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 Blown amp?

 Created by: MiniTiff
Orig. Posting Date User Name Edit Date
Aug 16, 2018 02:57PM kenatminimania  
Aug 16, 2018 11:25AM Spank Edited: Aug 16, 2018 11:54AM 
Aug 16, 2018 09:38AM MiniTiff Edited: Aug 16, 2018 09:44AM 
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 Posted: Aug 16, 2018 02:57PM
Total posts: 2271
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Member since:Dec 29, 2004
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MiniTiff
Hi all!  I have a 2013 Mini Cooper S convertible with 66k miles. I’ve had several issues with the car since buying but need advice on my most recent. Last week my dashboard electrical panel started going haywire. Turning on and off, radio stations not being picked up, multiple errors about breaking and abs popping up. I take it to my closest dealer (2 1/2 hours away) and they determine it’s the RDC and replace it for close to $600. I drive it home and it seems ok. Next time I turn the car on I all of a sudden get no sound from my speakers. Drive back down to the dealership and was just told it’s my amplifier and it’s $1852 to replace. They say it’s just a coincidence and has nothing to do with their work replacing the RDC. I am beyond frustrated now. As I am being told this, there is another woman sitting in the waiting area getting her amplifier replaced at 34k miles and she said when she came in a couple days ago (the amplifiers need to be ordered) there was a different person fighting with mini while she was there to get her amplifier replaced for free because her amplifier blew out in the 60k mile range. 

I spent extra when buying the car to get the full H/K system. 

First of all, to me this seems like more than a coooncodence in timing. Second of all it seems like mini has issues with their amplifiers. Any advice? Is this a known issue? Do you think I can fight this $1852? The service manager was trying to sel me into buying a $3500 warranty package to cover this repair. At this rate the minis do not seem reliable enough for me to not want to get into a different brand of car even though I love driving it. Advice please! Thank you.
The only RDC in the MINI that I know of, is the Tire Pressure Control unit which is basically the receiver for the TPMS sensors in the wheels... How this could cause erratic behavior in the dash and radio is a bit of a mystery, unless it was a simple grounding / shorting issue...

The question I have is what caused the RDC to go out in the first place, and then the stereo amp...

Ken

 Posted: Aug 16, 2018 11:25AM
 Edited:  Aug 16, 2018 11:54AM
Total posts: 6349
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Member since:Mar 9, 1999
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While this is a mini and MINI forum, most of the members here are predominantly mini (pre 2000) mini aficionados. That's not to say you won't get constructive feedback, but it would be most unlikely.

I advise you to try posting to another forum like www.northamericanmotoring.com or www.mini2.com

Good luck with your search for answers!



Ok, now that I've got that first post up before you get attacked hopefully to soften the blowback you get from some other posters on here...

Based on what you are describing, I would hold that particular dealership as suspect until you get more sampling of information. Simply call around to other dealerships outside of your area and ask them about how many MINI amplifier problems they've experienced or replaced. It could be simply a bad run of amplifiers or it could be the "pet problem" of that particular dealership (if you want to be skeptical like I am).

Dealerships are not true representatives of the MINI factory, per se. They see the MINI brand as a means of making money for their business. When they sign on to sell MINI vehicles, they agree to perform warranty work for set prices. So any warranty work they perform is actually paid for by MINI the corporation and at a predetermined rate. There is little to no real net profit for the dealer for this work. it DOES get you in the door, however, so they can then sell you higher profit services that are not covered by warranty. It's much like a loss-leader whereby a retailer will advertise an item for a very low price (so low that they even will lose money on them sometimes) so the consumer will come in (or be Led in) the door and hopefully spend $ on other higher profit items. It's normal business and nothing to get outraged over.

Dealerships are reluctant to revisit the potential that they have already performed unnecessary warranty work because then they would potentially be out the entire cost of the warranty work and it would severely complicate their financial relationship with MINI. So if they fix one thing under warranty but it doesn't resolve the problem, then they have to go back to MINI hanging their head and it doesn't look good and they just told MINI they paid for something they didn't need to have done. Bad bad bad.

Similarly, having a customer come in and request warranty work or especially work that has not already been identified by MINI as a problem clearly a needed warranty repair (through a TSB or technical service bulletin), then the service manager has to contact MINI corporate and find out if that repair will be covered under warranty... Essentially the service manager is NOW dealing with 2 customers-- you the one who has the car and is coming in with the problem and MINI Corporate who holds the purse strings for the repair. The Service Manager will lose more battles with MINI (get a ROYAL runaround since Corporate has more powerful lawyers) than they will with you, the drive-in consumer who is stuck with a broken car but is kinda powerless compared to MINI Corporate. Also, the Service Manager will make more money for his dealership by charging you, the drive-in consumer for non-warranty work than they will with MINI Corporate warranty work. So you can understand why they (service departments) work the way they work.

If you really want to argue a point about something being warranty work, you really should not only bring it up with the dealership but also MINI Corporate. The dealership's service manager will have more pull with MINI Corporate than you, the individual consumer would. But if you both double-team the issue, then you may have a greater opportunity for success. Also, if you contact MINI Corporate directly you may learn of a TSB before the dealership actually learns of it.

 Posted: Aug 16, 2018 09:38AM
 Edited:  Aug 16, 2018 09:44AM
Total posts: 1
Last post: Aug 16, 2018
Member since:Aug 16, 2018
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Photos: 0
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Hi all!  I have a 2013 Mini Cooper S convertible with 66k miles. I’ve had several issues with the car since buying but need advice on my most recent. Last week my dashboard electrical panel started going haywire. Turning on and off, radio stations not being picked up, multiple errors about breaking and abs popping up. I take it to my closest dealer (2 1/2 hours away) and they determine it’s the RDC and replace it for close to $600. I drive it home and it seems ok. Next time I turn the car on I all of a sudden get no sound from my speakers. Drive back down to the dealership and was just told it’s my amplifier and it’s $1852 to replace. They say it’s just a coincidence and has nothing to do with their work replacing the RDC. I am beyond frustrated now. As I am being told this, there is another woman sitting in the waiting area getting her amplifier replaced at 34k miles and she said when she came in a couple days ago (the amplifiers need to be ordered) there was a different person fighting with mini while she was there to get her amplifier replaced for free because her amplifier blew out in the 60k mile range. 

I spent extra when buying the car to get the full H/K system. 

First of all, to me this seems like more than a coooncodence in timing. Second of all it seems like mini has issues with their amplifiers. Any advice? Is this a known issue? Do you think I can fight this $1852? The service manager was trying to sel me into buying a $3500 warranty package to cover this repair. At this rate the minis do not seem reliable enough for me to not want to get into a different brand of car even though I love driving it. Advice please! Thank you.