Took my 2010 to a shop with a very good reputation for some engine problems. Long story, but the engine problems were not repairable there.
My problem began when I showed up to retrieve the car at the shop.
The problem at first appeared to be a dead battery. We jumped started the car and drove it up on the trailer, but I noticed that the electric windows did not work.
The service manager said that they had determined that the Footwell module had died. He said that often happened due to moisture down there. Well, the car was dead anyway,so I just brought it home.
Upon testing, the electric windows, heater/ac, and high beams are affected.
Upon examination, the footwell module is dry and clean. No evidence of moisture at all. I did find this. (Picture)
It looks like a loose wire, but I think it is probably the place where the original dealership tapped power for the Oem rally lights they installed way back in 2010.
Following on advice I read on a different thread here, I disconnected the battery, removed the Football Module examined it (looks great), and re-installed it in hopes it would reset.
It did not.
What am I missing?

 

Rhendy,

I had the battery on my 2010 MCS die on me & it damaged the Footwell Module . While chatting with an electrical engineer at work, he thinks it's probably a design flaw of not enough electrical protection in the components.

I replaced the battery to find the module dead, got it diagnosed, the dealer quoted $1100+ to fix it, I paid the $175 diagnostic fee & took it home. I contacted another local shop that specializes in Minis to do the repair, they quoted about $600-650.

George

 

gdfj12,

Thanks. That tracks with what I have heard, too.

It feels like I hav been ambushed!

Rhendy

 

chiming in...It is relatively easy/cheap fix. I have been restoring flooded minis for quite some time and this FRM isnt the only module i worked on. So this is first hand experience.

what you need to do is find a module with the same part number or an interchangeable one. use realoem.com to enter the last 7 numbers of the module. there it will show you other modules that can be interchanged with and from what cars.

After that buy inpa, winkfp, ncsexpert, ista/d, and ista/p (not really needed but nice to have) along with K+Dcan obd/usb cable.

also, where are you located?

 

I had my footwell module replaced under warranty by the dealer. 2011 cooper s, battery died and took out the module.
There is an extended warranty on this part.

 

I wrote down all the part numbers from my FWM, and searched ebay and fount the exact match. I installed and cleared the codes, all is well now. No programing required It came from Europe, I think with shipping it was around $136.00
gs

 

Why would you not have it fixed for free by a mini dealer since there is a warranty on it?

 

Mine is an 2007 with 105K miles. I also reinstalled the L F drain hose & put a clamp on it.
gs

 

Chiming in - 2011 MCS, 11/2010 manufacture date, pretty much same thing happened to me as the OP, back in August 2017. Had the battery disconnected for a good while while doing fuel system work, reconnected the battery and BAM, all the symptoms described (nasty little spark at the battery too -- yikes). Windows nonfunctional. Headlights stuck on and in low-beam. No other lighting controls operative of any kind. All the well-discussed symptoms of a dead FRM, and dealer diagnosed as a dead FRM. Diag confirmed at an independent shop that knows Minis *very* well. No water damage to speak of. The FRM just "had enough" of whatever it had enough of.

I agree with what gdfj12 got from talking with an electrical engineer -- this thing seems electrically flimsy to me. Car batteries get disconnected and reconnected all the time. If doing that fries electronics you haven't designed the electronics well. If I can ever figure out a good disconnect/reconnect solution to DIY onto this car that will absorb whatever caused that nasty spark I saw, I intend to implement it -- for now, that battery is staying connected no matter what I do unless my not-electrical-engineer-but-still-knows-some-stuff background says it's a dead necessity to disconnect. I don't need any more things frying out at several hundred $ at a time.

Independent shop tried replacing it with a used, which they've done before and know the drill on quite well -- but the used one that should have matched was pretty confused after reprogramming (window-up made windows go down and vice-versa). After a really strong effort we caved and just put in a new one.

Dealer wanted $887 before taxes and such. Got it done at the independent shop for $678. I hear there's a warranty extend on these things out there, looking into it.

 

Did you witness the shop installing the used one with the matching part number? Did you also get a chance to witness the reverse operation of the windows?

I find it odd that this would happen with a matching unit unless the unit is also faulty. I know in your case it said and done, but im puzzled.

as for the shock, you can use a capacitor to take the spark. just like in the audio system back in the day when we used to use a cap can (1F 12V or 25V).

 

The independent shop is a trusted member of this forum as well as a high recommend locally. So I didn't witness personally, but I have no reason to doubt and every reason to trust. It's entirely possible, like you said, that the used item was also faulty -- after all, it was used. He was as puzzled as you are (and so was I). We probably could have identified the issue with another day or two but after a full day we were all admittedly done raging against the machine.

