Hi, I'm wondering if anyone else has the same problem. I began to notice a hissing noise from behind the dash just a few days after my warranty expired last September at 10k miles, I brought it to the dealer and they only found low refrigerant but could not find the leak. So they just recharged the refrigerant. In December the noice came back, so I went back, but they still couldn't find the leak. They only looked under the car to see if there's refrigerant dye and didn't check anything else. I mentioned a weird odor every time I start the car but they didn't investigate further. Then they suggested me to replace one part at a time until it gets fixed at my cost. I was not satisfied with this solution so called MINI, MINI assisted with the repair and the dealer then "found" leaks around the compressor and replaced it. They didn't replace the dry bag or anything else, only the compressor and two o-rings. In June, the noise came back again. Since I moved across the country, I was not able to go back to the original dealer. Also because of the experience with the dealer, I went to a highly rated third party mechanic shop and they advised the odor indicates evaporator leak. I brought it to the local MINI dealer, and they found massive dye on the cabin air filter, and diagnosed the same, and quoted me $6000 for repair.

So is failure of two major AC components (or maybe even more!) at this low mileage normal? I babied my car, drive it a few times a week, and always parked in garage. No accident or anything. It was like new until the AC problem series began. It has been very frustrating with the endless AC problem. I have also been inhaling the refrigrerant. I sometimes got headache, dizziness, and also had sudden tearing episodes while driving, which might be associated with exposure to refrigerant, and it was quite dangerous because I had to hold at least one eye open with the sudden pain and tearing to drive safely. Any similar problems? Thanks for all your inputs!

 

If there was a bad weld or other manufacturing defect of the evaporator, it would be a time based failure rather than mileage based. Unfortunately, the AC system doesn’t care about mileage. Also, $6000 sounds high, but the evaporator is buried in the dashboard, and replacement requires quite a bit of parts removal. Not sure if a call to Mini with receipts would get any reparations or not, but might be worth a try.

 

Thank you so much! That’s very helpful! If it’s time based, is the failure of both compressor and evaporator in year 4 normal?

 

Not sure I would say normal. I would expect the overall system to last ~8-10 years, longer if taken care of. Its possible there was a defect that only just showed up. However, because the car had low miles, it took you outside the warranty period.

 

Thank you so much for the insights. That was super helpful! It really makes sense. Hopefully MINI can take the responsibility, otherwise I’ll be afraid to buy MINI again. I love my MINI and have always recommended it to friends but this AC thing over a year has been such a pain.

I also did a bit research online and it looks like it would take an experienced mechanic 3-5 hours to remove the dash and replace it, and the parts are less than $1000. The dealer didn’t provide a breakdown of the quote so not sure how it adds up to $6000. Even 10 hours at $300/hour won’t add up to that. I’ll ask around other local mechanics.

 

I’m having the same issues

 

this thread should help