Cabrio top won't close (randomly)
 

Hi everybody,

I'm the - not so quite happy :cry: - owner of a beautiful R57 Cooper S. Since I have received it (the problem started a few days after I picked it up, brand new, from the dealer), I'm having problems with my top.

For the time being, we (the dealer and myself) think it's electronic... whatever. Fact is, sometimes, my MINI's top won't close. It's completely random, so there's no way to reproduce the issue. It happens mostly in the morning, rarely in the evening. In most cases, I'll put the top down when starting the engine in the morning, drive to work (half an hour), when I get there, park my car, and then when I try to close the top, it won't close. I hear the softtop's motor's "whiiizzz" and it moves slightly, but it doesn't rise to close. When I release the button I get the warning sound and the warning "Soft top not locked" displayed on the board computer screen.

No issues when opening, only when closing.

My MINI is less than 2 months old. It has been at the dealer already twice, first time they updated the firmware, and the second time they reprogrammed all the sensors and the windows as well (as they suspected the window's status that wouldn't get through to the softtop...). Last time they swore the issue was fixed, and that they had contacted MINI and followed the required procedures. Well, after a weekend, the problem is back. I'm going nuts. :mad:

Has anyone been confronted with the same issue ? :confused:

I'm thinking of contacting MINI directly to open a case with them. I can't tell if my dealer is doing things right or not.

You might want to start investigating the lemon laws in your state.

Lemon laws ? what's that :confused:
Unfortunately I'm not in the US. But I'm interested anyhow... maybe an equivalent exists here in Europe. :grin:

OK, I googled that expression :) something equivalent exists in France, I have to check if the swiss law has anything similar...

BB,

As a matter of fact, I just had the same problem. My car is a 2013 and the issue started from the beginning -- semi easy opening; rough close. My service center replaced the sensors and the roof works fine now. I don't remember the exact explanation, but it had to do with the sensors and locking mechanism interaction. I've been driving around a fair bit and have not had a repeat problem.

Take the car back to your service center. Tell them another new vehicle had the same issue. The fix was performed by Leo (mechanic) at MINI of Alexandria (VA) if they need a reference.

Scottt,
You are well meaning, but not very helpful in this case. I think BB is searching for solutions available prior to totally abandoning the car.

Thank you so much epeel ! I'm so happy to read your post and learn that this problem does have a solution, after all. I'm really glad that it has worked out for you, and this gives me hope that my MINI can be fixed.

I must admit that I was starting to get despaired because I couldn't find anywhere a similar case to mine. I'll send an e-mail right away to the service responsible at my MINI service center and tell them about your case.

Thank you very much :)

epeel, when did you get your MINI ? I got mine on July 16.

I goofed on two fronts. I should have paid attention to where the poster is from, and I should have been more clear on what I meant.

I was suggesting the lemon law in order to make the poster aware (if they were in the US) that lemon laws are there, and the what you need to do to implement them. To often people (including myself) let things to by the wayside and then it's too late to do anything about it. Most lemon laws require at least 3 visits anyway. I was just giving the OP a heads up.

All in all, my bad! :-)

That's okay, scottt :) You did manage to raise my awareness on the subject and that's important, too.

But I must admit that the most optimistic one comes from epeel which rekindled my hope in getting this issue fixed.

I've had my MINI for seven weeks, it has been three times to the dealers for around 7 days in total and it will go again there tomorrow.

VERY nice looking motor! Hope you get your issue sorted soon so you can enjoy hours of topless motoring and what a beautiful country to tour.

B.
I picked up my car Aug 1st. And, I understand your frustration. I also went 3 times to have the car assessed. The service guys were sympathetic -- they tried out a number of ideas. The car is complicated. The sensors in particular do multiple things. So, hitting the solution on the first try was unlikely.

My car is totally fun & I wanted to try anything possible to make a go of it. In the process, I learned a lot about how the car functions. It was nice also to work with mechanics that obviously enjoy their job. They were great to work with. One of them told me he drives a MINI Cooper & showed me some cool stuff on the iPhone - car interface.

Your car is gorgeous! I'm hopeful it'll be a good outcome & you won't need to go the "lemon" route. Let us know how it goes. :)

Thank you :) I really hope this problem gets solved, indeed.

Yes, this was exactly my impression, too. My car is barely 2 weeks older than yours, so the issue is bound to be, if not the same, quite similar.

That's nice ! :thumbsup: Here in Switzerland, the mechanics don't really work directly with the customers. My contact is the head of after-sales support, and he's the "single point of contact" towards the customers. But this morning, I got to talk to the head mechanic, and showed him the problem (it's easily reproducible in the morning, but not in the afternoon....?? go figure :sly:). And he was very friendly too. I wish I could watch over the shoulder when the guys work on the car....

Thank you.... I love my car, too. It took me a while to figure out (and configure) what I exactly wanted, and this baby has everything I always wanted in a MINI. :grin:
I'm now confident that I won't have to go the lemon route, since my case is not the only one... thanks to you :nod:

B.
Maybe it's too early for a report, but wanted to check-in to see if you have any news from the service center...?

Hi epeel! Thanks for checking. No news yet. I dropped the car off at the service center yesterday morning. I was lucky enough to have the "bug" at that moment so the guys saw with their own eyes that it hadn't been solved. I'll check on them this afternoon...

