I was trying to be a nice guy and put LED lamps in for the backup lights in my GF's 2012 Mini S coupe. I also finally replaced both of her rear tail/stop/turn taillight assemblies. They seem to run a bit hotter than the designer planned for once the connection between the lamp holder insert and the circuit board gets degraded, and the heat generated started melting things. So, I figured LEDs for the two tail/stop lights because they would be on on a lot more, and leave the turn signals as incandescent to avoid any fast blinking or other issues. I expected the CAN bus to report bulbs out because of the low current draw, but I figured resistors would cure it. Well, I have tried that and it is not working. These are regular Philips bulbs; I did not try to get the bulbs that supposedly fool CAN bus, as there seems to be a great deal of variation in the quality of them. There also seems to be a lot of variation in Minis! I have surfed various forums and someone says X works and then someone else tries it and it doesn't work. I am really trying to find someone with a 2012 Mini S that has succeeded in using LED bulbs and made the errors go away. Something that worked on let's say a 2010 may not work for the firmware/software baked into this exact model I working on. TIA!

 

wfodave
Just a couple of LED notes:
Auxito & Morimoto seem to be decent brand LEDs.
Was there an OEM LED option in 2012? If there was, then you need to recode for that option. Otherwise, fitting resistors should work.
Watch out for heat in MINI light bulb sockets - be sure the bulbs or LEDs are a good, snug fit - a touch of di-electric grease will help.

 

I have all LEDs in my 2012 Clubman, but I had to code the voltage checks to prevent the bulb out warnings.

 

njaremka
Yes, I should have mentioned that, though it won't help the directionals hyper-flash rate.

 

@njaremka Ah - this is the best solution! How did you code those voltage/current checks? That is what I would love to do.

 

Coding the bulb check resolved my flash rate. My turn signals flash normal.

I have the Carly app on my iPhone. Carly has a hefty price tag, but will also read trouble codes. I believe Bimmercode will also work, and is a coding only app.

 

See if this helps:MINI LED codes
I don't have the cheat sheet I used to have but it's in the FRM or BDC module.
I think these are the parameters for the front turn signals. There are three for each bulb. One to turn off cold check, one to turn off warm checks, and one to specify LEDs. I don't know if all three are required, but I know I switched all three and I don't get strobing or bulb-out warnings with non-CANBUS LED bulbs.

AUSG_22_FRA_VL_IS_LED - Change to aktiv
AUSG_22_FRA_VL_KALTUEBERWACHUNG - Change to nicht_aktiv
AUSG_22_FRA_VL_WARMUEBERWACHUNG - Change to nicht_aktiv
AUSG_23_FRA_VR_IS_LED - Change to aktiv
AUSG_23_FRA_VR_KALTUEBERWACHUNG - Change to nicht_aktiv
AUSG_23_FRA_VR_WARMUEBERWACHUNG - Change to nicht_aktiv

BDC Body
FRA_V_L_KALTUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_V_L_WARMUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_V_L_IS_LED -> aktiv
FRA_V_R_KALTUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_V_R_WARMUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_V_R_IS_LED -> aktiv
FRA_Z_L_KALTUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_Z_L_WARMUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_Z_L_IS_LED -> aktiv
FRA_Z_R_KALTUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_Z_R_WARMUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_Z_R_IS_LED -> aktiv
FRA_H_L_KALTUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_H_L_WARMUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_H_L_IS_LED -> aktiv
FRA_H_R_KALTUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_H_R_WARMUEBERWACHUNG -> nicht_aktiv
FRA_H_R_IS_LED -> aktiv

For reference – LED coding - this is for F-series cars
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ml#post4608714

 

The 2nd gen cars are different, there is no coding option for LEDs, just the bulb checks.

 

So just to be crystal clear, on the 2012 Mini S coupe I am trying to fix, I can make the codes go away, but I do it by turning off the bulb checks, not a simple toggle to LED bulbs, right? I have downloaded the free version of Carly, and will make sure it plays well with my OBD2 adapter before paying for the full app. It appears as if it is similar to VAG-COM SW I used on an Audi years ago.

 

Yes, I went into the coding menus in Carly and just turned off all the bulb checks.

 

Thank you njaremka and MVPeters!

 

njaremka
Come to MA & do mine!