2007 Cooper coupe
My ambient temperature is reading -40f therefore the AC will not turn on, why would you need AC if the outside temp is -40f. A repair shop told me they could not run tests on the system due it being new software. I believe they called it a "D-can" (sp) car. What would need to be done to find out if this is the case?

 

It's probably the outside temp sensor. You may have to bite the bullet and take it to the dealer. AFAIK there is NO aftermarket computer system that can fully diagnose the car, or interrogate the various modules.

 

That -40f reading is very common to get on a BMW that has it's outside ambient temp probe disconnected, missing or damaged.

 

That's what it looks like. Start digging around the front bumper skirt area; I don't know exactly where they put the thing on our Minis.

 

Has anyone heard of a "D-Can" car and how it would be determined by a repair shop?

 

He's probably talking about the can bus, part of the interface. Like they said above you need the right computer with the right software to read these cars.

 

The dealer says it was broken wires caused by bent/crimped harness during autobody repair. The autobody repair place says they can't find any broken wires and the German car shop they use can't find any either. But the German car shop was unable to hook up a computer because the underdash connector is inside the panels. But the autobody place said the German car shop had gotten some strange codes they and couldn't determine what they were because it is a D-Can car. The Autobody place and the German car shop both say some one else, the dealer, pushed the connector inside the panel. If they had received codes wouldn't they have had to hook up to the connector?

The dealer has repaired the broken wires and saved them for me. I will be taking them to the Autobody shop and try to get my $686 back. The dealer made no mention of the connector being inside the panel. I hope this doesn't cause me issues in the future.

 

You can pull some codes off the OBDII port..........just using a regular code reader, but you won't get everything, and they may not know what some of the codes they did pull mean.....

But, if the dealer found bad wires and gave them to you to show the body shop, I'd say they did you a favor. Who knows what else the body shop might have missed or even caused in their repairs?

Going to the dealer for service is not always a bad thing......