Hi.

Not again.

This past spring, the driver's side door lock stopped working. It wouldn't lock or unlock...the actuator motor was found to be inoperable/broken...was replaced under warranty by dealer.

Now my wife calls me and says "Guess what, the passenger side door lock won't work...doesn't lock with either the key, the toggle, or even if you try to push it down."

This is ridiculous. Yes, my '03 MINI CVT hasn't left me stranded in over 39,000 miles and 30 months...but it has been back to the dealer (65 mile drive each way) about a dozen times for a host of malfunctions.

First the driver side door lock actuator motor breaks....and now the passenger side is exhibiting same symptoms...I bet it's the actuator motor on this side, too.

My question is, when the dealer replaces a part, is that part covered under a "new" 4-year warranty from the day it was installed, or is that part only covered for 12 months/12K miles? I ask because hey, if the actuator motor in both doors failed in under 30 months/40K miles... what's to say the replacements won't fail a couple years from now, too?

Oy vey. Awesome little car...way too many trips to the dealer for warranty problems. I'm scared thinking what this car will cost to repair once my warranty runs out. I can only guess, but I would say that to replace the actuator motor in the door would take about one hour to 1.5 hours labor and maybe a couple hundred bucks in parts if it were not in warranty.

Dang.

motor on...i guess...

-boognish

 

The warranty is part of the purchase price and starts when the car is picked up. Replaced parts are covered under this warranty. No new warranty on the parts start because they weren't purchased with a new warranty. However, the dealership probably offers there own warranty (usually 90 days) on the parts/labor. So if they screwed up a repair, you can usually get them to fix it again without charging you (once out of factory warranty).

I would expect most people with 40K miles are still on their original lock actuators. So you don't need to worry about doing this on a regular basis. Remember, any mechanical part will fail over time. It just all depends on design, raw materials quality, assembly, and finally overall use of the part. Several of those factors can change on a regular basis too.

 

Actually, any OEM part installed by the dealer under warranty should have a 12 month/12000 mile warranty.

 

All parts are covered from BMW/MINI for 2yrs unlimited milage. So if your warranty is over and you had some done prior, its covered for the standard parts warranty of 2yrs unlimited miles.