Greetings all. Forgive the long-winded post... I have a 2012 Mini S coupe. Love the car. Fabulous acceleration and handling. A couple of months ago the fuel pump relay fried when I attempted to start the car. Having at the time no knowledge of the relay location, I discovered no voltage to the fuel pump, which ran when jumped from battery.
Time constraints made me bring it to the dealer. $1,200 later they replaced the entire fuse panel, as fuel pump relay is apparently hard soldered and non replaceable. Fortunately for me there’s a two year warranty on that part. Fortunate because it failed again yesterday. I’ll probably flatbed it in and have them do the warranty swap again. But I have a question. As this seems a fairly common occurrence, has anyone attempted to modify the relay? Such as using a replaceable one attached to plug wired to the relay connection points? Has anyone posted a how-to? Seems to me it would save a great deal of aggravation. Or is there an underlying condition needing to be addressed that fries these relays?