Hi,

I finished the last portion of the factory driving light install yesterday and now I have a problem - perhaps it's unrelated but that would just be some coincidence now wouldn't it?

My problem is that the airbag indicator light in the middle of the speedo is now always on.

I downloaded the factory installation instructions for the factory driving lights from minimania.com

My problem revolves around the wire labelled "G" in the attached diagram from the instructions... This is the yellow/green wire that needs to be spliced into a yellow/green wire at X322 pin 15 of the BodyControl Module 1 in the passenger footwell.

When I pulled the plastic trim off to get to the Body Control Modules it looked like the plug the instructions were pointing at is the big green one at the bottom right of the BC1. I didn't see any numbering on the actual plastic plug so I went by wire color. The only one that was the right color was a slightly thicker gauge (makes sense if it's for highbeams) and was approximately in the middle of the green plug. I spliced the loose wire into that and while my factory driving lights do come on the way they are supposed to I now have the airbag light on too.

Before I spliced this wire in everything worked fine - that's why I think it's either this wire that's in the wrong place or the craziest kind of coincidence.

I did have to pull the passenger chair to get to all of this and made sure when I reinstalled it that I plugged all 4 wires that go to the underside of the chair back in... So what gives? I've unplugged them and replugged them again just to make sure.

Any ideas?

Thanks all,

-e

PS: the car is an 06 MCS. The factory driving light installation instructions are dated 2002. The latest headlight wiring diagrams I've been able to find here at the BMW/MINI design studio are labelled 2004. Does anyone know if there's been a further wiring change since then?

Anyone else install the factory lights themselves on an 06? Thanks.

 

If you ever switch the MINI on with the seat airbag disconnected, the fault light will be on and stay on forever - or at least till the dealership is visited to clear it.
Is it possible that happened?

 

Hmm that's a good point GBMINI...

Come to think of it when I pulled the seat out and disconnected the 4 wires that go to it (one of them being the airbag sensor I suppose) I believe the battery was still connected. And I also believe that before I put all the passenger side plastic sill trim & the passenger seat back in I did turn on the car and hi-beams to make sure the driving lights did work. So that's probably when it happened...

Thanks a lot GBMINI. I'll call the dealership and try to schedule something with them to try to get it cleared sometime soon.

-e

 

Did you have the dealer program the computer so the light would work? I could not find anything in the instruction on this eventhough several mini owners have stated it has to be done,

Richard

 

So I called the dealer asking if we could combine me coming in early for my first service (the car has 10500 miles) and having them reset the airbag light... you know what they said? If I show up with more than 1000 miles to go before the OBC schedules the next service then it will not be covered under warranty and they will charge me for it! weak!

I mean if the car is due to have 3 services (at 12, 24, and 36K) before its warranty runs out then who cares if I do it at 10.5, 11, or 12, no? So I'll deal with staring at the airbag light for another couple weeks...

-e

 

Oh and Richard the MINI does NOT need factory programming to install the factory driving lights... it's a fairly straightforward install - just don't test them out before you re-install everything (like the passenger seat) otherwise you'll be looking at the same airbag warning light...

The hardest part is probably getting the passenger side door sill trim off to access the Body Control Module where you need to splice one wire. It's not mentionned how to remove it (what end to yank on first) in the factory instructions...

I will say this though that the switch that comes with all the factory parts fits very nicely in the recess (seemingly for it) in the Euro Parcel shelf - tha's where I mounted mine...

-e

 

Do tell. Which end does one yank on first? I'll be doing the install soon.