[Wychall]

I had an experience with MINI Emergency Service yesterday when my Cooper suffered total electrical failure. A call to the service told me that someone would be with me within the hour. Two hours later I got a call back to say that, as they had gone to my home address rather than where I was broken down, (2miles away) they would be another 90 minutes! Was I furious?! Luckily, the guy himself decided to come straight to me,not to the next call that he had been routed to.

He quickly checked around the vehicle and said it needed to go to the dealer, but as it was Xmas Eve they weren't open so he towed me to home to wait until after Christmas. A brainwave as he towed me caused him to check another connection once we got to my home and it was fixed! He was a real good guy, just a shame about the Control Centre.

Incidently, the fault was at the rear of the engine fusebox, in case anyone gets a similar failure.

[ALD0]

Glad it's all sorted now-it would of been a right pain getting a Courtesy over the Festive Period!

[Shaun]

I had a heater failure this time last year the emergency service was excellent. The dealers could do nothing and were very apologetic it was their idea to phone Mini and complain.
The car was fixed on my drive 2 days before christmas.

[jasonfields007]

My experience with MINI emergency service is good. They came and fixed an exhaust problem within an hour of calling a few months back.

[nonsequitur]

I've had only proper and timely support from MINI Roadside Assistance. Good experiences and appropriate help in otherwise bad situations.

[Sejanus]

Quote: Originally Posted by Wychall

Incidently, the fault was at the rear of the engine fusebox, in case anyone gets a similar failure.

What exactly happened to your MINI? I've been experiencing some electrical problems they can't figure out.

[Wychall]

Hi Sejanus,

I believe that my problems started when my dealer reloaded the software to try to cure a slight misfire when initially pulling away. Within hours of leaving the dealer I returned to my car to find that the remote locking wouldn't work. I entered with the key and turned on the ignition which caused the headlights to flash once, the panel lights went to full brightness (usually dimmed) and the trip counter reset itself.

This occured another twice in the course of the following week.

On the day of total failure, on a short journey to work, the xenons flashed several times (confusing other traffic who must have thought that I was taking MINI flashing to it's extreme!). When I returned to the car after work the remote worked ok and the ignition lights came on ok. When I then tried to start the car everything went dead, and I mean everything, no lights no radio no cig lighter.

The final solution was that the bolted connection at the rear of the engine compartment fuse box was loose, hence total loss of power. My kindly dealer must have failed to tighten it after loosening it for some reason.


I am please to see that this thread hasn't brought any more negative feedback as that tends to suggest that I was just unfortunate in my experience. Lets all hope that this was the case.

Incidently, everything has gone well since getting fixed so it was definitely the cause of all the problems (except for the original misfire which I am tempted to live with rather than risking another induced breakdown!).

[Sejanus]

Wychall, thanks for the info. Your problem sounds very similar to my experiences. The dealer is still trying to figure mine out. I've mentioned the fuse box to them and they said they checked it out, but I'm going to pass on your exact solution and see if that helps. Thanks again.

[zgokart]

Few car problems are worse than those experienced on a weekend or major holiday. You kinda feel so helpless. Sejanus, are you going to the Vegas meet in February?

[GMINI]

Here's a story: A guy left his dead MINI in a lot behind a store. HE left the key with the storekeeper, told MINI Roadside exactly where it was, and left the scene. When he arrived at the dealership some hours later, the car was not there. The car was still at it's original location. AAA (MINI Roadside's Resources) could not find it. He drove the rental to the scene and asked the attendant of the gas station across the street if he saw the truck. Not only had the attendant seen the truck, but had told driver exactly where the MINI was. The driver's response, according to the attendant "nah, we're not going over there with this traffic."

So when the SECOND truck arrived and demanded that the motorist accompany the car BACK to the DEALER....

True story.

[Romhog]

I just had to use roadside 2 weeks ago, and they were not too sympothetic with my snow accident. Lets just put it this way... make sure you know exactly where you are including road names. I was a bit numb to the whole situation and didnt know off hand what road I was on.
They will not send out anyone unless you can tell them the road. I thought the mall and shopping center I was in would be enough for the local tow guys.
that was not the case. I had to walk to a local store to find out the road this shopping center was on.
oh well.
they did call me back 20 min later to make sure that I was taken care of.
that was nice!

[Sejanus]

Quote: Originally Posted by zgokart

Few car problems are worse than those experienced on a weekend or major holiday. You kinda feel so helpless. Sejanus, are you going to the Vegas meet in February?

Very true.

We're planning on going, but haven't made any reservations yet.