This goes back a while - but people may find it useful. It's a sunning email dialog between me (Mini Owner) and the "Shop" - Mini Dealership regarding a water leak that caused the car's battery to discharge - and then not be able to be restart the engine. They wanted me to pay THOUSANDS of $$$$ for new parts and more $$$ in labour to install them - I refused, in fact I was able to source a replacement computer (They flat out refused to use the one I had repaired even though it worked flawlessly) for $75 Canadian from a friend in the UK. The Canadian Dealership wanted almost $4K for it..

Here's part of the conversation I recorded via email. If I had the entire conversation I'd post it for all so people can see that you need to stick to your guns and refuse to accept what the dealerships try to tell you or get you to do. .. in the end all they had to do was access the "Customer Comfort" portion of the vehicles onboard programming and re-set the vehicle / key fob code - and the damned thing fired right up.

BMW uses a remote anti-theft system from another BMW vehicle in the Mini R56 and there's little information available to the technicians on how to resolve a "engine turns over but won't fire issue" that results from a power loss ..Good morning Steve,

The new JBE control unit part # 61-35-3-457-582 $607.27 plus labor to install and program.
I will be away from the office for a couple of days after today, please feel free to contact our service manager while I am away.

Thank you (Technician)

As I work a graveyard shift I called and left a message for the Service Manager after the close of their business day telling them I wanted to know exactly what was going on..... I got home the next day to discover a reply had been left by the technician - NOT the service Manager. I emailed my response, see below:
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I listened to the call your technician left on my voicemail at 1420 hrs this afternoon..

He says that BMW Germany indicate the BCM needs replacing and that once that is done he can carry on… I have some questions as well as concerns.

1. Was your technician able to identify the output wire to the ECU that supplies the energising signal / power that turns the ECU’s ignition / HP fuel pump solenoid on?

2. Was he able to identify exactly what the BCU provides to the ECU ? a voltage or a ground ? Hi / low pull ?

3. The ECU controls the engine.. the BCM does not, the BCM just provides the go ahead signal – as such, the signal from the BCM needs to be clearly identified. Once it is, then it can be traced. Did he do this?

4. Your technician provided no information in his msg as to what the no start issue may lead to if the BCM is replaced, but the replacement does not solve the no start condition – More parts replacement to troubleshoot?

5. Telling a person who is not only a licensed vehicle mechanic with 30 years experience , but who also has extensive training and background in digital control systems and who understands the function as well as the circuitry of the BCM that the entire unit needs to be replaced with no substantiation other than what amounts to “Computer says no” doesn’t sit well with this customer.

6. Parts replacement to troubleshoot an issue - an extremely expensive method of troubleshooting - as directed by someone half the world away without confirming exactly what the BCM isn’t doing is not the solution. It simply means that if the BCM doesn’t solve the problem that we are back to square one at an ever increasing cost and the car may as well have a modem installed so that it can talk directly to BMW..

So far, nobody at Mini or BMW is saying what the car is doing and why it isn’t doing it, only that the computer says “no”… which means that they have no idea either – because no confirmed data has been forthcoming.

Without knowing what the BCM is doing or not doing by way of output voltage / signals how can a confirmed diagnosis be made? If that information can be provided, then the BCM can actually be inspected for a faulty circuit and that fault remedied.

Please provide substantiated and confirmed diagnosis details and numbers.


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A day later I heard back from the dealership:

Hello Service Advisor please see your comments in BLUE - I reply in red to the points that the Service Advisor makes.

Unfortunately we are at the mercy of BMW Germany. (no they weren't but they had no idea what they were doing to fix the car)

I believe that you are at the mercy of your technician and his computer terminal..

With the information that we have provided to the engineering team (Mini Canada Engineering) we are being told to replace the JBE (fuse) box at this time.

You mean to say that your repair and maintenance facility does not have a wiring diagram for the vehicles’ electrical circuitry on hand to refer to?

Do you not even possess one for the basic systems that are not inside of the computers?

How are you gentlemen able to do any work without a wiring diagram?

We do not have the necessary information to perform the diagnostics that you are requesting for.

This should have already been accomplished – it is basic troubleshooting

Our manager XXXXX had reviewed the file,

The "Technician" has already spent close to 8 hours on your vehicle already, however we only initially had 2.5 hours authorized for the diagnostics.

Initially You only had an hour approved – this was moved to 2 so that Charles could “Do a full reprogram of the vehicle with the sunroof Module in situe” - What was the result of that reprogram? Did it identify any issues?

This should have taken less than an hour to diagnose and fix – doing a full reprogram of the vehicle – which I was against, but he was insistent that it be done – he gave no time indication only that he couldn’t do without it in an effort to reset the entire car.. .

There has been no feedback from the "technician" or yourself as to the results of that re-programming communicate to me.

Please let me know how you would like to proceed,

Stop work – you are being directed to try and accomplish a repair by swapping parts to troubleshoot an issue by your service technician who is taking direction from someone in an office that is half-way around the world without the benefit of being able to have hands on knowledge.. Do you have records of what has been transmitted to Germany? Proceed no further with useless diagnostics which are not indicative of where the issue lies.

You gentlemen are no further ahead than I was when the vehicle was brought in to you. ( almost 3 weeks prior)

Your technician has gone thru ever increasing and extensive troubleshooting steps without being able to identify what is wrong - does he not understand the vehicle?

You were asked initially to wipe the faults and get the engine running – by bypassing the immobilizer ( by using the "Comfort" access)

I will put together an estimate for the JBE if you would like to proceed.



You can prepare a quote, but nothing further.

I will need the part number so that I can source one myself.

The customer should not have to supplement your stock so that you can attempt to repair something – hence why I asked for firm information as to what Charles has actually done – so far he is not forthcoming on any details only increasing the hours of labour being spent to attempt to resolve an issue which you say your diagnostic computers throw no fault codes..

Just what has been sent to BMW?

What have they been told? and what information has been sent to them?

If they have not been given correct information by your technician, they would not be able to provide a positive and accurate answer.

Many people have claimed thru the years that the BMW-MINI method of maintenance is to try and cure an issue by troubleshooting by parts replacement more troubleshooting by parts replacement – at great cost.

I want answers that will result in my vehicle being fixed – FOR LESS THAN WHAT I PAID for the damned thing ..not a stonewall.

I subsequently emailed BMW Germany and gave them all of the email chain including what had happened to cause the Body Computer located in the side of the Passenger Footwell to die (a water leak in the A Pillar from the sun roof and NO drain in the floorpan that allows moisture to drain out of the car! - and, amazingly - the very next day not only did I get a response from the Canadian Dealership telling me the car would be ready in a few hours but also from BMW Germany thanking me for contacting them.

When I went into the dealership to collect the car the Service Manager (technician was nowhere in sight) told me that they had never received an email from BMW Germany before and that BMW Germany had not only told them to listen to what I was telling them because I know more about the car than they did - but to fix the car for free..