Tonight I drove from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg, then stopped by a friend's house. 10 inches of snow on the ground; about 25 degrees. Five minutes later I jumped back in the car. I turned on the lights, but the xenons did not go on (dash lights did come on). I drove for almost a block without them and then they kicked on by themselves.

Sound familiar? What could have caused it?

 

hummm... maybe you needed to wait a little longer before firing them
back on? HID's dont do well when turned on/off quickly as it will burn
them out (from what i hear).


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03MCS IB/Blk: 123, Aerokit, R90, 16" TK5, 6CDMP3, and more.

 

>>Tonight I drove from Pittsburgh to Harrisburg, then stopped by a friend's house. 10 inches of snow on the ground; about 25 degrees. Five minutes later I jumped back in the car. I turned on the lights, but the xenons did not go on (dash lights did come on). I drove for almost a block without them and then they kicked on by themselves.
>>
>>Sound familiar? What could have caused it?

Maybe the cold weather caused the Xenon ignitors to start more slowly. At least they work after a block.

I have trouble with my right xenon coming on first thing in the morning. Temperature is only 60-68 and the right doesn't come on while the left does. If I do nothing then the right never comes on no matter how long I wait.
If I play with the on and off switch after 4 to 6 tries I can get the right to turn on.

Been to the dealer three times and they could not reproduce the problem twice and once replaced the ignitor on the right but the problem is still there now a few days after replacing the ignitor on the right. No other light or bulb upgrade was ever done.

Anyone have experience with this problem?

 

Take it to the dealer and hopefully they'll either see the problem or take your word for what happened...and do a warranty repair. The behavior you describe is NOT normal. I've often turned my lights back on after having them off for "only" 5 minutes (or less!), and while I can definitely believe that it's not a good idea for their long term life to flash them on and off, they should still come on. Also, I can confirm that cold has nothing to do with Xenon lights not working...this past winter, it was often double digits below 0 here in Mass, and my lights worked like a champ.

Yours are broken, so go get them fixed. You certainly don't want to hold this until after the warranty expires as those things are EXPENSIVE (parts are like $500/side)

 

>>Take it to the dealer and hopefully they'll either see the problem or take your word for what happened...and do a warranty repair. The behavior you describe is NOT normal. I've often turned my lights back on after having them off for "only" 5 minutes (or less!), and while I can definitely believe that it's not a good idea for their long term life to flash them on and off, they should still come on. Also, I can confirm that cold has nothing to do with Xenon lights not working...this past winter, it was often double digits below 0 here in Mass, and my lights worked like a champ.

I have taken my MINI to the dealer for this problem four separate times. Twice the problem did not occur even though it was not working when I arrived at the dealership. The last visit: while driving I note that the light is not on, I drive to the dealership immediately(a few days after the ignitor has been replaced), I pull into the dealership with the light out, I idle the car and don't turn it off for ten minutes while I show the service people that the light is OUT. I pull up the car to the garage area. The car is turned off to park it since it is in a queue. When the car is turned back on the light now works fine and the problem cannot be reproduced.

If the light is working and they cannot duplicate that it does not work then they cannot claim a malfunction since there must be evidence of a part that is not working. Doing warranty replacement on a part that is working would be fraud.

>>Yours are broken, so go get them fixed. You certainly don't want to hold this until after the warranty expires as those things are EXPENSIVE (parts are like $500/side)

You cannot fix the light or even troubleshoot it if the light is working. I've had the problem for about 2 months at least and it got worse until it became a daily problem and then I took my car in. Once I get the light working it will work OK the rest of the day.

Here is my theory and prediction. Once the Xenon bulb is on it gets heated up so the ignitor can work easily. When the car is turned off and the bulb or light cools off enough the ignitor (even a replaced one) has trouble with the Xenon light I have on my right. You can replace the ignitor all you want and the problem will repeat itself until you replace the entire Xenon light unit.

I am well aware of the cost of the Xenons. In a few days I am taking my car in to the dealership first thing in the morning to show the service manager what the problem is. He was away for the last 5 days.

 

As of today my MCS is still at the dealership trying to get the right xenon fixed. They have had trouble finding the problem as the light works for them and fails for me.

