Welcome. Yes, that's good insurance, good luck on the trip and happy motoring.

 

hahaha took the JCW to the dealer to put the brakes in that I bought from you. And oh by the way can you put the lights in?

hahaha Tried again and it was too hard to change. That socket was frozen.

 

 

This might sound stupid. when changing bulbs to led, for interior lighting and stuff that could throw a bulb malfunction code?

 

You have to use CANBUS or error free.

 

Installed all CANBUS LED on my JCW dome, footwell and 1st position. Zero problems.

Got the interior from JDM Astar and the 1st position from ECS.

Put hooker/ho/strip club/Amsterdam red on the inside *idea courtesy of MiniMof_r. hahaha

 

The red does change it up a bit. Canbus is the way to go on Gen 2 MINIs, on Gen 1 it was not an issue with the simple LKM module. Gen2 up the LKM became more advanced.

 

What's an LKM module?

Put CANBUS LED on my Gen 2 JCW - zero problem.

 

Light Control Module in BMW / MINI talk

 

Hey ECS

Since you know Mini talk ECS, let me ask you. I was in the Rockies with one of my Minis. I have a JCW and a base MC. So I had the MC which is a 2011 up in the Rockies with full accessories on. Charging a GoPro and the blower on full blast and the windows were down, and the lights were on. Headed up a mile high mountain road stopping frequently, poor idle. High altitude.

Suddenly. Couldn't roll up windows. Pulled over. Shut off. Couldn't restart. Totally dead. Tried again. Started right up. So I drove to Denver to a Mini dealer (pain in a**) and the master tech installed new firmware. Said the car had trouble with the high altitude and couldn't synch (???) with the air mass flow sensor. He also replaced the window relays. Now the odometer read out looks different because of the firmware upgrade.

The dealer back home said sounded like the high altitude & frequent stops was causing poor idle speed and the battery was getting drained.

Sounds like 2 different scenarios. Are you familiar with the firmware upgrades to resolve window issues? And are there high altitude issues you're aware of?

What do you tihnk?

 

Thanks

Good question.

I would you have a weak battery, that might have not been reset for the IBS ( if you have it). I have driven over the years cross country on MTTS events many times in the hills and mountains (track days, crazy events). Unless you are at Pikes Peak and flying up and down a huge hill, the AMF sensor should catch up. Firmware can be an issue for some FWM, footwell modules. But it might of had a weak battery that when loaded and had to deal with a changing climate decided to clunk out. A weak cell or a weak alternator can do this also. I bet if they load tested the battery, they would have changed it.

 

wow. Lot of Mini talk jargon here. IBS? AMS must be air mass flow.

OK. I was headed up from Aspen and I was flying up the road to Independence Pass but then pulling over to catch some shots. So the blower was on full blast to pump heat since I had the sunroof and window open. It was a nice day. hahaha

So the tech said that the blower being on was a huge drain of power. But they load tested the battery and alternator and said it was good. Believe me they would have loved had sold me a battery if they could. hahaha

So the dealer in Denver - Schomp - said it was software issue with the AMS causing the initial blackout when I restarted. And the windows not rolling up were also a software issue.

But the dealer in Dallas said it was an overloaded battery that was being drained from the poor idling because of the high altitude.

I'm agreeing more with the Dallas dealer and thinking Schomp just wanted to do a software upgrade because I was in the shop and they had to charge me for something. They had a $150 min.

They claimed firmware prevented the car from starting and windows rolling up correctly. They said the car could not initiate the computer.

But then they also replaced the window relays. Just curious about all of this stuff. Not a big deal. Next time, I'm renting a car to take high altitude hahaha

 

Thats ok, I have been around dealers and BMW/MINI all my life. AMF = air mass flow, some people call it other things.

Yea, it should have no problem, what happens is the dealers cant figure out to replace a bad battery or MAF without checking the software first as the software sometimes does not like to communicate well. If they update the software it cleans the system of faults, they clear all the fault then try to see if it faults again. I think thats what they did. Then check the MAF, try to swap it, or check the battery, then replace it. They could not duplicate the fault (because they were not in the same conditions you were) so they drew some conclusions.

 

Thanks ECS! Nice background on the issues. Sounds like you've been a Mini Master Tech. I've had both 2011's for couple years and I'm pretty car savvy but I'm still learning how they work.

 

Wish I talked to you before getting into the quicksand with diff sales reps at ECS on my JCW brakes. I ended up in the buy and return spin cycle over brake pads with ECS & JC Whitney for like a month. hahaha Bought and returned EBC Reds, then EBC Yellows. Finally bought Hawk street pads. And rear rotors from you. But the dealer gave me a deal on front cross drilled / slotted front rotors. Can you send me your info for the future? Just PM me. Thanks! The Hawk street pads work great for enthusiast street driving.

 

Welcome for the help on the possible diagnosis.

Sorry about that on the brakes, and thanks for the order. Just shoot me a PM in the future and I can help out.

 

No you guys are good. I like ordering from you. The returns are fast. You don't screw around on crediting. You have a good selection. And I'm glad you lowered your free shipping minimum. I kept bouncing between ceramic brake pads to racing pads. Glad I didn't get ceramic. Not that picky on brake dust. hahaha