Good Day All,

I wanted to post my recent experience with the Icelink Plus hopefully to save someone else some serious heartache and more than a few dollars.
(I apologize if you are reading this twice; I have posted it on NAM and Mini2.com)

I installed the Icelink Plus into a MCS 2005 in August. It was the model direct from Denison that plugs into the back of the head unit. All worked perfectly out of the box; great sound, ID3 tags on the head unit, etc. (I know, not everyone is so lucky).
Last week upon starting the car one night both the upper and lower airbag lights both were lit and the seatbelt light remained lit. I dutifully searched NAM and Mini2.com trying to find an easy solution. Unfortunately it became pretty obvious that it had to go back to the dealer.

Well my dealer spent a little over five hours ripping apart the dash and the electrical system trying to find the fault. Unfortunately after much trial and error and swapping components in and out it was narrowed down to the Icelink. Once the Icelink was removed from the chain everything reset and the car was fine. I spoke to the technician and he found that the voltage to the system was dropping to half of what it should have been which was what was causing the airbag faults. I have no idea what caused the fault in the Icelink, it worked fine through the whole fiasco and nothing prior to the fault would suggest there was a problem.

I have notified Denison of the issue and hope to hear back from them soon. However before anyone else pays their dealer for five hours of shop rates or worse; is driving around with a compromised safety system, you should know of the potential link between the Icelink and the airbag system. After finding the cause of the fault I researched the issue and found that one other individual had the same issue on Mini2.com. Unfortunately it was buried in the 66+ page Icelink Plus thread.

Kudos to the dealer, they actually discounted the shop rates from the norm, (be assured it is still a big bill).

Thanks.

 

I know the MINI electrical system is complex, but how on earth does a connection at the back of the radio have anything to do with the airbags? Was a causal connection confirmed? e.g. if they plug the Denison back in do the airbag lights go off? Even if the Denison was shorting out, that would blow the radio, which is on a seperate circuit from the airbags.

 

A little more information:

I'm shortening the steps taken so the post does not get to long:
-Faults in 91 K-BUS communication between instrument cluster and MRS4/MRS5, MRS4/MRS5 faulty, airbag ctrl module faulty
-Continuity checked between BC1, cluster & MRS units, OK
-Checked BC1 no damage, swapped out with donor, fault remains
-Swapped clusters with donor, fault remains
-Voltage of K-BUS with I-Pod harness in line 6.81v
-Voltage of K-BUS without I-Pod harness 12.2v
-Bypassed I-Pod Harness and checked K-BUS, no fault
-Removed I-Pod Harness as requested, cleared fault memory, OK

Thanks

 

Odds are the problem is related to the fact that the ICELink passes information along the MINI's ibus like every other electronic component. Earlier firmware versions of the ICELink Plus (wasn't an issue with the first gen ICELink) wreaked havoc with the MINI's ibus... The problems ranged from every warning light in the car lighting up to none of the lights (including headlights and turn signals) working...

Given that the earlier problems were entirely related to the ICELink+ firmware, my suggestion would be head over to Dension's support pages and download the latest firmware. Hopefully the fix is as simple as upgrading the firmware...

 

Wow.
Good info Dewy and Mbab... Thanks for all the details - it helps those of us with simpler minds to understand what's going on.
I'll just stick to my Aux input.

I guess the electronics really ARE that complex.