I have a Cooper without the rear fog light, but would like to put a brake light where the rear fog would go. Additionally, I would like for it to flash as I apply the brake. Has anyone else done this? I am not talking about the brake light above the hatch, but the one below the bumper.

 

Check out this site...

http://www.myminiparts.com/products.php?cat=15&pg=3

If you go to the exterior appointments section, on page 3, they have a break light kit for $38.00 that splices into the existing wiring for the current break lights. I actually got the backup light and will be installing that this weekend, the instructions seem fairly straight forward and it even came with a cheap circuit tester. Hope that helps!

Cheers,
Mingler

 

You should probably check the motor vehicle regs in your state for the legality of this before doing it. It would be a shame to go to the effort and then have to disable it.

 

I did the brake light mod on my 05 Cabrio with the My Mini Parts. It was simple to do & works great! A big improvement over the black plastic thingy. You can do it either as a brake light or a back up light.


Lois

 

Why the price difference between brake and back-up? Looks like the same item with only a difference in lens.

Since I'm not electrically inclined how hard was the installation?

 

The kits include an OEM light fixture from MINI. The lens color is indeed the only difference between the brake and the back-up versions, but for some reason MINI charges twice as much for the red one.

The kit includes a wire with a quick-splice connector at each end. You connect each end to a color-coded wire in the existing wiring harness. In a hardtop MINI, the wiring harness is easily accessed through a side panel in the boot. In a convertible, it is quite a bit more complicated to remove trim pieces to access the harness.

 

Just talked with the dealer to find the price of a 6-toggle switch bank ($75) and rear fog ($20.75). To this I get a 15% discount, which reduces the price to $81. But he told me that it would require a reprogramming of the computer. It sounds unreasonable that the computer would have anything to do with the rear fog lights.

 

try a led light bar
http://www.purchaseexpress.com/dcbo_...s_id=760&rid=#

LED LIGHTS much brighter....

 

Did you want to put in a rear fog light or a 4th rear brake light where the fog light usually goes? No computer changes needed for the brake light but yes, computer change needed to activate rear fogs.

BTW, I bought the brake light kit and happened to have it with me when I had my MINI in at the dealer for some other minor items. Dealer put it in for no charge (I think they were curious enough about it and it only took them a couple of minutes to do it).
Also golden child posted this in another thread recently about that flashing brake light...

 

Also, I thought it you have a later build '05, the wiring harness is in place and accessible right through the location where the rear fog light goes. I didn't put my 4th brake light in myself, so I can't confirm this for you. No need to mess with the side panels/boot.

Early '05s did not have this and requires the wiring harness and additional work (again, from reading other posts on this forum, not from direct knowledge).

 

I haven't made up my mind regarding the 4th light or rear fog. Part of me would like to turn on the fog, if someone is too close. But I would also like to draw the attention of the person following when I decide to stop. Am still curious as to why the computer needs to know there is a rear fog. I guess it doesn't matter though, since it is necessary to have reprogrammed.

 

Here's to clarify the situation as I understand it. If minirolls (the designer and builder of the fog light mods) is out there, please chime in.

First of all, the toggle switch panel does not do what we usually think of in terms of "normal" electrical toggle switches. Most or all of the switches are not hardwired to the function they are associated with. The switches only send signals to the computer that a switch has been pressed, and the computer performs the real functions. This makes it more difficult for DIY modders. I suppose the engineers designed it this way for more control, such as reverting to default settings after the car is turned off, and it probably simplifies manufacturing when software takes over some functions that would traditionally have to be built into hardware.

When I mentioned the "wiring harness" above, I meant the bundle of wires (30 or so) that run to the rear of the car carrying the signals for brake lights, backup lights, parking lights, etc. This is the wiring harness that is accessed through the side panel in the boot. In later '05 builds, this bundle of wires would also include wires for the fog light. The trick of the mod is that in the wiring harness, all the wires are close to each other, and it is a simple matter to connect jumpers between the fog light and either the brake or backup lights.

