So a few weeks ago I noticed one of my brake lights was only lighting the top half of the circle that is usually lit. I figured I would replace the bulb and everything would go back to normal. Fast forward to last week, car was at the dealership to replace a bad alternator and they checked the bulb out for me. My SA calls to tell me it's not the bulb, it's the whole assembly, and it's melting. I couldn't believe my ears, did they seriously just tell me a part of my car is melting? No explanation as to why this might happen, what is causing it, they just say I have to replace the entire assembly to fix it. 2 days later, the other tail light does the EXACT same thing. I emailed my SA, asked what could be causing this and should I be concerned that my other light "melted" and caused the same exact issue, he claims "it's rare but it happens". I've been looking all over the internet to try and find any other instance of this happening but haven't come up with much. Has anyone ever heard of this?

 

I've seen it on other cars... Often it's the 3rd brake light.. When it's behind the glass.

Otherwise, it's caused by the wrong wattage bulb being installed.

Do you use DRLs?

 

The bulbs are still the same ones the car shipped with back in 2008 so I don't think it's a wattage issue.

Are DRLs Daytime Running Lights? I have the lights on if it's raining or night time. I try to keep them off otherwise, lately it seems like all the bulbs are blowing. I've replaced 4 in the last couple months.

Is it possible that a faulty alternator caused damage to my electrical system? If one tail light was having the issue I could see it being a coincidence but now that both are shot in the same very specific way I'm worried there's a major problem I don't know about yet. I'll take a picture later tonight to show how the lights are currently working, maybe someone has seen it before.

 

Yes, day time running lights.

I've found that bulbs seem to go "together" mainly because of the numbers of hours they are rated for..

If you had a faulty alternator.. You'd have much larger issues rather than just blown bulbs if the system was over charging.. (Generally faulty alternators tend to undercharge things..).

Do you own an automatic? Do you sit in traffic a lot?

 

With most cars with DRL's....the tail lights are NOT on....so no tail lights are active.
Ever see a car driving on the highway at night....with kinda dim headlights, and NO tail lights? Its cause the driver is using drl's (and does not have auto headlights)....I see it a couple times a week.
You might want to have the voltage check on your car...you have said you had alternator issues...and a bunch of blown bulbs.....

 

I had to have my alternator replaced about a week and a half ago, got a red battery warning (something like, alternator malfunction, battery is not being charged) and then the AC and radio turned on and off.

No, it is not an automatic but I do quite a bit of city driving.

Interesting side note- when I got into the dealership to replace the alternator under my extended warranty the guy tried to tell me he probably wouldn't be able to replace just the alternator and would probably need to do the battery as well (at almost $400) HAH. Nice try guys.

 

But the A/C and radio didn't blow up or burn out right?

Are you 100% sure you installed the right light bulbs in the brake housings?

(P21W bulb I think,..)

 

As I said before, I did not touch any bulbs in the tail lights, still contains the original bulbs it shipped with in 2008.

No, nothing "blew up". The AC and radio all work as designed since the alternator was replaced.

 

I had an issue with my upper taillights. I removed the housing and the connector was melting. (P21 lamp). I had read abouth others having issues as well. Repaired the housing and installed 18W lamps. Am hoping this helps. Will replace tailights after I replace headlight (housing).

 

Hi guys, sorry to bring this old thread back up but I didn't see a resolution. I'm having the same issue and I don't think it's caused by anything else other than the tail light itself. I don't think it's a faulty alternator and my day time running lights are off. It happened to my 2011 R56 Cooper S, my current 2013 R56 JCW and my friend's 2013 R56 Cooper S. Did the lower wattage bulbs help? How about LEDs?

 

Yea, I have heard about it on the pre 2011 tailight. Not some much on the post 2011+. Thanks for posting up the info.

We dont have any LEDs for that one, just for the 2007-2010 back up lights which are P21 bulbs and very low wattage. Its a focused backup light so I dont think it would look good in the upper light. Otherwise, that might work. https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/ES2739475/

Other than going aftermarket taillights you can get the rear main boards and plugs.

2007-2010

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-t-remove.html

2011+ Looks like you cannot get the main board but can get the socket holders.

https://www.ecstuning.com/Mini-2011-Cooper-R56-S-Coupe-L4_1.6L_N18B16A/Lighting/Tail_Lights/


I looked at mine on my R58 and I did not see any melting yet. I wonder if the texas heat losses the contacts and then it arcs?

 

My 2007 showed this problem on the rear right brake stop bulb. Basically the bulb went out out but I could not remove it as the bulb holder had fused with the base support. I removed the whole light unit from the car and used a cutter to separate them.

