Service Costs (and ANOTHER replaced charge port door assembly)

[Teddydogno1]

My 2022 is out of warranty since early November. In December my car "Sparky" started displaying the "charge port door open" message (or whatever the actual wording is) even when it is not. It has already been replaced 2 or 3 times under warranty. This instance was also the second time the door failed in a locked or stuck closed position so we could not even open it to charge.

This time they kept the car an extra few days (with a loaner) so some regional MINI dude could check it out. I was hoping they would have a permanent fix or find something else about MY car that was causing the frequent failures. No joy in that. Their best answer is that I have been getting "bad" replacement units. Suuuuuuure. The last one (the one tht just failed) actually was kind of "crunch" when pushing in the plunger to close or open. The new one is nice and smooth. They covered the cost on this even though the warranty was over.

Now...while I was there they gave me the cost of the 2 year service items. Inspection was around $200, cabin A/C filter was around $250 and the brake service another $300 or something like that. I declined these to think about them and did not get the estimates in writing on any of my paperwork, so I'm estimating from memory. But these all seemed way too high!

What are your guys thoughts?

• 2 years seems too soon for brake work really. I've got a fluid tester coming so I'll check the quality of the fluid and decide on that based on the results. I don't imagine the pads can be low but I'll check when I swap to summer tires in a few months.
• Cabin A/C filter cost is under $100 for the OEM part or about $25 for non-OEM. Is installation that difficult? Usually it is just a simple slide in from either under the hood or behind the glovebox.
• $200 or more for a general inspection also seems high. Heck, Toyota and Dodge do it for free every time I bring cars in for an oil change (yes, I'm a psycho who takes my RAV4 Hybrid and the Hellcat to the dealer for oil changes).

Thanks!

Rob

 

[Puppethead]

I'm nearing 125,000 miles on Météore (2021 SE), and my original brake pads are still at 6-8mm. Unless you're using friction brakes more than regen I'd doubt they'll need replacing, but redoing the brake fluid to get rid of water isn't necessarily unreasonable.

If I recall correctly, replacing the cabin filter is a bit difficult so there would be some labor involved.

I think the general inspection seems high, but I don't know what labor is like in your region. Also if you want MINI service to do it is there any other option? I only have one MINI dealer within hundreds of miles, thankfully mine is really good.

 

[ghost]

I bought some moisture test strips to test my brake fluid. Flushing it yearly seems excessive. I'll test and find out.

 

[teslarati97]

You can do the cabin filter yourself if you have a T20 screwdriver and good lighting. I would invest in a bluetooth OBD2 adapter and purchase Bimmerlink and Bimmercode.

 

[insightman]

You can do the cabin filter yourself if you have a T20 screwdriver and good lighting. I would invest in a bluetooth OBD2 adapter and purchase Bimmerlink and Bimmercode.

I really appreciate all the great advice you dispense on this forum! On July 5, 2023, you wrote, "Should be in the same place as the F56 ICE." That means any of the YouTube videos showing how to change the cabin filter in a MINI Cooper S will apply, right?

 

[teslarati97]

Yes it is exactly the same as the ICE model. Honestly with BMWs, it's more of a unified holistic system you have to embrace when it comes to repair. That is, great to diagnose but you find yourself having an existential crisis.

Take for example slicing a loaf bread at home (German style). You could just get a bread knife..but noooooo you need to get each slice to the exact millimeter.

 

[Brawndo]

Out of curiosity, do you charge outdoors often? I have a theory that Mini didn't really design for the plunger of the door to be directly exposed to the elements, and having the door open in the rain is why the failures happen. Water hits the plunger and just rolls right in there.

 

[Teddydogno1]

Yes, Sparky lives outside, including charging. In the Pacific Northwet. It may well be that the charge port assembly was not properly deisgned for outdoor life. I have ordered a "hood" to put over the charging cable that magnetically attaches to the car and should reduce the amount of exposure. We'll see if it works well without being a hassle as the next replacement might be on me.

I have watched a couple of videos about replacing the cabin air filter and think it should be easy enough when dry and not too cold out. I'm putting an order together from ECS Tuning to get them, wiper blades and a power bleeder. Will likely tackle these maintenance tasks in Spring when I swap over the summer wheels and tires.

I already have a bluetooth OBD scanner, but don't yet have the Bimmercode software.

Rob

 

[PoweredUp]

I haven't studied it too well, but I was wondering if placing and attaching a rubber sewing thimble over the plunger in the port would protect it....

