Hi,

I have a April 03 Cooper S, all was well but..... I seem to have developed a fault on the auto-unlock. The car locks the door fine at 10mph, but on occasions when you stop and remove the key, the doors don't unlock.

Any ideas, I did have a quick search but not much came up on this. I can get out by pulling twice on the handle, but its starting to bug me. Is there anyway to reset the system ????


Cheers

Hi,

I have exactly the same problem (S, Feb. 2003).
My dealer tried to fix it by reprogramming this option in the car memory (he disabled and then again activated this option). He claimed it would work now, but it only unlocks 50% of the time.
I'll complain again about this next time I bring in the car for service. I think they don't have a clue how to fix it.
:confused:

Kai

....

P.S.: this fault got progressively worse. First the auto-unlock failed only at about 10% of the time and now it is about 50%. !??!?
I think it is some software bug, because if I switch on the ignition (after it failed to auto-unlock) and off again it always unlocks. It seems like the mechanics is ok, the system just doesn't decide to unlock.

It's annoying.

Kai

:green: This might sound nuts.
I became aware of a lock problem when I was washing the car
I leaned on the front left fender (hood) doing the wheels and for some reason while getting up and leaning down on the fender,
I heard the lock solenoid in the door click.
Taking out the key fob and trying to lock the door while leaning on the hood I could not do it as soon as I removed my wieght from the hood it worked. It could be some harness problem but sounds simalar to your problem . Try it.:cool:

Update:

if I apply the parking brake (hand brake) before turning off the ignition the car auto-unlocks fine. Otherwise it still fails at about 50% of the time.

Is this a bug or a feature?

Kai

could be a (non-deliberate) feature. paul mullet described this feature in his original FAQ post as "auto unlock on applying hand brake"

the print out of the programmable options i have shows it as "auto unlock at ignition off" or something similar

"Poltergeists" no one can nail down what is causing this.

:-)

Maybe the car is controlled by some special version of Windows. 'An error has occured while turning off your car. Please press 'ok' to reboot'

Christine.

Herbie.

Yes, Yes, this is true. If you stop and switch off the ignition, the failure if more regular. I have also noted that when switching off, often all the battery and oil lights will flash, but not all the time ????

Originally posted by ianreeves
I have a April 03 Cooper S, all was well but..... I seem to have developed a fault on the auto-unlock. The car locks the door fine at 10mph, but on occasions when you stop and remove the key, the doors don't unlock.

I'm having the exact same problem and my car was also an April '03 build. I plan to tell the dealer on my next visit, but after reading this thread, I have little hope they'll be able to fix it. All I have to say is, POOP!

Hi ianreeves,

I would not worry about the flashing lights during switching the ignition off, I've seen this on other cars too (non-MINIs). I did not notice this on my MINI, but I'll have a look tomorrow.

To ianreeves and Minimum: now we have three 'test objects' in three different countries, maybe one of our dealers is able to find the fault (to be honest, I have little hope too).

By the way, is this orange/yellow ring around the cigarette lighter supposed to be iluminated when the headlights are on? Mine stays dark and my dealer told me that this is correct. I have the non-smoker option with the plastic plug instead of a lighter.

Mine doesn't light either, I had forgotten about it until now.

Oops, I forgot to say, I took mine back to the dealer last week ( Cotswold BMW ) and they could find nothing wrong. Drove home and stopped at the Post office, tried to open the door and get out and bashed my head on the window when the door didn't open....

Bo**ocks

Originally posted by minikai
By the way, is this orange/yellow ring around the cigarette lighter supposed to be iluminated when the headlights are on?
I just checked, and my ring does light up when I turn on the headlights or parking lights. In the US, the smoker package isn't an option - all the cars include a cigarette lighter.

ianreeves: my dealer (big BMW dealer) also told me 'it works, we have tested it' and then stopping at home the door did not unlock. If I'd drive a Z8 they would take me more serious ;-)

As long as the car is so much fun to drive I don't care much about this minor things (door lock, lighter ring), but I'll complain again next time I bring it for service.

Good point, it is a good car to drive. I have not had any door issues since I started checking the handbrake is on and slowing down my key rotation at switch off.

I have a april 03 build also. My understanding is that the handbreak needs to be up/on in order for the doors to lock when you turn the car off.

My car locks at 10 mph. It will not unlock if I turn the car off with out pulling up on the hand break first. It has never unlocked with the hand break off, but always works when the hand break is on.

Maybe this is really a feature and the hand brake has to be pulled first.

I'll test mine later today using the handbrake trick. If this is the way it is supposed to work, it would be better if the door unlocked after both the engine was shut off and the hand brake was pulled, but in either order.

It took me awhile to get the correct order down. I would always shut the car off the pull up the brake, now i'm in the habit of pulling up the break then shuting the car off.

You would think it would work either way.

I think it won't unlock if you have not used your handbrake at all in a journey.