Hi,
I have an '02 mini cooper S. My rear license plate light quit working...so we ended up ordering the whole new piece with the lights and the handle for the hatch. I took the old one off and put the new one on and turned my lights on. My light did not come on...any one else have this problem? Does anyone know where the wiring goes to in the front on the car to check? obviously it is a wiring problem or I got a faulty new piece (doubtful) but possible. If anyone has ANY ideas on this please let me know I don't want to be driving around and getting pulled over and ticketed because my license plate light does not work. If any help is possible it is appreciated.

Thanks

 

First, buy a small 12V touch tester (autozone sells for cheap). Nice to have it.

Turn your headlight, does the headlight turns on & the rear license plate do not?
If the headlight also off, you have bigger problem than that (could be the switch).
If the license plate light is the only light that has a problem (your switch is ok), reach the rear license plate positive wire and poke it with the touch tester. If there is no juice (12v), somewhere along the line the wire is cut or bad ground.
If there is a juice (12v), then look at the bulb and bad ground.

 

thanks s2k7. I ended getting mad and plugging it back in and boom, it worked. I tested everything also and seemed to work but now it works for sure. Thank you for the help it is very much appreciated.