I picked up my MCS new on 6/30/08. Wired in the V-1 a few days later using a standard fuse tap. No problems whatsoever since.

Two weeks ago, turned on my driver's side seat heater. Switch lit up, then turned off. Can't turn back on without cycling the ignition.

Took it in yesterday. Got a call end of day from service: your fuse panel threw some faults, and it appears your radar detector fried it.

Obviously stunned, I replied that it just could not be.

Tech indicated when he checked the car, the V-1 was going on/off erratically. Funny, it sits right in front of me, and no such behavior ever happened since July. Still can't believe what I'm hearing.

So now the fuse tap is pulled (I went there and pulled it). ALL electrical functions are 100%, other than driver side seat heater. Passenger side is fine, all other circuits are fine. Wiring inside heating elements and wiring harness were all verified as ok. And seat heater has worked before too.

I'm being told it's my nickel now, and they have ordered a fuse panel to see if that resolves it. If so, I buy the whole shebang. If not, they will first work through some relay replacements to see if that resolves, and if so, I'm only on the hook for relays and labor.

But I'm still stunned on this one and sent a note to Mike Valentine to see what his thoughts are. I've used fuse taps on many vehicles without ever having any issues, and have a very hard time believing the detector fuse tap had anything to do with this.

But we'll see in a few more days.

If anyone's been down this road before, please chime in.

I'm otherwise happy with my dealer, though this first service appt did create a bit more heartburn (and possibly cost) than I was expecting. I'm hopeful they will find other issues not related to the fuse tap, and perhaps be kind enough to work through it as a warranty item, as I believe it should be.

Thanks for any feedback.

 

yikes.

good luck.

I would have removed the fuse tap before taking it to the dealer.

but if it's not the fuse panel, i'd argue that you shouldn't be responsible for any relays. You either fried the fuse panel, or nothing.

 

Hopefully a real electrician will chime in, but I don't believe it's the fuse tap either. Figure both seats would be fried not just one. Did you use the same seat heater fuse? What kind of fuse tap? An add-a-circuit? I ask since I have a few hooked into my fuse panel.

 

If the V1 was going on and off, it sounds like a loose connection. Was the fuse tap tight? A loose connection can cause arcing/spikes that could fire other things.

 

There is no way in hell that a radar detector pulled enough power to hurt anything! If you put the power lead for the radar detector on the hot side of the fuse, all will be fine. If you put it on the cold side it might blow the fuse due to the extra load. I can't believe for a second that a radar detector pulls more than 5 amps. Tell the dealer that they are full of crap and call Mini USA. IMHO they are trying to take advantage of you.

 

The tech claimed that it was doing that. In four months of driving, I experienced nothing of the sort. Unless someone jiggled some things in that panel, there's no way it was loose.

 

I think they are trying to cover their a$$ for a problem they caused during troubleshooting.

 

IMO they're full of crap. Try searching on 'seat heaters', I'm pretty sure I've heard similar stories WRT seat heater failures. The V1 tap excuse is just that - an excuse.

 

Now that you mention the 5 amps looking at the manuals the direct wire kit only has a 1amp fuse and the lighter plug a 2 amp fuse plus the specs mention a peak o 425mA at full alarm thats practically nothing. I can't and wont believe that a car manufacturer would designs something without a bit of head/safety room.

 

Update 12/2/08

Dealer called today, they replaced the panel (junction box) and the seat heater switch works fine now. I'm on the hook for it.

They indicated after much investigation that the tap I used (simple one) caused fuse prongs to be bent out more than double the original size and there were scratches around the hole where the fuse was tapped.

When I asked about the entire board being toasted by the V-1, the comment was: there was never an issue with the board being “fried”, which it is not; it was an issue of the shorting of the heated seat which sits immediately to the right of the bent fuse location.

Either way, I'm not too happy with the outcome, and don't think there's much else I can do at this point but pay the bill and get the car, and have the wiring moved up to the roof panel.

If anyone cares to chime in on this, I'm all ears. No need to debate the dealer's position at this point, I've accepted it. But happy to hear about safer options for power for the V-1, and don't really want to tap the overhead with power staying on 20+ mins after shutdown. There's got to be instant/switched power somewhere. Or a better fuse tap. I don't have PDC, so if that's an option, and you've done it, let me know how it's working.

Thanks.

Bummed.

 

that sux. i'm using Add-a-Circuit's. a little more pricey than taps, but it has a separate fuse for the accessory and the main fuse adapter blade seems to be pretty normal sized. while i haven't had any problems, i'm sure going to remove any evidence of these when i bring my car to the dealer for any future electrical problems.

 

I used a at $6.49 from Advance Auto Parts (for my XM-Radio).

Being made by the same folks who make the fuses, would expect it to not cause a problem.

Since you were on-the-hook for the labor already, might have asked the Dealer to hook it up for you
and charge the extra time (while doing the replacement).

If your "Tap" had been a "professional install"; you might have recourse from that installer.

Line to Cigarette Lighter switches off with ignition, if you could access and connect to it.

 

my last car, i hardwired directly to the battery.

that would avoid all issues.

 

Except that you'd need to manually turn off the accessory each time - forget that.

I just got the call from the dealer. Charged me 6 hours of labor (due to the issue being my fault) to troubleshoot. What a PITA. They did cut me some slack on parts/labor pricing but I'm still pissed.

Still waiting for call from MINI USA. Geez, is there a phone number? They don't seem to respond too quickly to the site message email.

 

You tapped electrical with something not standard to the car.

You're lucky they didn't void the warranty on the spot and send you packing. All they have to do is prove your part killed theirs and it's all over and since they have a code reader and you don't it's not something you can really fight.

It's not that I think you're wrong, but again, it's just as if you put in something aftermarket to the engine and something went wrong there, it's going to be the buyer's fault each time...

As for something causing a problem or not....each man made part should work fine....some might not. I work on computers every day and people still don't get it...good luck.

 

You shouldve asked to see what they were saying was wrong with it. I'm an electrical tech, doing alarms, stereos, etc. I get dealers blaming installations of aftermarket equipement on failures of components all the time. 99.9% of the time its caused by other reasons than our work.

Dealers will always put the blame on any equipment installed. Their diagnosis seemed legit, but I would still want proof, especially with 6 hours of labor+parts.

Adding on aftermarket equipment legally can not void your warranty as long as its properly installed and is be used what its made to be used for (intake systems made specifically for your vehicle for example can no void your warranty). Now if the dealer can PROVE that your equipment caused the failure, thats a different story. I take dealer diag's worth a grain of salt. Most of their techs arent the brightest and couldnt tell you the first thing about ohm's law.