I asked the dealer to program it.. but i dont know how to engage it!

Anyone help me out?

 

This movie should help.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S2s2ValfK9A

 

Um.. that didnt help. What button was pushed to lower the top from the outside?

 

Top button when pointing the Key Fob at your car, not more then 10 feet away. It will take a few second. Puch and hold for a while till it goes back, then when it stops press and hold again. The whole top will go down. A flashing red light on the button wish display the top up/down.

 

Hmm.. I think I tried that with no effect.

Is the "top" button the one closest or furthest from the metal key?

 

On my 05 Cabrio, the process takes 4 pushes of the unlock button to lower the top.

Push the Unlock button(closest to the metal key) once to unlock the drivers door, again to unlock the passenger door, then press and hold to open the sunroof feature and lower the windows, press and hold to lower the top completely. On the third and fourth button push, keep holding the button until the sunroof is completely open/top is completely down. If you release the button during the process, it ends the process and you will have to use the interior buttons. I think there is 'protection' built into the feature to prevent draining the battery. If you have done this several times without driving to charge the battery, it may not work (or maybe the sunroof will open but the top won't go down).

Hope this helps!

 

What year is your car? In '06 that was not programmed as a standard. You have to get the dealer to program the key to do it. I guess they had some issues on the 05's so they took it off the automatically program list.

 

When I took my 06 back to the dealer, the mechanic told me he needs to activate something in the car instead of programing the key.

 

Yep. On my 05 (July 05 build) it was something we had to request them to program.

 

Mine came programmed to open the top with the key. It's a good thing I park my MINI in the garage, because a couple of times I have gone to get in the car in the morning, and the top was completely down when I had left it up the night before. I had put the key in my pocket, and over the course of the evening the button must have been depressed long enough to lower the top.

Also, you can put the top up with the key from the outside. You have to put the key in the lock and lock the car, then rotate the key back to the locking position again and hold it while the top goes up.

 

I specifically went to the dealer and asked them to program my mini for this. And now that I have it home... it looks like they didnt.

Hmm.. let tally my service visit:

Change oil - Done
white marks on top - "We have no answer"
hard start when cold - "We couldnt reproduce the problem"
program convert convienence mode - "Done".. but not done.

Nice service.

 

White marks on the top are a well documented problem. They are wear spots due to the top sitting too low when in the down position. My dealer has just replaced my second top-made the adjustment-no more white spots. Do a search as there is quite a thread on this issue.

 

My '06 had it... the sales guy even demoed it. otherwise I would have never know about it.

PS - the range of the unlock feature can be extended CONSDERABLY by pressing the metal end of the key to the underside of your chin and THEN clicking the unlock button. Your body becomes a big antenna, apparantly. When leaving work, I can usually get enough range on the wireless signal with this process to do all 4 required key presses and totally put down the top before I get within 20' of my car...

 

Sigh.

Read my original post! I took it to the dealer to have it programmed. And they said they did. And when i try to engage it, it doesn't work.

 

Welcome to the wonderful world of Mini service Sometimes I find it quite useful to research a problem here on NAM before going in for service. That way when the Service Dept doesn't know the answer you can tell them what it is

 

Actually, you can do it all in one step. With the top down and the car unlocked, insert the key in the door, turn it clockwise and hold it there. This will lock the car, raise the window, and close the convertible roof.

Scott

 

Early 05' and 06' had it untill they had a problem with battery drain, then the stoped programing the feature from the factory, you had to have it programd when you picked it up at the dealer. Now the newest one I don't know if it is avl., they were talking about discontinuing the feature all together because of problem with reception, hands in the way(ouch) and the battery drain (thats why some had a TSB for wire replacement.).
I hope they did not discontinue the feature all together.
When I find out more from ASK MINI I will tell you.

 

Go back to the dealer and ask them to demo the feature for you... Either you are doing something wrong or they screwed up and should fix it for you (with a bit of embarassment for having said that they did something that they didn't).

 

As I tell my kids all the time.... the most effective way to get someone to help you or do something for you... is ask them nicely. Everybody has bad days.. & if it seems like you're taking your frustration out on them - good luck. If they feel an attitude coming from ya - they either won't help you, or they'll charge ya for it
But 90% of the time people'll help you for free if you explain the situation & ask cool & calm.

 

Your original post asked how to engage it, which I took to mean how to make it work. You don't mention that you were doing the correct steps and it wasn't working. That is why I posted what I did. I apologize if it wasn't what you were asking about.

Your other post is saying something different than the first. As said above, you need to contact the dealer to find out what the problem is.

 

I just bought an 05 Cabrio S with only 19K miles on it & this is the coolest thing I've read yet about this car. I just tried it & my key worked, I'm so excited, I can't even tell ya ! THANKS!!!

 

To me it's one of the most 'cool' features of the car. I love walking to the car in a parking lot while opening the top and watching people's reactions as they're walking by the car while it's happening.

I met a new owner who had bought a previously loved MINI several months ago and we were talking about the features and other cool stuff about the car. I mentioned the convenience opening and they hadn't heard about it. I explained the process and they tried it. When it worked they were jumping up an down in the parking lot and just kept syaing "COOL!!!!"

 

Ok I am jealous.. Im a new mini owner, 06 cooper s and love it, and soo want this key/ windows down feature. My mini does not do this. 8( poopie!

 

I figured that BMW in Australia would charge me at least 1 or 2hrs labour to program my car for this feature so instead I bought the aftermarket automatic opener from MiniMania and no longer have to hold the button down for the roof to open. I can spend the time putting my seatbelt on, find my sunnies etc