Lets hope your troubles are behind you. Agree on trading at or prior to warranty expiration.

 

I'm sorry to hear about the trunk pool issue. man, that sucks!😢. I'm just checking in to say I'm still following this thread for the vinegar smell issue. My wife's 15 MCS (May production) has had this issue on and off since we brought it home in August. I'm kind of hoping one of you that has a more severe problem with this issue gets a positive fix from a dealer in time for our first service sometime next year. Don't think ours is bad enough yet to make a separate visit. I'm also betting that it might get somewhat better during the cold winter months here in K.C. I'm no design engineer, but it looks to me like the cabin filters sit at the lowest point in the system and the spot right in front of the lower filter would be a logical place for crap, moisture, mold etc to build up.

 

I have a feeling, and I'm not an expert by any means, by the time you go for service next year MINI will have a new TSB for this issue. I believe the evaporator replacement and the redesigned cabin filter box will be linked together and replaced/repaired at the same time.

In the meantime, based on reading the BMW forums for this same type of issue what many folks have discussed and do is run the heat on full blast (no A/C), even in the summer, for about 3-5 minutes before they arrive at the destination to "dry out" the system. Many folks report this seems to work well, however, many complain they should not have to do this, and while I agree with that, it's at least a band-aid solution worth trying until MINI has come up with a more permanent solution.

 

It's worth the visit to get your car registered with MINI?BMW as having the same issue as the rest of us. The more instances reported may speed the TSB and fix.

 

Appointment scheduled for A/C odor. Anxious to see what the "new" fix is......................

 

Keep us apprised

 

Here's the repair completed today. Replaced cabin filters, cleaned drain hoses, and cleaned canister. However, the lower cabin filter housing now sits above the canister allowing air to flow beneath it. So the actual fix was the addition of for legs to the lower filter housing for air flow. Took ~ 2 hours and was MUCH less invasive than the previous repair. So, we shall see.............................

 

Keep us updated. Mine still smells like chemicals they used to clean the system on the last repair with the AIRCON device.

My last update from MINI and a potential lemon case: MINI USA offered me $150 in free MINI gear for all my troubles -- how nice of them. Told them to take the $150 and place it where the sun don't shine! I'm considering either consulting with a lemon law attorney or just trading out of it and being done with MINI all together.

 

I had the same thing done. Had the evaporator replacement done before only to have the smell come back within a couple months.

The system smelled strongly of chemicals for a week but now it's been odor free for around a month and half. Been rainy around here in socal lately so have to see if the odor comes back with all this moisture in the air...

 

Reviving this thread to see how the repairs went and are holding up for those that had it addressed at MINI. Mine is a May 2015 built MCS so I have the good evaporator (if we want to call it that). My issue is the same smell issue others have had after evaporator replacement.

Our car just recently went from a smell for a few seconds on start up to a full stink all the time. Happened in one day's time too. Smells like a cat's litter pan (urine) at it worst and like mildew at it's best. Changing settings from AC to vent to heat makes zero difference.

I have the car going in on Tuesday for a JCW kit install. If there is a TSB issued for this now, I'll have them tackle this at the same time. They claim the JCW install is a 8 hour job (pretty sure it's only a 3 hour job), so they should be able to correct the vent/smell issue while the can is in their shop.

I was going to live with the smell on start up, but cannot live with it as is.
Grrrrrrrrrrr

 

I haven't had the problem with the smell yet.
The only way that kit install would take 8 hours is if the tech had on a blindfold and one hand tied behind his back.

 

 

We had the same problem with our '14 Cooper S. We just got word from BMW that they are going to repurchase our car. I was actually surprised at how quickly they responded, although we dealt with this problem with MINI of Monrovia for almost a whole year.

 

Lee No,
Please,
Can you summarize the history that led to this letter of re-purchase?

