lock your doors, and the DSC button.

Are there lights behind some of these switches to know that you have turned them on? I was thinking that the DSC and fog lights would work that way, but I'm not sure.

If there are lights, and they are just burned out, is that a hard fix? Also, are these toggle buttons supposed to have a lot of movement? The whole row seems to shake a good bit, but the functions all work fine.

Thanks for your help!

Monica

 

The only toggle that lights up is the foglights.

No they should not shake at all.

Follow the steps in this thread to get to the screws for the switch panel so that you may tighten them.
WHAT YOU WILL NEED:

1) A socket screwdriver, with size #20 and 30 Torx bits.

2) Your two hands.


STEP ONE:

Disconnect the negative terminal of the battery, just in case. The battery is located in the boot (trunk) of the car.


STEP TWO:

You are going to remove the two downtubes, so that you can access the four screws that hold the head unit into place. In order to remove the downtubes, first open the glove box. Then, pull down on the knee bolster on the driver's side. To do this, you simply grab the plastic with both hands, in the opening right below the steering column. Give a firm yank downwards, and the bolster will swing down. It is scary at first, because you have to pull kind of hard, but it's OK to do!! YOU WILL NEED TO BE CAREFUL IF YOU HAVE DRIVING LAMPS INSTALLED - when the bolster swings down, it may pull the wires leading to the switch for the driving lamps - so be careful!

This is a photo of the driver's side, with the knee bolster pulled down and out of the way:




Here is a photo of the passenger side downtube, with the glove box door open:






STEP THREE:

Now, you will need to loosen the BOTTOM part of the fascia trim in the center of the dash - the part that goes around the speedometer (or in my case, chronometer). This is very similar to the knee bolster, in that you have to give the trim a firm tug outwards. It will pop away at the bottom, and come out about an inch or so from the dash. There is gummy stuff at the edges of the fascia, which is visible in the photo below. Don't touch this - it will disappear when you push the fascia back into place.




Once the fascia trim is away from the dash, you can easily pull the top part of the downtube out towards you, and then lift it up. You will see that the bottom part of the downtube rests on a foamy-plastic sort of block.

You will then see the screws to tighten the toggle switch panel.

 

GOOD JOB Braminator!!!

 

Thx

 

Braminator,

Thank you so much. I really appreciate the explanation and pictures to tighten the toggles.

Glad to know the fog lights toggle is the only one that should light up. So the light will show right behind the toggle button? Since the bulb is burned out, I'm hopeful I will see it while the toggle area is tightened so it can be replaced.


Right now (perhaps because these toggles are loose) you can't tell when the fog light or DSC toggle has been pushed down or up.

 

On the tip of the fog light toggle is a little green LED that will light up when they are on. So the bulb for the panel would have nothing to do with it.

Again the tip of the toggle on the foglight will light up when on. The DSC will not. But when you hold the DSC toggle switch a warning light on the speedo will light up to tell you you have shut it off. I hope that helps to explain it.

 

I honestly never noticed a tiny bulb at the end of the toggle switch for the fog lights. I'll have to go out and look at that.

Does the DSC automatically come on when it is needed, and then we have to manually shut it off? Last weekend when it was snowing rather heavy, I all of a sudden noticed that the DSC and another light (flat tire warning I think it was -- both in amber color) all of a sudden were on the dash. Several hours later, after the snow stopped, I pressed the DSC button down and a short time later the lights went out on their own. I tried getting a better understading about this in the manual, but I honestly found it a little confusing.

 

If the 03 is anything like the 07+, DSC is automatically on at all times unless you tell it otherwise. Every time the car is shut off and then turned back on, it's reset to default(on). You need to hold the switch for the DSC to be turned off each time you want it off, while the car is on. If that's NOT how the 06- MINI's work, then this has been a fruitless post. lol

 

Thanks InjectedGT. I read on another page that the default for the 2003 for the DSC is on all the time. I guess when it was snowing the light for DSC and tire pressure came on to show me it was working. I don't know if it was necessary to turn it off or not. At the time they came on I thought it was a problem!

Also an update for Braminator - I found out that the fog light does not have a lightbulb at the end of the toggle for the first edition minis. Instead, something apparently lights up near the speedometer, instead. I'll have to check that out in the next day or so.

Thank you both for your help!!

 

Thanks InjectedGT. I read on another page that the default for the 2003 for the DSC is on all the time. I guess when it was snowing the light for DSC and tire pressure came on to show me it was working. I don't know if it was necessary to turn it off or not. At the time they came on I thought it was a problem!

Also an update for Braminator - I found out that the fog light does not have an LED at the end of the toggle for the first edition minis. Instead, something apparently lights up near the speedometer to let you know the foglights are on. I'll have to look for that the next time I try that switch out.

Thank you both for your help!!

 

On my 07, the only light you get for the fogs is the typical green fog light symbol in the gauge cluster(or in the case of the mini, inside the ridiculously and unnecessarily huge speedometer)

 

I beg to differ there, as I own a 2004 and it does.

 

Please see the attached on my 2004 MINI. Notice the little green dot thats on the end of the toggle.

 

No light, and the panel itself was loose. Leads me to think someone at some point replaced the toggle panel with one of a later model that didn't have the light on the fog switch. Be it for personal reasons or repair reasons, that's what I'm venturing to guess.

 

Braminator I like that little LED light and I definitely don't have that. Thanks for attaching a photo so I could see it.

InjectedGT that is a great guess. Thank you! Perhaps you are right.

Okay...now this is really embarrassing to ask. It took me forever to figure out how to post this original question as a new thread. I tried to remember how I did it so I can be ready when I have another question and can't figure it out. Sheesh! Would one of you please give me the steps I somehow managed to figure out before. Thank you!!

 

Go to the forums link on the left side of your screen. Then chose what sub section you want and since yours is a 2003 you might want to post in that section. Then at the top of the sub section there is a tab at the top of the threads that says new thread. Hit that and start your post.

 

She has a 2003. So she should of had it.

 

Do you guys with your 03's still have the dash light as well? Or if the toggle light it?

 

Braminator - thank you so much for the quick reply about starting a new thread. It makes so much sense now! I won't have any problem the next time.

 

Braminator I actually have a 2003 Mini One -- I'm not sure if that would make more sense as to why I don't have an LED on the toggle or not. Sorry if I should have mentioned that before.

InjectedGT - sorrry, I don't understand your question about the dash lights and toggle switch. What did you mean?

 

well on the older models like you and Bram have, there is(apparently supposed to be) the light on the toggle switch. I was just curious if that is all you guys get, or if they also have the fog light symbol that lights up in the speedometer as well.

 

Now knowing that are you sure you have the fog lights in the front bumper? It was an option. No we don't

 

Oh now I understand what you are asking! From what I read on a different site, it sounded like some models had the LED light, while others did not and have an indicator for the fog lights near the speedometer, instead.

All the times I would push the button trying to figure out if they were going on or not and was staring at the toggle switch when a light may have been going on up at the speedometer the entire time.

When I try it out I'll post an update!

 

Braminator,

Yes, I was told that the fog lights were on when I was trying to figure out how to tell they were on while I was inside of the car.

Thank you both for all of your help.

 

Hey Monica,
Here is the manual just in case you don't have it and need some more questions answered.