I'm assuming that the wires you do see are just the rest of the wiring harness. Probably the wires going from one taillight to the other? The foglight wires came out of that bundle, so my guess is that if you don't have that wire, you don't have that wire.

HOWEVER- my guess is that your harness is identical to the earlier harnesses, which would imply that there is a foglight wire that ends at the taillight connector. It might be possible to tap into that wire and run a new wire down to the middle of the bumper. I don't know if this is really do-able or not, but I'm in an area of killer tule fogs (Interstate 5, home of 100+ car pileups) and I'd be trying to find this out if I could! (Thank goodness I squeaked past the deadline!)

RE: the downlighting LEDs - aren't they up in the headliner panel, with the maplights and sunroof control? I don't think there are any in the toggle switch panel. I'm pretty sure that light you see on the cupholders is from way up there. I think my toggle switch panel had the same part number as the pre-05 retro fit kit, and I still have my downlights.

 

On both of my 05 cars there are two orange waterfall LEDs up in the headliner AND there are also two orange waterfall LEDs right under the toggle switch panel as well. Again though, I don't know if the ones below the toggle panel are actually attached to the panel or not.

 

Wow I was totally wrong there. Sorry.

 

Well, we went out in my 05 last night and checked this. You're right - there are two LEDs right under the toggle panel that I wasn't aware of! They are part of the panel and the new panel I installed has the same LEDs.

My replacement panel had this part number: 61-31-6-917-993. Note that this part number is for a car with DSC and front fogs. (So I now have a full set of toggles - yay!) Cars with ASC and cars with no front fogs will need panels with different part numbers so the number of toggles and the labels above them come out right.

Sorry for the confusion - I wasn't aware of those LEDs until you pointed them out. But the good news is, with the right parts, you get to keep these LEDs.

 

That's terriffic. I'm glad that we got that straight and thanks for the part number on the toggle switch panel (with the LEDs). BTW, this is also a great way for the older MINIs to add some of the waterfall lighting to their cars (i.e. all they should have to do is buy the newer toggle panel with the LEDs on it and that should do it for them).

Thanks again for your help (as now I know what part to order - since I also have front fogs and DSC).

 

Do you mind sharing the amount that they charged you for the activation?
Was this something that you that you could wait on while they did whatever it is they need to do?

 

I'm glad you found my post helpful. But I don't know if installing this on an 04 or earlier will activate the LEDs or not. There are a lot of wires going into the connector on the back of the panel.

I originally got the part number from Ian Cull's (GBMINI) web site, which I am quoting below. (Thanks, Ian ) His post is dated 10/9/03, so I'm wondering about those LEDs. Have they always been there? Did BMW/MINI add the LEDs at some point, without changing the part number? Or - I noticed he edited the post on 9/7/04 to correct the first part number. Did they change p/n's when they added LEDs? (If so, have the other part numbers changed as well?) I'd check with a good Parts Advisor, like Brian Flick at Classic MINI. Email him at bmwparts@classicautocampus.com - they offer a 20% discount to NAM members, and this is a $75 part!

 

I'm scheduled to go in tomorrow to have

1) Sirius sat radio installed and
2) Rear fog light installed

My build date was Aug 2, 2004, but my SA was not aware of any restriction on having the rear fog light installed. I mentioned it to him, and he said even if they have to install the wiring harness, they will.

Soooo... I guess I'll see how it goes tomorrow! I sure am glad to finally get Sirius installed, I can tell you that!!

(and while I'm mentioning mods, I finally installed my drivers side parcel shelf this weekend, I've had it since before Christmas. I really like it! )

 

My dealer (Niello MINI in Sacramento) charged a half-hour labor to activate it, which in this market came to $50. I was having other stuff done, so I dropped the car off and picked it up later that day. I suspect the half-hour is some sort of "minimum labor charge" thing. My guess is they plug in a laptop (or some sort of handheld unit) and press a few keys. Probably takes a couple of minutes at the most. You might call your dealer and see if they could do it "while you wait." I have no idea...

I also had them activate the OEM alarm (which I installed myself) and de-activate the automatic door locking feature. I suspect each of those, if done separately, would have entailed a half-hour labor charge, but they did all three (rear fogs, alarm, and door locks) for a single half-hour charge. So if you've got other things that require programming, you might be able to save some money by combining them. In my case - living in an area where heavy fogs are a serious problem this time of year - I wanted mine activated ASAP!

Nothing but praise for Niello's service, by the way. Especially on a car that I bought new from another dealership just last month!

 

It sounds like a lot of people will be interested to hear the result. How about asking them exactly what they did to hook up the fog light? A whole new wiring harness might be overkill. My guess is they'll run a jumper down from one of the taillight units, where the rear fogs used to be. Or maybe there's some sort of sub-harness that just runs across the back from taillight to taillight. That would make sense, I guess. Anyway, I'm curious to hear how they solve it!

