I just completed retrofitting the Union Jack UK/EU tail lights on my 2018 F60 Countryman and wanted to share. Hopefully someone will find this helpful. I wanted to use the EU tail lights for the amber turn signal. After a lot of research I found that you can buy an actual retrofit kit for the EU version. I could not find this for the US version so it may be out there. I was also able to find the Mini instructions on installing the retrofit kit. Here is a site showing the kit and part number in Germany. This site also has the instructions but DO NOT use theirs as it is version 1.0 and has several wiring errors. I was able to find the updated 1.1 version which has the correct wiring and I've attached it to this post.
https://www.schmiedmann.com/en/mini-...3-13-5-A26-BF0

I actually bought my kit from eBay but was the same part number: 63-13-5-A26-BF0

The upgrade was really straight forward but running the wires from the tail lights to the front passenger footwell was time consuming. I bought the retrofit kit and the following items per the documentation:

• 2x Single Conductor Seal - 61-13-8-366-245
• 2x MCON Socket Contact - 12-52-7-545-852
• 2x MQS Socket Contact - 61-13-1-393-724
• 15 - 20 feet of Blue / Yellow Cable - 61-12-6-908-722
• 15 - 20 feet of Black / Violet Cable - 61-12-6-908-722

You can obviously use any cable but I wanted the colors to match what Mini would use so I bought the cable too. I'm also over estimating how much cable you'll need at 15' to 20' but I'd rather be safe then short. I recommend buying extras on the contacts unless you are really confident in your crimping ability and they are not expensive so extras are a good idea.

With all these parts and the version 1.1 instructions I was able to make all the connections easily and then it came to the coding. I used Bimmercode and the coding instructions provided here by @DunkM https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4386748
I also used the Bimmercode LED upgrade non-expert section and enabled the LED tail lights. There was a lot off overlap and you could really do the Bimmercode non-expert LED tail light upgrade first and then go through DunkM's post to enable the few items that aren't in the upgrade.

After the coding all worked except when I put the car in reverse one tail light had a reverse light and one had a reverse fog light. So basically I had one white reverse light and one red reverse light. This was an easy fix.
(One is correct already but I went into both and I don't remember which was already set to rfs)

1. Go into Bimmercode BDC
2. Expert mode
3. 3064 LceLampMaping3
4. MAPPING RUECKFAHRL L OUTPUT (RUECKFAHRL is reversing; L is left)
5. Choose rfs_l (rfs is the abbreviation for reversing so you are choosing to light the reverse light when in reverse vs. the nsl (NEBELSCHLUSSL) which is rear fog light)
6. go back one time
7. MAPPING RUECKFAHRL R OUTPUT (RUECKFAHRL is reversing; R is right)
8. Choose rfs_r
9. go back until you have the code option and code your change

You should now have the EU Union Jack tail lights working correctly.

I posted my tail light pictures at the bottom of this post below the rear fog light section.

After doing all this I realized that since I have rear fog lights that work I wanted to enable the rear fog lights!

Rear Fog Lights

I found the correct part number of 61-31-9-865-859 but I couldn't find it anywhere in the US. I ended up ordering one on eBay from the UK. The light switch was used from a 2017 Countryman but all I needed was the button and the circuit board. Once it arrived I realized that the area around the button was different from the US version.



The US version (top) has a hole for the front fog lights but the bottom dummy button is molded into the plastic with the rest for the panel. The UK version (bottom) just ends at the left before you get to the buttons.

Luckily the way the buttons connect is that they just pass through the top US version and don't really touch this part of the panel at all.

FYI - The fog light buttons are removed out the front of the panel. You simply push the two pieces of plastic while pulling the buttons forward and out the front.


I used a Dremel to cut out the bottom section from the US version to allow the new rear fog light button to pass through. I could've just cut that part off completely (and almost did in one section) but because there is a connection point on the far left I was trying to keep the outer edge. Important part is that the buttons pass completely through and don't touch this panel anywhere.

This was the hardest part of this upgrade and I put protective padding and tape over the edge of the raised section because you get really close while cutting away the extra plastic.
The disassembly of this light switch is straight forward with just removing everything by lifting up on small clips except for two areas that I'll list here to help anyone that may want to try this.


The first part was removing the light selector switch / ****. You need to squeeze the 4 plastic tabs circled here together and the **** will pop out the front of the panel.



Here is the know removed. Be careful not to lose or bend the silver part circled in this photo.



The second part that was difficult was reassembling the ****. That silver part from the last picture does not want to go in and can be easily bent. What I found worked the best was to NOT line the silver pin up with the slot inside the panel. Instead turn the **** slightly so the pin is going into the smaller section near the slot. I put one side of the pin against the top edge and then used a small screwdriver to push the other side of the pin (circled) into the plastic receiver.
Once the pin was all the way in you can push and turn the **** to the center position. I actually did this three times between the new and old part and it works well. Hopefully this description makes sense.



Now you simply put the new circuit board with the contacts for the rear fog light in place.



Here you have the completed light switch with front and rear fog light buttons in place.

Lastly the rear fog light coding was all that was needed.

1. Go into Bimmercode BDC
2. Expert mode
3. 3068 LceMaster
4. NSL VERBAUT
5. Choose verbaut if not already enabled.
6. If verbaut was already chosen in the above step continue on with step 7. If you had to change from nicht_verbaut it to verbaut then you need to back out and code before coming back and continuing on to step 7 to get the rest to work correctly.
7. 3064 LceLampMapping3 section
8. MAPPING NEBELSCHLUSSL L OUTPUT (NEBELSCHLUSSL is rear fog and L is left)
9. Choose nsl_l (activate left fog light)
10. MAPPING NEBELSCHLUSSL L FUNCTION
11. Choose nebelschlusslicht
12. MAPPING NEBELSCHLUSSL R OUTPUT
13. Choose nsl_r
14. MAPPING NEBELSCHLUSSL R FUNCTION
15. Choose nebelschlusslicht
16. go back until you have the code option and code your change

I now have front (green) and rear (yellow) fog light indicators on my display when enabled.



Left rear fog light.



Right rear fog light.



EU Union Jack tail light reference pictures.



Old lights removed. You can see where I removed the interior sections to run the wires.



New lights installed



Tail lights



Brake lights



Reverse lights



Left turn signal - Sorry about the quality of the photo.



Right turn signal - Sorry about the quality of the photo.

 

The word “amazing” doesn’t do this post justice! Awesome job and great instructions. I will never do this retrofit myself, but I know good work when I see it.

 

Thanks! I really appreciate the comment. It was a lot of work but very satisfying to have it all complete. Plus I hate having any dummy plugs / switches - I'm always wondering "what should go there?"

 

Thank you for the detailed write up. I had difficulty finding info on this before.

 

Does this apply to the latest U.S. Countryman that comes with the Union Jack-like tail lights from the factory?

 

Yes, the UJ tail light lights I put on are from Mini and the same ones that come on the newer models. An easy test is to just change the coding for 3064 LceLampMaping3 -> RUECKFAHRL L OUTPUT to nsl_l. Then put your car in reverse and the left rear fog light will come on instead of the reverse light. That will confirm the light is there and will turn on. Once you've confirmed the rear fog light will come on just change it back to rfs_l.