I'm in the process of installing the OEM driving lights that I purchased off of E-Bay. (going into an '04 MCS) I'm nearly done except for two tough spots that have me stumped:

1. How to access the Body Controle Module to tap into the yellow/green high beam wire. I can't figure how to access the panel on the right side of the passenger footwell. I don't find a way to remove the side of the footwell.

2. The bracket for mounting the underhood auxilliary fuse holder looks to be designed to fit an earlier model, as there is no longer an inertia switch ther to mount the bracket on. Has anybody got a good way to mount the kit's fuse holder, or do I just go get one of the single inline fuse holes from the loscal parts store?

Thanks,

BMonkey

 

In the very front of the panel youll see what kinda looks like a black rivot inside a black button, use a pair of needle nose pliers to pull the center pin and the button will pull straight out. The panel itself is a bit tricky with the seat still installed since it mounts with plastic clips all along the door well.

 

I did the install on my 04 and ran into the same problems. I got a black plastic clip and some double sided tape to hold the fuse on. I put it where the instructions said to with a little double sided tape on the back of the bracket. Then I used the plastic cilp ( not sure what it's called, looks like a big barred push pin.) on one side of the bracket using a hole already there. It worked perfectly and looks like it came from the factory. I drove to the dealer to see what they were doing and they were just using zip ties to clip it to the brake lines (looked like crap).

I could send a photo of my installed fuse box if you want.

The wire you are having trouble with is the worst part of the install. You need to pull up the rubber seal around the door then the panel is held on with clips. They are tough to get off and I used a bunch of tools to gently pry them loose. You can see them after removing the rubber strip and feel the clips behind the panel in the foot well. The wire is tough to get to even after you pull the trim back because I didn't remove the panel completely(just about to the middle of the seat). It took me some time but I did get to it without braking any plastic pieces. The plastic trim panels are easily damaged so be careful with them.

I am very happy with my driving lights and happy I did the install myself. If you have more guestions or I left something out, PM me or we could talk by phone. Good Luck!

 

Thanks, MM

I got impatient and swithed to one of the single in-line fuse holder from the local auto store, but did the wiring with soldered slices covered in shrink tube. (I would like to see a pic of your install, though.)
As for the BC1 access, I didn't want to go thru pulling the door weather seal, so I found what I thought was the right wire in the loom leading to the BC1. (Is it supposed to be the yellow wire w/ green stripe?) I don't know if my wire tap isn't making a good connection, or if I don't yet have the High beam wire, but I couldn't get the lights to work. (no power tripping the relay) until I changed to tap a hot lead from the lighter. Problem is that now the driving lights can be activated any time the ignition is on...high beams, low beams or no beams!

Let me know what color your wire was in the BC1 connections.

Thanks,

BMonkey

 

I hope the picture works. I didn't want to switch to an inline fuse because the fuse that came with the kit was so nice. I sent a PM before I read this post so I talked about the wire there.

 

Thanks for the pic! Now I can see what you did. I had contemplated a similar fix, but was going to gring the little diagonal rectangle off the back of the whithe nylon slider and mount that to the boot wall with double face tape. For now I've used the inline fuse with the solered spilices covered in black shrink tube (look at least semi factory.)

Thanks again for your help.

 

Depending on which wiring you ended up with you may have to get them activated at the dealer before they'll work properly. Question, did your wiring include a lead going to the radio? If not, you have the, what I call, euro wiring harness. The BC-1 wire goes to a different pin and does need dealer activation to operate as intended. I have the pdf's for both systems if you need access to them. Just pm me and I'll be happy to send them over.

On a side note, I would make sure the wiring is done to oem specs. If it isn't, and somewhere down the line you have electrical problems, the dealer could use the mis-wiring as an excuse not to warranty whatever's wrong ("Sorry, your light wiring created an overload in the BC-1 and caused the problem." or something along those lines ).

 

Just installed mine and they don't work - where did you ground under the hood? I think that may be my problem.

Thanks

 

I have been installing the factory fog light kit for days now. It is a sick joke that MINI pulled on the customers. There is only one set sequence you must follow with every trim piece you try to remove. There is no documentation on how to deal with all the trims. I cannot begin to describe the agony with finding the right pins and to insert the new pins into various connectors. Every connector is different as what you have to do to get the pins inserted. Doing it wrong and you risk breaking the plastic pieces on them. I have worked on electronics for decades and I was challenged. The Bentley manual is absolutely crap and you might as well don't bother to consult it. I would say even most "factory trained" dealer technicians would have hell of a time, and I have no doubt they cut a lot of corners than to do it right.

 

I bought both the front and rear fog light kits when I ordered my 05 MCS in 04. Unbeknownst to me at the time, and am sure Classic Mini too, that the car was not provisioned with the wiring for the rear fog light. Only recently when I finally get around to tackle it that I realize my car falls in the narrow 04 build date window that does not have the wire prep for the rear fog light.

With a lot of research I finally found and ordered the needed harness for the rear fog light. To install it, I have to put the car on jack stand, remove the rear bumper cover to route the harness from the bumper, into the interior. Then I have to remove the rear quarter passenger side trim to ground the harness, and then route the single hot wire to the passenger side food well where the interior accessories modules is. All for one single stinking wire that my car was built without. This is why we love our Mini's.

 

I'd like to add these lights eventually. My first thought was to switch them to the rear fog light switch though. Has anyone done this? I just wonder which setup is better...