I have been to 2 different dealers over this issue. Most of the time, my passenger side (floor, dash, windshield, even with defrost) does not blow to temp. My driver side is fine. (Dual controls)

In the summer, it blows hot air. In the winter it's cold. It does not matter what I set the temp. My windshield isn't even defrosting on that side. Sometimes it works as it should(so dealer couldnt replicate). Most of the time it does not.

My closest BMW dealer is 2hrs away (they were able to code me a battery, so i think they can scan it). Closest MINI is 5hrs so i cant just pull in on a whim.

Any ideas? Thank you!

2016 S base, 4dr

 

Are there any decent local shops? You're well out of warranty, so there's not much benefit than bringing it to the dealer.

 

I bought used and added extended warranty to cover everything except typical wear (battery, oil changes). It's in effect until Sept 2024. I do have a good local mechanic, but he stays full and won't work on it because he doesn't like that kind of stuff. he's busy enough that he can be selective on what he takes. The other I know is for a no go, a 3rd I don't have enough information on.

 

Since your MINI is a BMW its codes should be scannable by a BMW dealer. Whether the BMW dealer will know what to do with any codes they find, or have facility to do hands-on on a MINI besides scanning, is obviously another question entirely.

Probably worth your while to get BimmerLink (an app -- it can scan codes) and a compatible Bluetooth OBDII adapter, so that you can find out yourself what codes are in there. Some here will tell you you should invest in a full-function scanner, and that may be true if you're ultimately going to enter DIY-ville, but that has a notably higher price point (and higher complexity). In any case, given the distance to both BMW and MINI dealers being able to do at least code scanning on your own to find out at least some of "what's up in there" is probably a good idea, given the age of the vehicle.

Getting to your directly-observable symptoms, sounds like some door inside the ventilation may not be opening/closing properly. I believe I have seen posts about such a thing before, but don't recall the details and have not run into it myself (knock on wood). There may or may not be stored codes indicating root cause more specifically.

Hope this helps.

 

Thank you! I'll make basic repairs when I can follow YouTube, but I'm not a take-the-engine-apart DIY. My local mechanic can't scan me so I will look into this!

I found mention of a possible blend door actuator failure fitting my issue, but there's no knocking or clicking that's common with that fail, so I decided to ask before approaching possibly taking my dash out (I did find one comment mention it may be accessible behind the air filter).

 

Heads up, I've seen discussions about the blend door actuator being at issue, that's a possibility -- but it might also be the control unit. See second to last post in this thread over at at the mini2 forum.

Not saying it's definitely the control unit, just that it *could* be and apparently was in at least that one case. Figuring out which it is... well that's gonna be fun I guess... back to looking for codes I suppose.

I have also seen discussion of actuator replacement requiring recalibration that can only be done with a real scan tool (whether aftermarket or BMW), so more rabbit hole there...