Ever have your headlights remain on after you've turned them and the car off? It's happened a few times and there seems to be nothing in the manual about it. If anyone has any idea on the subject I'd appreciate it.

About 4grand till my first tech visit.

 

Check 'Follow me home' lights - should stay on for ~40 seconds if you pull back on the stalk after you turn off the engine.

See page 48 of the manual

 

Bet it is the follow-me-home lights.

However, mine was a little stranger with my '05 MCS. In my situation I was absolutely sure that I hadn't hit the headlight stock to active them...and it only happened after I had the daytime running lights programmed (4 months after delivery) at the dealership. For some weird reason the follow-me-home lights would turn themselves on when I closed the drivers door. I had the FMH lights deactivated the last time I was in and haven't had the problem since...they thought it must have been some sort of conflict with the DRLs. I didn't want the FMH lights anyway as I have Xenons and don't really want to be firing them up more than necessary, so no problem having them deactivated.

I've seen on here that some people have had all their lights stay on (headlights & tail lights) after they shut the car off...so if that is the problem, you might try searching to see what they came up with.

 

If you turn the lights off after you turn off the key, that also activates the "follow me home" feature, if it has been programed !

 

My "follow me home" lights are set for 90 seconds, but only work if I turn the lights off after I turn off the car.

Pulling back on the stack, does nothing, my headlights will not even turn on if the car is not running.

 

I really like the follow-me-home feature, I use it every night just so I can stand there and look at my 05 PW/B MC before I go in the house!

I'm curious about daytime running lights. I seem to remember something in my manual referring to this as a dealer programmable option. What's that mean? Are there features I could have had programmed by my dealer to customize my MINI? I wasn't told about this when I bought mine.

 

yes, Make sure you make a list of everything you want because it's a one shot deal....after that, it is likely that they'll want to get paid for programming time...usually one hour labor.

check with Motoringfile.com for a list of available options...

 

Flow MINI quoted me 1 hour of labor to change the programmable features when I inquired about it the day I picked it up off the lot....

 

You should have no problem getting the programming done free. It is normal for the first programming to be covered with no charge. If it wasn't even mentioned when you bought the car then it should certainly be done free when you ask.

I had my programming done free a month later when I was back at the dealer. If they had given me a problem I would have mentioned that they didn't use their check-list at the time of delivery, which would have covered programming.

 

I did not have mine programmed when I picked up my 03 MC for the same reason - no one told me. I have ended up having service done at another dealership in another state. When I mentioned one time I had her in that these options had never been programmed and no one told me they did it for free.

I have heard of other dealers who won't do this and do charge labor for the work. I have even heard of one case where the owner was not told at the time of pick up and the same dealership refused to program them for free.

Make the checklist like the other poster suggested. I wish I had gone through the effort to do this....

 

Jen,

Where can I get a list of the options? I'll be picking up my MINI soon and want to be ready.

 

It's here... file on my ftp space

 

Thanks, that list is headed to my dealer via email tonight! I was never told about these options until I read them in my manual. My sales person was VERY good, don't get me wrong, but she did miss this point.