I don't believe the key actually held any info, it simply told the computer what car it was and it looked in the MINI database for the car and whatever service was done by a dealer.
yup...
shame how often dealers mix up info....
think how useless it would be if a husband and wife share a car, using two keys....:idea: maybe the dealer who had a car in the bay should have plugged INTO THE CAR rather than complain about a customer using a "spare key"...and the refresh cars got 2 remote keys and a all plastic emergency key (even the shaft was plastic)....which one of the two identical keys are the "main" one...they even said to rotate keys if you only had one driver too keep them charged......
So anytime your ECU is flashed your key is updated with the info? Is that how the dealer would know if you had an aftermarket tune, and my key should now show I have a factory JCW tune if they read it?
Aftermarket tuners modify the software on YOUR ECU, then reupload it...
So the version number will be the same...but the maps are modified....
So just having a version number of the factory tune is not really a surefire way to know....
And gen1 keys DO NOT STORE INFO.....that is a gen2 thing (99% sure..gen1 keys do a a tiny RFID chip, for antitheft, but don't store data)....
Having the most current factory software is no guarantee of the best performance...
At one point in the gen1 cars life, around 2005-2006, tons of different software versions were coming out to fix things like yo-yo....some versions worked for some cars, but the same version would make others worse....so my dealer said, if your car works fine, we will not touch it...heck some folks (often in gen2 cars) often complained new software reduced performance as things were adjusted to try to control warrenty costs relateded to carbon and timing chains.....
The reality is, new features, etc were not added...the version changes are not like tech updates......don't get update happy IMO...if it runs good, be happy!!
Gen 1 keys DO store info. I recently had my clutch replaced at a dealership and that was one of the notes written on my repair sheet. " Could not read key because customer supplied spare key for service work." The key with the built-in keyfob does indeed store information.
Correct. waaaay back when I used to go to the dealer for my free maintance service that was always the first thing they'd do is plug it in to get a print out..
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