Good good news that they were able to "see" it! I think it will be an easy fix one they find the issue. I was back there on my 2012 installing a pulsar 3rd brake light thing and took note of the VERY complicated mechanism that runs the top. I hope it is just a safety sensor.

Indeed, the hard part is them finding what the issue is. They have "seen" my top failing before (when I brought it in the 2nd time and the 3rd time), but they always thought they had fixed it because it's so difficult to reproduce.

Just a heads-up to let you know that together with MINI, my service center has finally (seemingly, hopefully) found the issue - it's similar to yours, epeel ! One of the sensors that make the roof close turns out to be malfunctioning. They've ordered it at the central BMW/MINI in Munich and will be receiving it on Wednesday. Mounting expected on Wednesday or Thursday so that I would get the car back on Friday at the latest (hopefully before).

I hope to be able to tell you the (happy) end of the story soon ! :)

B!
I was just thinking about you as I motored around doing some errands today. My roof has worked perfectly since the sensor repair. I remain hopeful all will be well with your car also. I look forward to hearing how it goes with you!

Thanks epeel ! :) I just checked with the service center and I'll be getting my cab back on Thursday, if all goes well ! Can't wait !.... even if the service center was kind enough to let me have a Cooper roadster as a replacement vehicle :grin:

http://img9.imageshack.us/img9/473/roadster1.jpg

Nice. Do some twisties and put some smiles on that roadster!

Here's the latest news to my story....

I picked her up yesterday after 10 days at the service center. They replaced 2 out of the 5 sensors of the roof system, the roof "computer box" as well as parts of the hydraulics. Once I got back home after a 20-min drive the roof wouldn't close again !.... :mad: same issue... :no: after a couple of tries it eventually closed as nothing had happened. :confused:

This morning I drove to work top-down as usual.... when I arrived I tried closing the roof and again the same problem ! :mad: :roll:

I'm soooooo mad ! and frustrated. :cry: :sad: :sad: :sad:

I took it back to the service center this morning. As I will be travelling for the next two weeks, they now have two weeks to figure out what's wrong and get things to move. Seems the support they're getting from BMW/MINI is really lame. I sent off another e-mail to the BMW Switzerland CEO (I had written to him already the first time, and he replied), and hopefully MINI will now react and replace this roof once and for all !....

Bummer :cry: :sly: :sad: :sad: :sad: :no: :mad:

:eek2: !!!

B!

VERY disappointed to hear about the continuing issue. Did the dealership give you an alternative to your situation? I think you have given them every opportunity to fix the issue without success. I'm not one to (as we say in America) "throw the towel in" easily. However, in this case perhaps you should consider enquiring about what their alternative is to make the situation right. (It may mean reordering your car.)

Please let me know how it goes.

All the best,
e.

Thank you so much epeel for your sympathy :) really appreciated.

Well, since I'll be travelling for a while I'm giving the dealership a last chance to fix this. When I come back in a couple of weeks from now I'll see where we stand - and I'll contact some consumers' rights organizations we have here, to find out what my possibilities are.

The dealership / service center are bound to do what MINI tells them to do because it's warranty work. Otherwise they don't get paid (that's what they told me anyway).

So now they have two weeks to fix this..... and if they're unable to.... I'll start getting nasty.

Hi epeel and all,

Just to let you know that I picked up my cab from the service center yesterday.... and it seems that the issue has been fixed this time ! :grin:

They have changed quite a few parts, including all sensors (not just the ones that had something to do with the roof opening) and the roof motor. The culprit seems to have been one of these sensors which hadn't been examined before since it was assumed that it wasn't involved. After a more detailed examination, including measuring the electrical activity between each part of the roof system, they found the cause of the issue.

So I took Billie Jeans home (top down of course :grin:), stopped for a few errands, closed the top, reopened when I got back, drove home, re-closed it, and during the afternoon I kept getting back to the garage, re-opening the roof, driving around the block, parking her, closing again.... did that all a few times with no issues whatsoever.

Today it's raining so she will stay inside. Tomorrow the weather forecast is good, so I'll take her out again for a ride. If after a 24-hour "rest" the top is still operating properly, then I'll start to believe that the issue is, indeed, completely solved.

Fingers crossed. :wink:

B!

Yay! So glad to hear your roof issue was addressed. My roof problem seems to be solved. I've put it through its paces with no repeat trouble. My brother-in-law has a convertible VW & just experienced a roof failure as well. His car is a hard top version & a 5 year old auto. So, it appears mechanical roofs are delicate things all around.

Hey Betty Boop,
I read your thread...sorry to hear about the troubles. Hopefully you can enjoy your new MINI trouble free from here on.
I've got to say, it's a good looking cabrio. Love the all the choices you made!!!! Glad you posted pictures of it.
Enjoy!!!