 

We bought the car in September of 2014, had our first problem with a musty odor in January of 2015. When we took the car in for service, was told that MINI was working on the issue and that we had to wait for parts to be shipped in from Germany. After waiting had the A/C unit replaced in April. Three months later the problem returned. Car was taken in for service again and BMW authorized a second replacement. In December the smell returned again. This time the dealership said that they could not fix the problem and that we had to wait for Mini to find a permanent solution.


We hired a lawyer, they sent off a demand letter and we just got word that they are buying the car back.

 

Question is "less the amount attributable to use".

They going to offer you wholesale buyback or actual full retail if the car was being sold by MINI? Going to True Car, my car is worth about $9000 less than full retail. That would be a horrible outcome if you have to take a huge loss because BMW has a poorly designed or engineered part.

Hoping your lawyer works out something better than that. As the letter alludes to, they are offering to buy back your car (which most dealers will do if you want to sell the car to them for their used car lots). It's called shopping your car to get the best price for it when, for example you are going to buy a car from a private party and want to get rid of you current car for cash. Usually best done with a dedicated Used Car dealer rather than a new car seller.

Only way to get a fair deal (IMO) is to get another identical car from them as a direct exchange.

 

Any updates on this issue? The 'new' fix didnt solve the smell in my car. I'm still getting that sour smell every morning. My local dealer is now registering a complaint to MINI Corporate in Germany.

 

This morning I noticed a few drops of water in the latching mechanism of the hatch. It is likely only from thawing in the garage.

 

At the end of the day, the whole ordeal only costs us $504, which is what they charged us for the use of the car for the 18 months that we owned it.

In the end, they bought the car back at the price we paid. They refunded us for the prepaid maintenance plan, paid off our loan and wrote us a check for the principal and interest we paid on the loan, refunded us all of our registration fees, and reimbursed us for our attorney's fees.

It was a fair resolution to the problem.

 

Good to hear, glad they took care of you. What do you plan to purchase in place of the MINI?

 

Have the car back now after the JCW tuner install and the AC smell issue appears to be resolved. Car came back with a 'minty" fresh smell coming from the vents, now that smell is all but gone. Only fresh air smells so far when system is operating.

Fix included a system cleaning, new cabin filter and adjustment to where it sits in the system (apparently was sitting where water could soak it and eventually mildew). Now it's sitting on elevated pads where any water in the system will evaporate rather than soak into it.

Although we could complain about the design of the system and the issue at hand, our dealer and the service department has been stellar. They did everything promised and provided a loaner for the time we were without our car. Having a dealership with a good service department is key. They don't rush, but rather take the time to make sure the job is done properly and do not give you the run around.

I'm likely to stay with MINI for the long haul (although likely not beyond the factory 4 year/50K mile) warranty on this and any future vehicle. A practice I've stayed with on the last few cars we've owned.

Hope all those with this problem gets the issue resolved favorably and are treated as well as we were..

Kudos to MINI of Ft. Myers!

 

I agree with this 100%. I love my '13 Mini but when the end of my warranty draws near I'll be shopping for another one.

 

So I've had the most recent fix for this issue (raise the bottom of the micro cabin filters to prevent them getting soaked) and this helped for a little bit but... the smell is back. The dealer has acknowledged that it's very rare for someone NOT to complain about the smell on '14 and '15 models. At this point, BMW should be really worried - this is either a class-action suit in the waiting, or they've produced an entire two years worth of lemon-law qualifying cars.

I mean, come on? You can build a carbon fiber electric car but can't sniff out this issue?

 

Is anyone having these issues on MY2016 models?

Has anyone with a 2014-2015 had this problem successfully (permanently) fixed?

I'm still dealing with this 18 months after the purchase of my car...

 

Mine returned today for same.
Replace filter.
New filter gets a " bead of hot glue" to bring it up in the container.
Container of smell reducer run through the system.
Smells like toothpaste .
We'll see.
Our Mini was also fogging the windshield, this in Coastal So Cal .
Coldest here is 45