To get to the point, it was caused by a bad contact. When the contact area is reduced, the resistance rises exponentially hence the temperature that melts the plastic.

Luckily, I just had to work on the contacts a bit (bend them to get a tighter fit) and clean them. It has been fine ever since.

PS: Sorry if i'm being a little vague, but I did this over 3 years ago, so I don't remember all the steps. But it was pretty straightforward.

 

alright. just had the same problem and didnt consult this forum before addressing. my mistake.
Summary - you dont need to buy anything, unless you're looking for an excuse to buy aftermarket lenses. a few tools and you'll be over this silly issue.

tools
T20 torques driver
plastic trim tool
Xacto knife
ohm meter (optional)
patience to avoid snapping trim ring

Here are visual instructions. skill level is about a 2 on 10 scale. Image 9 is key. you'll see the plastic that melted and prevented contact. scrape that and you're good to go. root cause, probably poor contact. i didnt add conductive grease but you could and it would probably eliminate the issue.

Cheers

 

Yes, its maybe arching from a poor contact, nice write up

 

Had the same issue on both sides. 2011 r57s. First light went off and the dealer wanted to replace the whole assembly (~$400), yikes. Fixed DIY way. Then the next taillight went off the same way. Fixed DIY again

I definitely think it's because of the poor contact

 

My wife's 2011 clubman had the same melting issue. I used a dremmel to grind back the plastic enough to get the socket to install properly, the carefully bent the connection tabs with needle nose pliers to achieve better connection, then reinstalled and it works now. Thanks to all the forum contributors. The best price on a replacement assembly I found was $160 so I call that a win!

 

Please delete.

 

This is nothing more than a crappy design on MINI/BMW. This should be a safety recall but i cannot find anything on it.
You would think for all the money you spend on these luxury cars this type of crap would not happen.
Shame on BMW/MINI.

 

THANK YOU for posting this!!

I had the identical problem--it looked exactly like your photo--and the solution couldn't have been simpler... I used a file with a curved side get the hole back to being round, and a sharp chisel to scrape off the bit of plastic from the face of the contact.

I just wish I read this prior to spending 1+ hours screwing around with lightbulbs and struggling to install the round bulb socket into the not-entirely-round, partially-melted bulb carrier, from inside the trunk.

Cheers!

 

Thanks ymi5150? for the tip. Both my top brake light bulb were out. Disassemble the light unit, scraped off the melted plastic, applied dielectric grease and wipe off all the bulbs with alcohol.
Both lights are working now.
Hope the dielectric grease will help to minimize the melted plastic.

 

 

 

A search in this forum for "tail light" turns up a bunch of threads all describing the problem I have on my 2013 R56:
1. brake light is out
2. can't remove the bulb carrier
3. removing and disassembling whole tail light assembly reveals that the bulb carrier is partially melted
4. the cause is a poor electrical connection between the bulb carrier and the circuit board inside the assembly

Here are some of the links:
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...il-lights.html
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-t-remove.html
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ght-issue.html

I bought a used tail light on eBay only to find it had the same problem. Then I bought a second one and it had the same problem too. So there is clearly a widespread problem caused by this flawed design.

Who should I file a complaint with and how do I go about filing it? Is there any point to calling my MINI service department and complaining to them?

There's a mechanical engineer out there who ought to be deeply ashamed.

 

 

So I called my dealership and they said to call MINI corporate whose number is 1-866-ASK-MINI. I called them and the woman I spoke to was friendly but unable to help.

Here's the policy she explained. If the car were still under warranty she might have been able to help - MINI stands behind the cars they build. Since mine is out of warranty, my only option is to take the car to a dealership service department. It's up to the service department manager to decide whether to charge me or not for my problem, presumably based on how valuable a customer he thinks I am.

I described in detail how the poor design caused the bulb carrier to melt and strongly suggested she pass the information on to whatever part of MINI is responsible for taking such feedback and improving their designs as a result. She said that they do exactly that with calls like mine and that is another reason to take the car to the service department - so that my description of the problem can be confirmed by a MINI technician. But it doesn't change the fact that only the service manager has the authority to absorb the cost of replacing my tail light.

Sorry if this info is already well known but I figured the next person who has a broken brake light might want to know how this all played out. I don't plan on making the long drive to my dealership just to have them confirm what I already know. Instead I will try to find a replacement tail light on eBay and if that fails, buy a new one.

I think MINI should have replaced my tail light at their cost since it's a design flaw, not a wear-and-tear problem. I understand they have to draw the line somewhere on out-of-warranty work but I think they got it wrong on this problem.