 

[ghost]

I'm on my 3rd charge port sensor. I'm out of warranty, so I've slathered on some Vaseline and white lithium grease on the plunger, keep it pushed in when charging, and just bought a magnetic cloth cover to go over the entire port when it rains. We'll see how long this one lasts.
I changed the last one myself. My sensor was rusty inside the plastic housing. I'm almost certain water ingress is down the plunger, into the sensor housing.

 

[robert9]

My 2022 is out of warranty since early November. In December my car "Sparky" started displaying the "charge port door open" message (or whatever the actual wording is) even when it is not. It has already been replaced 2 or 3 times under warranty. This instance was also the second time the door failed in a locked or stuck closed position so we could not even open it to charge.

This time they kept the car an extra few days (with a loaner) so some regional MINI dude could check it out. I was hoping they would have a permanent fix or find something else about MY car that was causing the frequent failures. No joy in that. Their best answer is that I have been getting "bad" replacement units. Suuuuuuure. The last one (the one tht just failed) actually was kind of "crunch" when pushing in the plunger to close or open. The new one is nice and smooth. They covered the cost on this even though the warranty was over.

Now...while I was there they gave me the cost of the 2 year service items. Inspection was around $200, cabin A/C filter was around $250 and the brake service another $300 or something like that. I declined these to think about them and did not get the estimates in writing on any of my paperwork, so I'm estimating from memory. But these all seemed way too high!

What are your guys thoughts?

• 2 years seems too soon for brake work really. I've got a fluid tester coming so I'll check the quality of the fluid and decide on that based on the results. I don't imagine the pads can be low but I'll check when I swap to summer tires in a few months.
• Cabin A/C filter cost is under $100 for the OEM part or about $25 for non-OEM. Is installation that difficult? Usually it is just a simple slide in from either under the hood or behind the glovebox.
• $200 or more for a general inspection also seems high. Heck, Toyota and Dodge do it for free every time I bring cars in for an oil change (yes, I'm a psycho who takes my RAV4 Hybrid and the Hellcat to the dealer for oil changes).

Thanks!

Rob

Cabin Filter is not intuitive to get to. You need to remove the tray under the glove box that has a tab locking the side access door in place. Otherwise not a difficult task. Use a high quality MANN-FILTER CUK 23 015-2 Cabin Air Filter - Pollen Filter with Activated Carbon (same as OEM quality).

Brake fluid flush is a touchy one, for I suspect they really DO NOT do the service properly. My testing confirmed they just bleed the brakes and add fluid, and in my case the fluid was overfilled to the very top of the reservoir. This is very bad for fluid expands with heat and the MIN and MAX levels are there for a reason. The dealer also got brake fluid all over the calipers and around the area, not soaping it up before it etches off any painted surfaces. And without a full flush (that may use as mush as 1.5 liters of fluid) they are simply ripping the consumer off. Sadly, I checked with other mechanic in the biz, and they too do these high profit fluid flush scams. Perhaps watch them do it, but they won't let you into the bays.

General inspection is normally a free item to find new issues to sell you services, some needed, and some not so much. But all overpriced. I would buy a good scan tool like a Ediag Elite and see what the real "errors" are, plus do your own visual inspection on the usual items they look at.

In general, dealer mechanics are often sub-par at a very high cost. They do have access to the tools, instructions and other mechanics to be able to fix things that home workers are unable to. However, to charge you to drum up a new problem list is just crazy. They don't like the near zero EV maintenance that slaughtered the gas engine cash cow, so they created new things to "fix".

As for the charging door, it is a design flaw to use this BMW actuator on an EV where the door remains open when charging to the weather. What did they charge you to replace this? I wish this would fall under a safety recall for if you can't open the hatch to charge, you would be stranded. Then Mini would do a simple permanent fix (like have the electronic actuator cavity filled with dielectric grease to prevent internal corrosion) the corrects this engineering shortcoming. Or perhaps get rid of the locking feature entirely; it is an EV that no one can steal your power anyway. I wonder if the lemon law would apply?

 

[robert9]

I'm on my 3rd charge port sensor. I'm out of warranty, so I've slathered on some Vaseline and white lithium grease on the plunger, keep it pushed in when charging, and just bought a magnetic cloth cover to go over the entire port when it rains. We'll see how long this one lasts.
I changed the last one myself. My sensor was rusty inside the plastic housing. I'm almost certain water ingress is down the plunger, into the sensor housing.

Does this qualify under the Lemon Laws?