Unfortunately, the Mini got hit with a thunderstorm with the sunroof cracked open and the front part also slightly up. The remote key(s) no longer do their thing locking / unlocking the vehicle. The rear view mirror did appear to fill up with water as when I accelerated forward, water came out the lower hole in the mirror. Anybody have a similar occurrence?


After the storm, the Nav system also did not work, the battery discharged itself over a couple of days sitting undriven, but after a charge everything except the key returned to normal operation and it seems to hold charge now. I have gone through all the fuses and don't think I missed any of the obvious ones. Any thoughts are welcome!

 

The radio receiver for the remote is in the mirror. It might work again after the mirror has completely dried out, but there is a possibility there was damage to the receiver electronics.

The battery shouldn't discharge in such a short time. It should normally last weeks in an undriven car. Your battery may be going bad, or something in your car may be causing a parasitic drain, or it might be a special circumstance related to the water.

 

@rkw: thanks, so far after a few weeks the function has not come back and the car appears dry. My root causing of the issue concurs with your feedback, I am thinking I will need to replace that receiver (although I don't have any idea if it can be purchased as a separate unit).


The battery was a temporary discharge, it has not done that since the one time shortly after the water event. There must have been water shorting the system somewhere that dried out.

 

I do not believe you're able to get just that part of the mirror unfortunately. Here is a thread that can possibly help with finding the location of the receiver. Maybe you can find one in a junk yard or at www.car-part.com. There are two possible part numbers. #1 is 51169134369 is the base mirror. #2 is 51169134361 for integrated universal remote control (has the Homelink buttons).

 

Thanks @ Pelican Parts for the feedback. I have a Homelink equipped mirror.

 

You're very welcome. Be sure to update this thread with your solution just in case someone else stumbles upon it with the same issue.

 

Do you have the homelink with autodim or homelink with manual dim ?


Also what year is your MINI, there is a split year for the different receivers when they changed the key fobs. Not just two.

If the receiver in the mirror did not dry out it might be corroded from the water exposure or fried out.

 

Homelink w/ autodim. Build date: 7-22-2005


Do you know if the receiver would hold water even after the vehicle has dried out? My guess at this time, the receiver has fried, are there terminals that would corrode that could be revived?


Thanks for the reply.

 

The part numbers listed above are for the manually dippable mirror. The automatic-dip with homelink is 51169134363. Take a look at this NAM thread here at the last post as a possible idea to try out with the receiver.

 

Thanks Just wanted to make sure as I have seen people mislead on split years. I have torn apart these in the past to retrofit other mods. Below is the correct one.

51169134363

https://www.ecstuning.com/Search/SiteSearch/51169134363/



If you checked the fuses and have dried it out , something on the board might have shorted/ damaged. You can take apart the old one, its snaps apart into two and look at the board for damage, it should not hold water that much. Seam / gap around the bottom rear auto senor eye should let the water out.

twist the neck to the side and take the cover off and unplug it then separate them two halves, use a trim tool set and slowly pull it back, then you can see the insides. The Board on the inside is for the auto dim , home link contact and the key fob receiver.

If its bad it will need replaced.