It's been a long time since posting....
I have an 02 MINI that has a right tail light that stopped working this week. I had done the rear fog mod in 03. Heres everything I tried.

1. Right rear fog blown & replaced bulbs (brake and rear fog)
2. With headlights on and all running light are fine
3. Swapped left and right bulbs
4. Swapped left and right bulb clusters (circuit boards) and still only the left works!
5. checked that fog jumper was securely soldered still

Is there a separate fuse for the left and right brake lights?
Is it potentially a bad relay somewhere?
Is the wire grounding somewhere after all these years?

Help. This is driving me nuts!

 

my right side brakelight went out as well... not sure if it was today or not, didnt look into nearly as deep as you did but i think ill check before i go out and buy a new light and realize i wasted money

 

Isn't a break light, by definition, broken?

 

yea problem is thats not how they spell it.

 

Precisely.

 

Yep.

 

my brake light broke, i don't get a break

 

so i found out what happned to mine... it actually broke. like the 'dome' broke off. like 2 pieces of a light bulb...it was neat. i got 2 new bulbs for like 3 dollars. sweet.

 

I break for brakes.

 

Thanks for all the 'break' comments, since my spelling is my biggest concern.

Thanks GBMINI! who helped on MINI2 by mentioning that a few people that had the BCM fail. After a few searches it looks like a problem. Aargh. Now I just need a way to confirm its the BCM. hmmm... any ideas?

 

I have just encountered the same issue - the local garage says it is the Body Control Module (BCM?)...did you finally determine what caused your issue and if it is the BCM - what did that set you back?

 

I sorta remember this being talked about. It's the expensive "brain" for all the lights. If you did the brake light mod and the dealer knows it, no warranty repair.....so I've heard. The extra bulb overloads the brake light circuit according to them. I put an LED lbulb in the fog light spot for my brake light mod. It only uses about 1/10 as much current...and it looks neat.

 

Their brake lights changed to brake lites. There are brake lites that look like break lights... They're all very confused now. ;-)

I like lunch breaks. It's Friday.

 

I believe I have encountered the same issue, due to the Diode mod. Can anyone tell me where the BCM is located? I would like to verify that this is the root of my problem. I swapped tail-light "boards" and the problem stays in the right rear. I figured it's either the BCM or an actual problem.

Does anyone know if the the BCM has enough internal impedence to prevent any further damage if I where to just run a jumper wire from the left tail light to the right?

 

Bump. I'm about to try the same thing. Will it work or fry the other side of the BCM as well?

I suppose I could use 2 LED bulbs, but LEDs are very dim. Maybe the current of 4 LEDs is still less than 1 incandescent.