My 2011 Mini Cooper S that I purchased from The Mini od San Diego dealer December 10th 2014 has the maintenance Warranty for another 44K miles.

A week into ownership I took it to a stereo shop to install an aftermarket Amp.

VERY long story made short, they broke the head unit (Boost but Non H/K) display and replaced my stereo with an aftermarket Nav/DVD double din unit along with a back up camera.

A different shop replaced all 4 speakers with Infinity speakers.

A few days later the dash displays that there is a light out somewhere.

The key told the mini dealer that my front brake pads are due to be replaced so I drop it off at the dealer Tuesday 2/17.

They call me today to notify me that the light out is the rear tail light and that it is melted, unable to replace the bulb and that I need to buy an entire housing.

They also tell me that the front brakes are completely fine and that they need to update my Mini's software but do not know if they can since the head unit is missing.

Last they tell me that there is an oil leak in the oil filter housing.



I need help, I have seen here that many people have aftermarket head units, without the original head unit installed and have had no problems.

I also see that many people have an aftermarket head unit and also have the factory head unit installed in a random place in their mini.

The dealer is trying to tell me that since I installed an aftermarket stereo that my Maintenance Warranty might be voided.

Anyone able to give me some insight on:

A) Can the mini dealer still perform the software update without the head unit?

B) If they CANNOT perform the software update, What do I need to do in order for them to be able to do the update?

C) Is the cause of the rear tail light melting directly related to the new stereo?

D)If it IS the stereo, could it be the back up camera that is tapped into the reverse lights?


THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for any and ALL help!

 

Anyone? ;-(

Someone....

I am at loss of what to do next, and there is a timer.

Sent from my iPhone using NAMotoring

 

First things first, go back to first shop and tell them you want a working OEM mini head unit, that should help you get the other things going.

Then answer to C is maybe, I had all sorts of major issues from an aftermarket install years ago on a BMW. Thousands of dollars in electrical damage caused by them. I was lucky in that my dealer fixed it all for nothing, I doubt you will get that nowadays.

 

Dont think the tail lights were melted because of the stereo as the lights were controlled by the FRM module. I think they melt either the stock bulb are very hot or the theres no way for the heat to dissipate or both of the. I got a melted housing and I'm in sd too

 

The dealership called to say they will be fully covering the replacement of the rear tail light housing. I want to ensure this doesn't happen again as I doubt they will cover it a second time.

What is the fix for this?

I mean SD get warm but I am from AZ where temperatures are in the hundreds and have never had this happen.

 

I spent over 24 hours spread out upon 3 days in that 1st shop. There is no way I will go back there. I still have my factory head unit, it still functions fine, they part that broke is the LCD screen gave no info which I believe is due to the shop removing the silver foil pin adapter.

 

I also need to know if the dealer can perform the software upgrade without the factory Stereo. What will happen if they try?

 

Change to LED might be the fix, the problem is the bulb is too hot. I just put 3 philips led (not canbus, need to deactivate the cold and hot bulb monitoring in ncsexpert, dont want resistors too) today into the tail light except for the indicator to avoid the hyperflash problem

 

What bulb & parts did you buy to do this swap?

How do you deactivate the cold and hot bulb monitoring?

 

I use Philips 12898RX2 LED bought from amazon, quite pricey for LED, $30 for 2 bulbs. But they do give out lots of light and very red too. Bought 2 pairs of red and 1 pair of white for my pre LCI 09 tail lights. The bulb monitoring can be deactivated by coding in the ncsexpert.

 

Can you explain what 'ncsexpert' is?

I apologize for my newbie questions.

 

Its quite hard to explain, Ill try to make it simple. Its like a control panel to let you switch on or off features ( some features are defaulted off from the factory due to liability issue) or change configuration (like retrofitting stuff to your car and you need to let the computer know the hardware is in there in order to make it work) in different modules of your BMW/Mini. Hope it isnt too confusing

 

So, just an update:

Mini San Diego rocks!

They fully covered the replacement tail light, and oil filter housing gasket that was leaking. PLUS unknown to me the fuel pump was acting wonky so they went ahead and replaced it for me.

My friends give me a hard time about my Mini because this one and my last one has had numerous issues however I reply to them: If I bought a <insert car brand here> used, AS-IS I can bet you that they wouldn't be covering all these issues. MINI ROCKS!

Now for the stereo I have an appointment March 7th to install the factory radio in a hidden spot, that should fix the communication issue.

 

The warranty for the cpo minis were actually quite good. They replaced half of the bits in my car last year but they have shortened it from 6yr 100k to 5 year 75k miles for the cpo sold after April 2014 :(