Love my parcel shelf, too!

 

We pulled into the driveway at dusk, and I thought, hey, good time to take some pictures! Here they are - the red lights and varying brightness from shot to shot kind of messed up the auto exposure and white balance of my digital camera, so I tried to balance the pictures a little bit in the computer afterwards. The following pictures give a pretty fair comparison.

1. Taillights only. (I was behind a pre-05 MINI the other night and noticed how much smaller their taillights were than mine. I know some people don't like the new taillights, but I think the larger and brighter taillights are an improvement.)


2. Taillights and foglight. The fog light can only be switched on when the headlights are on. Next time I take the car in, I'm going to ask if they can program them to come on when just the parking lights are on. (My xenons are SO bright that I've found it much better to motor on parking lights and fogs only in heavy fog or snow!) Note how much brighter the fog light is than the taillights. This may be exaggerated a bit by some glare in the camera lens, but the fog light really is a LOT brighter.


3. Taillights, fog light, and brake lights. Notice how the foglight is still brighter than the brake lights.


For me, this wasn't a "you-ification," vanity-type, "let's find something to tinker with" project. I live in an area famous for 100+ car pileups along the Interstate, and I am very pleased with the way this light came out!

 

Nice pictures Now you can flash all those Audi's that drive with their rear fogs on just because they want their fronts on.

I checked my 7/10 build 05 last night. Couldn't even see or feel a cable for the rear fog at all.

Luke

 

Glad you liked the pics. I was also thinking this device might come in handy at those times when I find some SUV riding along with his bumper a few inches from my rear window.

Keep watching this thread for AAAMINI's report on his retrofit. His car doesn't have the wire in place either, but his service department says they'll figure out a way to hook it up. I'm interested to hear how they do it.

 

I intend to use mine in in very rainy and snowy conditions, too, or any situation where I'm worried about being seen by potentially fast-approaching vehicles.

 

Just found out I can't have it back today

They got everything installed, but are having a programming issue with the fog light.. the computer isn't sending the signal or something like that. They have to do a test routine with MINI, but MINI was closed yesterday for MLK day, so they're all backed up. I'll get specifics when I pick it up, but they didn't mention any wiring harness difficulty at all...

 

as long as you have a good excuse, I guess it's ok...

 

I'm looking forward to hearing how they accomplish the installation. Also, I see you've got the OEM Sirius installed, please tell me how it works. My parts folks still think the antenna isn't available. I really want to be able to tell them that Sirius is available for the 05's and they should be able to make my rear fog operational on my July 2004 built car.

 

yes the antenna is finally out... part # 84-11-0-393-780 for 2005 oem Sirius install

 

Actually I suspect that won't be as effective as you hope with the light mounted so low on the car. However it does work great on the 02-04 fog light. With the lights in the tail lamp cluster on these cars, they can be easily confused for brake lights.

I find that I end up using my rear fogs more to "push back" tailgaters than in low vis situations. The technique works fantastically well... 99% of the drivers drop back when those lights go on, sometimes surprisingly quickly! Nothing like scaring the crap out of some idiot who's riding so close that their breath is fogging up my rear window!

 

of course, another really great technique for getting rid of tailgaters is to speed up...

 

True but I'm not a real big fan of that. Mainly because I see tailgating, especially when done by a larger vehicle to a MINI as an attempt at intimidation... By speeding up I feel that I'm giving in to the tailgater's intimidation and running away from them...

I'd rather turn the tables on them and make them back off from me instead of running from them....:smile:

Plus if I'm already doing 80 in the center lane and running with traffic, I'm not going to speed up just because some idiot doesn't want to change lanes and would rather run up my butt...

 

I just spoke with my SA and they are still having a programming problem and still waiting on MINI to respond, but he said that all the wiring was already present for the rear fog. (my build date was Aug 2, 2004) The fog and toggles are all installed and wired, but the programming isn't working.

Nevertheless, to be certain I asked him to just double check that they did not need to add a wiring harness.

 

I checked my Sept build 05 last night & found wires behind the plate but not like the ones pictured. Just a split black wire stuffed up behind the bumper. I'm patiently waiting to see what happens to BartMack's MINI.

Lois

 

well, the world may never know

I'm not letting them keep it another night. If it takes more than two days to program a stupid fog light, then they'll just have to learn how on somebody elses car!

HEY MINIUSA, WAKE UP!! MY DEALER SAYS THEY'VE BEEN WAITING TWO DAYS FOR AN ANSWER FROM YOU !!

 

yeah ok, UPDATE, my dealer yanked the parts back out.

MINI, I love the car, but your corporate level service leaves a lot to be desired...