Well I was poking around the underside of my Mini today while cleaning her up and decided to have a look at the rear fog/backup lights. It turns out that on the 2011 the backup and rear fog are built into the same housing. The rear fog does have a bulb installed and the housing only has one electrical plug also.

This leads me to believe that adding the rear fog to a 2011 might be just a matter of installing the switch and possibly just enabling the option in the ECU or whatever module controls such things.

I did not have a chance to remove the rear of the housing a look at it in detail. Anyone have a 2011 with the rear fog that can see if its the same setup?

 

Would love to know if this can be done as my MA told me it was not possible. My 2011 does not have rear fogs and I hate the empty space in my toggle switches.

 

Yes I have read that all 2011's come with the rear fogs...meaning that they all have the wiring and the bulbs in place. The only thing that you are getting if you purchase the rear fog option is the switch. I don't know if you can retrofit one (probably can) or what it would cost.

 

Seems like when the car goes back in for some minor issues I have I will inquire about this.

 

Even if the wiring is there after the switch is installed it will need to go in for programing. OR if you know someone with the proper equipment they can reprogram that for you.

 

Nice, I just bought a center console from a 08 just for the toggle switches lol. Wana put one in where the blank is at for the rear fog. It would be cool if i hit the switch and it worked

 

I won't. I added the light and the switch to my '09 and the dealer still hasn't figured out how to program it yet.

 

Check with Strobeyprobey, he should be able to tell you what to tell the dealer to do.

 

Just wondering (I have the rear fog light on mine)...

Is there a reason that a fog light couldn't be added on a separate, independent circuit? Just run power directly from the battery (through a fuse) to a 12V relay - power from relay to lights - control wire from relay to switch in cockpit. It seems to me that the hardest part would be installing the switch in the dash, and finding a way to get the wire from the switch to the relay (through the car body somewhere). Other than that - what has to be programmed? The radio and Lucas spotlights on my 1969 MG are wired in this way - totally independent of the rest of the car's wiring (a GOOD thing in a 40+ year old British car!!).

Why wouldn't this work on the MINI? No need to involve the computer in something as simple as a fog light, to my way of thinking.

Anyone have an opinion?


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Its just a cleaner and more oem look if its set up with the cars computer and switch where its suppsed to be.
If done properly the seperate switch and wiring will definitely work.

 

I hated the blank spot as well. I was able to order the Switch and Switch Cover. I installed it last night... and love the complete look it now has.

Cover Part # 64-11-3-456-232 $88.89
Switch Part # 64-11-3-452-459 $8.87

I have an appointment on Tuesday to see if they can program them to work. We will see... stay tuned!

 

The dealer needs to to into ISTA/P and retrofit option $5AA for the rear fog light. (BMW refers to it as NSL standing for Nebelschlussleuchte in German). The IHK/IHKA module (controls the switches), the FRM (lighting) module, and the instrument cluster module (to warn you the bulb is out) all get changed during this process.

If your car is not running the same software version that the dealer has, it can take 4+ hours to complete as everything in the car gets updated to the latest version before they can process the retrofit.

 

Last I spoke to my SA he called one of his techs up about this. They said it can be done but I will need to purchase the switch and cover plus have them program the car to activate it.

He said is should run around $150-$175 for it all. Not that bad actually.

 

This has been discussed several times on the Clubman forum. Clubmans always had the fog, brake & turn in the same fixture.

From those discussions and my own poking around.

- The toggle switch is only a handle which presses tiny micro switches on the circuit board. The micro switches are already present.

- The fog and other lights are controlled by the footwell module (computer).

- The system must be programmed for the option to work even if you put in a toggle. Some dealers won't or can't figure out how to program the option.

- Not all MINI's (Clubman) have the wiring in place (from footwell to the fixture), even though the bulb is present. Early '10 Clubmans had the wiring later builds did not. If not, there will be a wire missing from the connector. I think it was 5 wires with and 4 without. I'll have to check.

- The fixture has a metal buss structure for power and common (ground) to all the bulbs. (Not wires to each socket). It would be difficult but not impossible to modify the fixture to isolate the fog bulb if you wanted to run the fog separately. Note that the common buss in the fixture is not connected to the chassis ground. It is controlled by the footwell module. It's not like working on older cars and trailers. Hopefully you would not get a bulb out warning?

 

Interesting. The parts total $97.96 uninstalled and the option was only $100. I also would have been driven crazy by the blank space (they could have least put the blank at one end or the other) so I made sure I ordered the rear fog light option. I figured my sanity was worth $100.

 

The 2011 rear lighting setup is different from the 2010 Cooper and Clubman. From what the tech said everything is in the car except the switch and cover.

 

That is exciting news! If that is true, I'm very likely going to have this retro-enabled on my '11 R55. Keep us posted if you do yours!

 

Please let us know. I want this feature. I'm hoping it can be used to slow down tailgaters.

 

The Cabrio has the one switch for the front and rear. Down for front, up for the rear. So my switch is in place. Wonder if I would just need to go in for the programming...

 

Most likely! As long as everything else is in place.

 

That missing switch drove me nuts too when I was shopping. I was happy to find a used car with all the switches.

 

Inskip MINI in Rhode Island just called --- IT IS DONE! I now have Rear Fogs on my MINI!

They started working on it yesterday about Noon... and ended up keeping the car overnight (giving me a 2011 Clubman to drive, which I actually liked and would consider one in the future). They were on a MISSION to get it done. Me, I was giving up on it.

They called this morning about 9:00 confirming "KEVIN FIGURED IT OUT" -

 

Great news! How much did it cost?

 

Excellent! ISTA/P is VERY slow and cumbersome program. And the big problem is it needs to update the entire car (takes many hours) before you can even perform any functions (like retrofits).

 

Picked up the car and headed home to Cape Cod - with the REAR FOGS SHINING BRIGHT!

Here's what can tell you - as written on my invoice: A "New Vehicle Order with Added Rear Fog Light Option from MINI". "Loaded the New Vehicle Order and Programmed the complete vehicle".

This "programming" must be true as I see a difference where the Trip Odometer is positioned. Before it was to the right of the mileage and always showing. Now, it above the mileage where you can toggle to see MPG's and such. No big deal.

Now with all that said, telling Inskip that I posted they were able to activate my rear fogs... they stated laughing saying "Your the First, Your the Last"... we'll see

In closing I want to see that Inskip MINI Service department are the best. I'd send them info from the site and were always communicating with me what was happening. Just for this experience, I would buy another MINI without hestitation.

Parts: $100
Labor: $150
Result: One Happy DonOnCapeCod

The Switch


The Indicator


The Finished Product