Wow, I posted last week I couldn't figure out why the top rear lights were not working, after a bit of research they are rear fogs check.

I needed the 2 3a 50w diodes. I screamed down to radio shack in Spencer, 20 miles away. They had all sorts of diodes but none 3 amps in size, haven't had any in a long time; Rats.

So I ordered from EBay the diodes and 2 red LED's

The diodes went super easy the red LED's appear to work well but the locator nubs on both sides of the led were inconsistently placed but I was able to seat them. I also moved the top bulb to the flasher location, thinking the top bulb was never used. Really rediculous Mini left the rear lamps like that.

I know have extra diodes 3, if you want them pm, let me know and I'll send them to you.

 

I read about this on the other thread. I'm curious:

AFAIK, the pre-FL tail lights have 3 bulbs in them - stop (brake lights), turn indicator (yellow lens in the center) and parking, or "running" lights, with the single reverse lamp mounted in the bumper. An option (?) for the later Minis (with the reverse lights now inside each tail light) was what they called a "Fog Light", mounted in the center of the bumper since the reverse lamp was no longer there. Maybe it was only a Euro thing, but it's really just a bright red lamp, not a white/clear light as we know fog lights to be. In normal (non-Euro, no option) applications, there's a simple black snap-in cover there (later '05-'06 models).

That said, when you talk about having "fog lights" inside the tail lights, are you referring to the regular running/parking lights, or are there actual (brighter than normal) red fog lights in there?

 

Fog lights in the rear are red, not clear. It's been this way as long as I can remember for Europe and the US. White/clear in the rear is only for reversing. Not sure about everywhere else, but it's illegal to drive forward with white lights illuminated in the rear in CA. Usually the rear fog is only on one side, the drivers side. For a while, the rear fog option on the FL MINI's wasn't available in CA because the state considered the center placement illegal.

 

No, that is incorrect.

Pre-facelift taillights have a brake/running (dual filament) bulb on the bottom and rear fog bulb on top. The top bulb is unused unless rear fogs are activated. That is the reason this mod was developed.

 

I did this on my old mini. My new one I need to do it. As I plan on activating the rear fog. But really like the extra brake lights. That and a pulse for the led bar he's keep the cars away in traffic.

 

So the actual mod is to wire the unused rear fogs as additional brake lights?

 

Yes the idea is to wire the top unused fog lights as brake lights. With a car soo darn small a pretty smart idea. It's actually hard to believe Mini didn't do it.

Simple to do, I used red LEDs, seems a bit brighter but can be my imagination.

I did the diode bit but in reality probably just need to use the splice thing to join the two wires together.

Again, I have 3 extra diodes....

 

wow this is a blast from the past, when the first get MINI came out we figured out how to do this by jumpering two of the cables in the wiring harness for the rear lights. i guess it's been so long that all of us that did it are now gone! well except me, still have the same MINI!