Yup, I was driving this morning at 5am north bound on the 57fwy towards Pomona in CA and I hear a chime alarm, then notice a triangle warning symbol in my tach pod with an exclaimation point over what looked like a asterik (I didn't have my bifocal driving sunglasses on as it was dark, so the symbol wasn't really that clear to me).

I thought to myself, oh $%#! my new car with only 500 miles on it has an engine check light already. Did I get the rare moldy lemon in the bunch of sweet juicy oranges?

Once I arrived at my destination I turned on the interior light and got out the manual to see if I could find what symbol flashed and chimed at me for a few seconds. After some searching I found it. That asterik looking thing was a snow flake! It was an external temperature warning.

Now my thoughts go straight to thoughts of external engine parts shorting out and starting an engine bay fire. Danm it! Those postings about Mini's mysteriously going up in flames that I read before purchasing were right!!! As I turn to the page it referenced I start reading...

Apparently the external temperature warning light alerts you when the external temperature in below 37* and there is a chance of BLACK ICE.

How ironic...

Drive safe out there folks. The Mini is looking out for you!

 

Ha! Your car is warning you about yourself. Better be careful! ;-)

 

Yep, first time it happened to me I was freaked out too (since I had only had mine a few months when this happened) ... had the whole "Oh crap, what now" thought. It happened to my wife for the first time the other night ( We live in Maine so we are now used to it) and she called me and was freaking out. Explained what it was and she had not "hurt" my baby in any way. HAHA.

 

That warning gives a lot of people a scare. Most folks never read the owners manual so don't realize what is going on. It's nice to know when it gets real cold outside. We see it quite frequently up here in the Great Northwest.

 

Yep, I've had that with my E36 m3 for the last 17 years...lol Hey Baby, it's COLD outside...lol

 

I know what I'll be thinking next time it happens!

 

Luckily I read posts about this on here before it happened to me for the first time about 2 nights ago. The snowflake popped up and I just said... "Thanks MINI. I got this."

 

I get it every morning during cold weather. my garage stays in the 40's. so every morning when leaving the house in cold weather the car dings and give me a triangle and snow flake. I no longer have to listen to the weather to know it is cold outside.