Okay, first time poster... so be kind.
I have a 2007 (red) R56 hardtop/coupe/hatchback (so many different names for the same car!). It has 20k on it. I bought it used about a month ago now, and it has a few months of the 4 year warranty remaining. I love it, but there are a couple of things perplexing me. Here's one:
- The lighter outlets do not seem to work. I tried powering a friend's laptop with an 2 different inverters plugged into each of the sockets on a long road trip last week, but it would not power up with either. It wouldn't power up with his auto socket adapter either. I took the car to the dealer, and he blamed my inverters, so I drove around for a day recharging my bluetooth hands-free phone speaker... and after seeming to be connected just fine it suddenly lost power and now does not work at all. I'm pretty worried, as I know that electrical problems can be a pain in the butt. Any ideas? I take it back to the dealer next week. Thanks.

 

Jeesh, plichtenheld--Looks as though you didn't get much in the way of support here! Hope you found a solution--I have a similar problem on my brand new 2012 R56. If you did find a solution, would you post here? Thanks!

 

Pull the console up and make sure it is plugged in from the bottom of the socket.

 

I'm getting ready to tackle the same problem in my MINI. The sockets were working until a couple months ago.

 

Pick up a basic map light you can plug into the outlet and drive around to see what happens... Does the light flicker on and off, or does it stay on. The contacts with in the outlet could be the issue. Doubtful that the problem lies upstream of the outlet.

 

The actual outlet is known to go bad. Mine did on my 07 MCS. I bought a replacement at the dealer (about $7). It is a bit of a PITA to install, only because you have to unscrew a bit of the front console so you can life it up to get to the wiring harness. Takes about 30 minutes to install.

 

If one outlet goes bad, would it take out the other outlet? Kind of like Christmas tree lights (despite their claims) - one bad bulb will kill a whole string?

 

They are both powered through the same fuse.

 

Good to know that others are having this issue. I never bothered as I assumed I just needed to replace it anyways, but when I tried to pull the center console out I got annoyed at decided to do something else haha.

Thanks for the info (and question)!

 

I kept blowing fuse that fed the power outlets on my '07 MCS and it really drove me nuts....one day I thought to look down into the socket and found a dime (yes a 10 cent coin) sitting in the bottom of the socket. I fished that guy out and no more blown fuses and now both front and back power outlets worked like a charm. May be worth shining a flashlight and see if something metallic has fallen down there.....

 

Yep, mine was caused by a blown fuse. We had a power failure here, and I plugged in a device to my car's 12V outlet that drew too much power... resulting in a blown fuse--no power to either outlet. Went to my local Checkered Flag, bought a new fuse and a handy fuse puller, pulled the old fuse, popped in the new--all better! I did research the fuse # and location, both on this forum and elsewhere, to make sure I had the right fuse.

I would recommend this as a first step to any 12V outlet problems. It's a cheap and easy fix.

 

There's a fuse puller in the fusebox. It's like a wide plastic tweezer. Actually I think there are spare fuses stored there as well. Check the fuse diagram.

 

As it turns out, mine was a blown fuse. Not sure what might have caused it as the only thing I power through the lighter is my phone. At least it was an easy fix.

 

sometimes, the act of plugging one of those adapters into the lighter socket causes enuf of a surge to pop the fuse. Try having the adapter not yet connected to the device, or the device powered off when you plug the adapter into the socket.

 

I DID get this fixed. I had the dealer replace the BACK outlet where I had noticed some rust (I bought the car used and I think it had been in a beach environment some - Miami area) and that took care of both the front and back. Both work like a charm now, and I had the work done before the warranty ran out... so it didn't cost me a thing.