As I understand it, the brake mod will make the fog light operate like an extra brake light, but if you also have the rear fog function in the car, the light will operate both as a rear fog and extra brake light (like an "or" function -- if you turned on the rear fog, the light is already on and the brakes will have no effect).

Similarly if you do the backup mod. But if you have the rear fog function enabled, don't turn it on because it will light up white!

 

OK, great explanation. I was expecting the switches to be "hard wired". Now this leads me to another question.

Since I have the MFSW, but do not have bluetooth, can these switches be controlled by the computer to do other functions. For example, mute the radio, or even turn on a light. Or am I asking it to do too much?

 

Hey now - there's a great idea! Can't wait to see the responses.

john

 

The person who would know is MikeyTheMini (Mike Wildman of www.newministuff.com). He has worked with the MFSW extensively and has created and sells MFSW interfaces to aftermarket stereos and bluetooth phones. He is based in the UK and frequents MINI2.com forums more than NAM. If you post the question over there, he might see it. Or search on MINI2 for posts with mfsw by user mikeythemini, and there might already be an answer.

 

RKW is correct, the rear foglights are enabled by the dealer, it is not just adding the switch panel.

On all MINI's the wires are run in the harness on the passenger side of the car and accessed via the access panel (non-Cabrio) or by removing the tailight (Cabrio). I will be verifying the 2006 MINI's but I believe there no change. So the kit should still work.

 

Maybe you can help with my prob. I have 4) 55 w driving lights that I want to hook up to work on my existing rear fog light switch. Both pair of lights will have a relay. So I would like to have the hot wire that goes to the rear fog light activate two relays to power the driving lights.

I need to know if this will work, don't need the rear fog to work at all.

How would be an easy way to run the hot from the rear fog up under the hood and "y" onto two relays

Thanks for the help
Jan

 

Well you can not run from the switch. You could run from the power feed wire of the rear foglights to power the relays. You would still need to have the rear foglights activiated by the dealer. When activiated you woule then need to tap the power off the wire for the rear foglights. You could do this in the rear access panel or the at the plug for the light. You should have enough power to activiate the relay. My only concern would be the power draw of the relays.

 

the rear fog is activated. I don't know much about it, but it would seem that the draw gor the bulb would be less than that required to activate two relays. Does the wiring harness go from the toggle panel to the fuse box on the left by your left leg. I thought maybe I could find the wire going from the fuse box to the rear fog, cut it and "y" it into the relays
What do you think?

 

The wires are not in the left side, they run diwn the right side. If I were doing it I would open the back access and locate the wire in that location. If you pull out the rear foglight you will see the wire colors; they are the same in bundle on the right side rear access. After finding the wire in the access I would try to trace as far forward towards the front of the car as possible. You may find that it is in the right foot well. I have not traced it that far. If you do not want to trace it after you find it the right rear access you could run just one wire which may be easier. It is a choice you have to make, I would take the easy route and splice it in the rear and run the one wire forward to the relays.

 

Sounds like a plan. If you find anyone who knows precicely where the wire goes, let me know.
Thanks

 

I plan to do the rear flashing brake light install. I have a May 2005 R53. so, is the "Brake light Flasher" posted above all I would need? I am planning to buy the light from outmotoring. http://www.outmotoring.com/mini-coop..._lamp_kit.html
Sounds like a fairly easy install, especially since i read above that the later models have the proper wireing harness already in place...i hope

 

So do you have the clear or red center light?

I don't know of any "flasher" available for the lower center light only the high mounted center one.

 

Right now I have the mesh grill over the light spot on the bumper, but I was going to get the brake light from outmotoring. Was looking for an easy to make it flash. Wasnt sure if this would do the trick for me.. http://www.comagination.com/bflasher.htm

 

Sounds like it should work, but I would suggest a better solution for visibility would be to get one of the flasher products and use it for the high mounted center brake light. Much more visible to cars.

Good luck