I have been informed from another NAM member that this problem has already been discussed at mini2.com on this thread-
http://www.mini2.com/forum/showthread.php?t=24926

I hope I do not have to change out the entire light, housing, and wiring to fix this but that was how one owner got results.

I will let you know how I do. So far I think I have had about 6 or 7 service days for this one right xenon.

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Aloha from Hawaii

 

Wow - scary. Feeling really good about my decision to go with regular old halogens.

 

>>Wow - scary. Feeling really good about my decision to go with regular old halogens.

This is a good example of how added technology can lead to more things to go wrong.
I really like the blue xenons but not if they don't work and create trouble.

I finally got my right xenon to work but here is the toll it took.
To troubleshoot, the dealership said all wiring must be returned to stock.
So I had my audio shop disconnect the aftermarket alarm system-at my expense- and reconnect later (total cost $110). The dealership would have charged more.
And disconnect M7 Plasma Booster-

They removed the entire right headlight housing including the glass headlight. So I lost my 3M shield.
The wiring was not replaced. They never sent me my paperwork.
But now my lights are working and so is my alarm but I have not reconnected the Plasma Booster.
Maybe next month after I am sure that the light works under all conditions. Replacing just the ignitor was not fixing the problem.

 

Surprised to see this thread resurface.

I was convinced that the Xenon problem was cold weather related. They have been working perfectly since the night I had that problem.

Given that Hawaii doesn't get down to freezing and that I've got no aftermarket attachments (plasma boostrs, alarm systems) it was probably totally unrelated.

If I were ordering a car today I'd buy Xenons again.

 

>>Surprised to see this thread resurface.
I wanted to give a follow up now that I have been testing my "fixed" xenon daily for the last three weeks with 100% success so far.

>>I was convinced that the Xenon problem was cold weather related. They have been working perfectly since the night I had that problem.

The Xenon problem is probably multifold as are most MINI problems it seems. Cold weather here consists of 67 degrees in the mid winter.

>>Given that Hawaii doesn't get down to freezing and that I've got no aftermarket attachments (plasma boostrs, alarm systems) it was probably totally unrelated.
Electrical problems are sometimes complex and affected by all of the changes to stock wiring. Moisture in the wiring harness was suspected by some owners.

>>If I were ordering a car today I'd buy Xenons again.
I'm willing to risk ordering Xenons as well but it hasn't been fun. It not super common but it does happen.
We may not get windshield cracks here but it seems at least four MCS have one bad xenon over here.

 

We are having the same problem with our mini currently in the shop at our Mini Dealer in Atlanta. The L Xenon light recurrently does not come on but will come on after turning the light off and on several times. We have made 5 trips for repair and only once got the problem to occur at the dealer. The bulb and finally the whole light assembly, but not the ignitor have been replaced but it still occurs. At the last visit the car was returned to the airport drop off with a service note that said " car tested and problem not duplicated". I went to the car and turned it on and the L headlight did not come on. I left the car and called the dealership and told them to come back and get it and fix it. We then called MiniUSA. The dealer after 5 days cannot reproduce the problem and will not replace any parts. We informed Mini Usa that we are going to invoke the Georgia lemon law and request a new car. The Mini USA rep has been rude and unhelpful and accused us of lying about the light and says they are not going to fix it. I appears we will have to file suit against them. Perhaps we all need a class action lawsuit over this issues as Mini seems to think we are all too stupid to share out common bad experiences. I will pay a lawyer now rather than buy a $12,000 harness out of pocket after the warranty expires.

 

Sorry to hear about your problems. There is a site that is quite helpful as it has lots of links to MINI problems and contacts for resolution. It is based on Hawaii owners experiences, but there are also lots of people who have visited the site from the US Mainland. The website is http://www.mini-pooper.com. Good Luck on your claim!

 

xenons act up in crazy temps

 

I don't think the xenon problem is temperature dependent. Instead, I believe it may be a wiring issue. Case in point is Minihune's car. He lives in Hawaii and our temps barely get below 60 degrees. Read his posts above.

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MINIless. Long live the Mini.