If you're anywhere near as unlucky as I am you may have run into an issue with your Mini Cooper having a complete tail light malfunction whether it is the driver side or passenger side. Luckily there is a solution which is not too difficult but may be challenging if you've never tackled an electrical problem before or worked on cars. I did this repair on my 2015 F55 Base Mini Cooper that had halogen tail lights.
The Diagnosis:
You can refer to the pictures I have attached below as you have a better idea of what I'm talking about. You'll notice there is a side-by-side comparison of a burnt electrical socket and connector. This is caused by a faulty grounding point that is very clearly a manufacturing issue but wasn't considered as a recall for some odd reason. This issue is prominent in several BMW 3,4, and 5 series models as well which is quiet shocking.
The repair:
1. Start by purchasing the required repair kit and parts for this job. You will need a new connector and a new bulb socket replacement. This will run you around 120 Canadian dollars if you prefer to buy authentic MINI parts but you can definitely get cheaper ones if ordered elsewhere online.
Part # for Socket Repair Kit: 61132359993
Part # for Bulb Socket: 63217361305
2. Disconnect the battery from the car as you don't want to short out any electrical components
3. Begin disassembling your faulty tail light. Use a thin plastic tool to remove the chrome trim around your light. The clips are delicate so be sure not to break them in the removal process. You can refer to youtube videos on how to remove the tail light from its housing(just three Torx screws holding in the entire tail light).
4. Once you have easy access to the faulty connector, use a pair of wire strippers to cut the cables free from the connector. Then strip each individual cable exposing about 7mm of the wire. Be sure to take note of which order the cables were plugged into the socket
5. The hardest part of this repair will be re-pinning the connector. Start by sliding the green rubber gromets given in your repair kit over the base of the exposed cable such that the longer side is facing towards the exposed copper.
6. After sliding the gromets over, take the aluminum pins and slide them over the exposed copper and use pliers to firmly affix the pins to the copper wire. The points at which you must bend the aluminum will be quite obvious once you get to this step. Don't be hesitant to trim some of the exposed wire if need be
7. Begin inserting the wires back into the socket in the correct order you removed them from, follow the layout of the old faulty connector for guidance. Any extra empty holes can be filled with the little blue gromets given alongside the green ones in your repair kit
8. Once you are sure that you've inserted the wires correctly, push the pink locking pin closed, there's no going back from here so make sure that you've wired everything correctly.
9. Now it's time to fix the grounding issue. Locate the grounding point of the connector by following the brown cable. This cable will most likely be charred black due to its overheating.
10. I personally made a whole new grounding point by sanding down the paint to expose the bare metal and using a bolt and nut to ground the cable to the body of the car. I assume all the breaks in connections with the plastic piece MINI used was losing contact somewhere so I thought it'd be best to just ground the wire directly
11. After you've created your new grounding point replace the bulb socket on the tail light with the new one you purchased. Just push in the two pins holding it in place. Make sure to transfer the light bulb's over to the new socket replacement
12. After that you're done. Reconnect the connector and your car battery and run a quick test to make sure everything works then retrace your steps to put everything back together
![Image]()
![Image]()
Hopefully, this guide helps out someone as this seems to be a common issue(even the tech who sold the parts said they sell these repair kits often). Feel free to ask questions if you have any
The Diagnosis:
You can refer to the pictures I have attached below as you have a better idea of what I'm talking about. You'll notice there is a side-by-side comparison of a burnt electrical socket and connector. This is caused by a faulty grounding point that is very clearly a manufacturing issue but wasn't considered as a recall for some odd reason. This issue is prominent in several BMW 3,4, and 5 series models as well which is quiet shocking.
The repair:
1. Start by purchasing the required repair kit and parts for this job. You will need a new connector and a new bulb socket replacement. This will run you around 120 Canadian dollars if you prefer to buy authentic MINI parts but you can definitely get cheaper ones if ordered elsewhere online.
Part # for Socket Repair Kit: 61132359993
Part # for Bulb Socket: 63217361305
2. Disconnect the battery from the car as you don't want to short out any electrical components
3. Begin disassembling your faulty tail light. Use a thin plastic tool to remove the chrome trim around your light. The clips are delicate so be sure not to break them in the removal process. You can refer to youtube videos on how to remove the tail light from its housing(just three Torx screws holding in the entire tail light).
4. Once you have easy access to the faulty connector, use a pair of wire strippers to cut the cables free from the connector. Then strip each individual cable exposing about 7mm of the wire. Be sure to take note of which order the cables were plugged into the socket
5. The hardest part of this repair will be re-pinning the connector. Start by sliding the green rubber gromets given in your repair kit over the base of the exposed cable such that the longer side is facing towards the exposed copper.
6. After sliding the gromets over, take the aluminum pins and slide them over the exposed copper and use pliers to firmly affix the pins to the copper wire. The points at which you must bend the aluminum will be quite obvious once you get to this step. Don't be hesitant to trim some of the exposed wire if need be
7. Begin inserting the wires back into the socket in the correct order you removed them from, follow the layout of the old faulty connector for guidance. Any extra empty holes can be filled with the little blue gromets given alongside the green ones in your repair kit
8. Once you are sure that you've inserted the wires correctly, push the pink locking pin closed, there's no going back from here so make sure that you've wired everything correctly.
9. Now it's time to fix the grounding issue. Locate the grounding point of the connector by following the brown cable. This cable will most likely be charred black due to its overheating.
10. I personally made a whole new grounding point by sanding down the paint to expose the bare metal and using a bolt and nut to ground the cable to the body of the car. I assume all the breaks in connections with the plastic piece MINI used was losing contact somewhere so I thought it'd be best to just ground the wire directly
11. After you've created your new grounding point replace the bulb socket on the tail light with the new one you purchased. Just push in the two pins holding it in place. Make sure to transfer the light bulb's over to the new socket replacement
12. After that you're done. Reconnect the connector and your car battery and run a quick test to make sure everything works then retrace your steps to put everything back together
Hopefully, this guide helps out someone as this seems to be a common issue(even the tech who sold the parts said they sell these repair kits often). Feel free to ask questions if you have any
