On the original subject, operation of the sliding roof and the lifting roof are completely separate, so one working without the other is entirely feasible I think I may have posted this here before but, just in case there is anyone not having Lucas Nightmares, this car that recently came up for sale should give them to you: Article about eBay auction of Lucas Hybrid That would raise Joseph Lucas to the 'Prince of Zero Entropy', a state where neither light nor motion exists......
I have to agree with you on that. And the thing that is bothering me is that the red light wasn't illuminating originally but started to once the top was in the sunroof position. I suspect this gremlin may hang around in honor of Mr Lucas just to make me lose the remaining strands of hair I still have!! Once the car is returned to the wrench and the fun begins, I'll post the progress that may or may not occur!
As a continuation on this topic~ I am still waiting for the dealer to contact me about the new pump. I'll probably call him tomorrow on it. In the meantime I've avoided trying anything with the top. However, this evening I decided to check my tire pressure as I replaced them earlier in the week and am heading out of town for the weekend in the Mini. I needed to open the passenger door and it seemed to me that the window wasn't doing it's usual partial drop prior to opening. I decided to try and initialize them since the battery had been disconnected along the way. Nothing seemed to work so I figured I'd open and then reclose the windows. The drivers side worked fine but the passenger side just made a few clicks in either the up or down position. It did work a few days ago because my wife was in the passenger seat and opened it, plus it was working when I first attempted to open the top a week or so ago. I'm beginning to wonder if the car was originally traded in because of the dreaded BMW gremlins, forget any Mini ghosts that might be rattling around as well. I can accept a bad motor/pump for the top, except that it opened fine and then the red light went out and the entire top went dead. It sprang to life again after I manually closed the top and couldn't figure out the manual override for the sunroof. Now it opens the sunroof and won't open the top. That's where the mechanic decided the pump was bad and is ordering a new pump. The adventure continues.
Hmmmm. I hate to start speculating, because that can lead to more harm than good. But... if I were going to... :devil: I'm not diagnosing this is the problem in your case. You've already demonstrated that you're smart enough not to go throwing parts at things randomly based on things you read on forums - which is good. So just informationally... one source of "gremlins" on these cars can be a faulty Body Control Module - often when they have gotten wet at some point. But I would never spend money to replace one before I had done thorough diagnosis. P
Question have you had a carfax run or found any history on this car? I hope you did not get sold a Hurricane Sandy type water logged car. Water really causes bad and odd things to happen over time as things decide to fail from corrosion. I really hope I am really wrong and wish you the best of luck with your repair.
If your dealer can't fix it, have them send you to the MINI dealer. If I understand this correctly you did not buy from a MINI dealer. Odds are long a non-MINI dealer will figure this out. Good luck :fingerscrossed:
The Carfax was clean. Two owners, and the dealer actually had in his possession for a year. THAT should be something I should have given deeper thought to I guess. And being in the dealers hands for a year doesn't mean he couldn't have taken it home, but the posted mileage jives with the fax. I also used Autocheck and it was a parallel to Carfax. Two owners, one for the first 5 , the second for two, and then one on the lot.
I just wonder why if that's ^^^ was its history, which is good, why did a 7 year old car sit at a dealer for a year? Dealers never keep 7 year old cars for a year. They almost always go to auction. Something just seems a little questionable to me, but then again I question everything.
The "dealer" is a used car lot, not a Mini or any other brand name dealer. In fact the car went from a brand dealer (can't recall what brand) straight to auction. My thinking is that they didn't want a brand X on their lot that was already getting on in years. The body isn't 100%, just 98%, and the top shows some wear in two places, both things that I assumed (NEVER ASSUME!!) would be things that the Toyota (or whomever) dealer didn't want to have to get involved with. Plus the 34K runflats were cracking and we know how much a set of them costs. Don't know if another dealer would understand to just change them to inflatable tires, but even THAT isn't cheap. I too wondered, but emotion fogged my logic. Right now i'm interested in getting the issues resolved for good. If other things pop up or this stuff drags on, I guess I need to look at alternatives, maybe legal. I'm not going at the guy with guns blazing, at least not yet. And I did check on reviews of the dealer and they had an amazing 5 stars from a few dozen buyers. The warnings signs really aren't there. And until I start feeling shafted, I have to retain some sanity and logic. Otherwise I'll feel used and abused every minute. For now I'm taking a road trip for the weekend, about 200 miles away to my condo in the Berkshires. Hopefully all will go well and even the window may decide to resume working, or not!
That's cool Paul I really hope everything works out for you and you get to fully enjoy your MINI soon. Keep us updated.
I was not implying that your dealer was dishonest. Just that they may have a hard time working on a complex car they know nothing about. I agree with you, give them the chance to make this right. Did your MINI come with any warranty from the selling dealer? Make sure to document everything, just in case you need to use that info down the line. Enjoy your trip.
The car has a 90 day warranty which I believe is a requirement in New York State. I am going to give them every opportunity to make good. Oddly enough my biggest concern going in was the clutch and THAT seems to be just fine. (SHHH!!)
A flooded car situation was alluded to but carfax shows no immersion, but, is it possible that in a used car lot the guys not knowing any better hosed out the engine bay trying to clean things up? There are lots of sensitive electronic circuit thingies in there that don't like to be hosed. Blimey's idea on the Control Module sounds like a good place to look.
I once owned a Jag XK8 that was detailed by a lughead and within days the passenger window would go down on its own so I know what you mean. The car is going back next week for the top motor and I'm going to mention the passengers window that has suddenly decided to stop operating, thankfully in the closed position! Yesterday I had the opportunity to drive the car on a 200 mile road trip and truly enjoyed the experience. I hope I can maintain my optimism!!
Was your XK-8 pre or post Lucas, I quit keeping track of that stuff long ago? I owned a Lucas infected XK-E roadster and that sort of behavior including even more exciting stuff was guaranteed to elevate the fun factor.
No my Jag was a Ford product! Mostly dependable. BTW my Mini looks just like yours including the stripes. :beer I'll get a pic posted one of these days.
Well, lets hope that as this group continues to pool it's ignorance we can get things sorted for you so you can enjoy yours as much as we've enjoyed ours. And as some wag once posted: "Without pictures, it didn't happen". So, opcorn:
Thought I'd post an update on the top issue. Late this past week I took the car to the mechanic. He and I spoke last evening at length. He replaced the existing pump assembly and was happy to see the top go down without a hitch. Fortunately (for me!!) when he tried to raise the top it gave him the same thumbed nose reaction that I had gotten, no hum, no buzz, nada. He is now studying the problem, the safeties, the micro switches, the entire processor control thing. He appears to be extremely cognizant of what to study and where to go. He's also puzzling over the passenger window problem and trying to determine if the two are somehow related. The car will spend the weekend inside his shop with the top down and he will attack it again on Monday. I'll post as we learn more. I will say that this guy gives me confidence that when he is done the problem will be fixed, not masked.