I also seem to run into part number issues -- a whole lot -- due to having an early production MY2011 (November 2010 manufacture date). Apparently there was a whole lot of switching going on either just before or just after (or both). That could have been a factor as well, but no way to know at this point.

Thank you for that detail on the capacitor -- I was dancing around that idea but had no idea how to size it or how precisely to wire it up (positive side, negative side, blah blah). I figured I could sort the wiring fairly easily but I was at a loss as to cap sizing. I now officially owe you one... actually, two, with all that software detail!

 

I didnt mean to downgrade any shop but the more stories I hear, the less confident in shops I become. I personally rather waste the money and learn to benefit myself and members on NAM than waste it on a shop or worst yet, a dealer.

my now friend took his 2011 MCS to a known shop and the dealer and was told he needed an engine for a "spun bearing". he brought the car to me and guess what, that "spun bearing" was actually a chipping serpentine belt!!!

Minis are tricky, and it is hard to play with if you dont have tools. SW is the biggest investment and with it, you can almost win any fight

 

I totally hear you on shop confidence concerns. Today I had to deal with an issue -- not on a Mini -- that was NOT caught and turned out to be a loose nut holding (well, *not* holding) a sway bar end link in place. Two visits to dealer service (again, not a Mini) and even though they were poking the thing to death, nobody caught the loose nut. Took my favorite independent wheel/tire/suspension shop to spot it, and they figured it out fast.

That shop, incidentally, is how I got to the Mini guy. It's turned out to be a crazy solid recommend.

But yeah, I hear you. And honestly, I'm looking forward to digging into the software. Kinda done with my days of saying to the FRM, "computer, please supply +12V to the circuit you shut off."

 

it will be fun and money saving

 

Hey MiniToBe -- back to the battery zap -- I was looking into the capacitor idea and ran into an interesting comment in a discussion of surge capacitors. The line that got my interest was this: "If the surge is of a low current relative to its voltage intensity, the capacitor will absorb it. If the surge has high current, the capacitor cannot absorb it." The conversation then discusses using an "arrestor" along with a surge capacitor.

I am not familiar with the technical underneath the way they use the term "arrestor." But it did occur to me that I have no idea what amount of current was going through that zap of my FRM, so it's at least a hypothetical concern. That got me Googling with some different terminology and I found my way into this very interesting class of intended-for-vehicles product.

Any thoughts on this stuff?

 

I think we aught to make a new thread for that stuff.

Surge arrestor is like a shock absorber. It is made to pretty much restrict excess current from passing. Once the current on the opposite side is equal to that of the other side then it lets the remaining current pass :-) make sense?

 

Makes sense. RE other thread, I actually had a thread where you and I were conversing back in August on this, so I'll resurrect it and stop hijacking this one

 

Replaced the frm on my 08 Clubman .with a used unit becaus the horn relay was bad.
now the horn works but it won't start.

 

Looking at the following diagram https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/r...fares/CkYxY37b the horns are actually connected through the fuse box not the FRM unit.

reinstall your original one and check the fuses at the fuse box.

 

Think the relay is in the fuse box/ bcm/SPEG/footwell module/frm. Right now I'm not fond of minis

 

the fuse box is SPEG/JBE but it is NOT the FRM...please dont confuse the two!

 

Where is the frm?

 

FRM is behind the driver kick panel. The fuse box is behind the passenger kick panel.

 

If this FRM is such a fragile unit in the system it is obviously a design flaw that the manufacturer should correct and make changes to the system so this cannot happen again. I missed the recall by 4 months and my battery just failed and being new to Mini didn't know you couldn't just plug a battery charger in and not do any damage. Who knew?

This problem appears to be far too common and would seem to be a candidate for a class action lawsuit. This failure has cost me a ton of lost time doing research and calling shops and dealers asking for help. The Dealers estimate to fix the problem if the problem is only the FRM was around $1500.

One BMW shop in town got a bit snipping on the phone when I asked if I could bring in the FRM to be reprogrammed. He said no matter what you read anywhere on the internet you need the entire car to reprogram the FRM. But that was going to cost $100 for diagnostics then if the FRM was the only problem, possibly $175 to reprogram.

I have sent the module to a shop who clams they can reprogram/repair the module. I have my fingers crossed.

Anyone have any information about any ongoing class action litigation?

 

Did that shop fix your FCM? The module in my mini was damaged by water intrusion and I missed the warranty as well. I found a site online that appears to be located in the UK and they repair FCM and upgrade its components. I’m wondering if that’s the same ship you are using?

-Bret