New Car Woes

[towser]

Hi.....looking for some advice on how best to proceed with an ongoing issue I have with my car.

I bought a, new to me, 2021 Mini Cooper on 7th July from a large, nationwide motor trader

About 3 weeks ago I noticed the climate control only blew cold air to the driver side the passenger side I could get it to work properly (hot and cold)

Under the 60 day warranty I took it in to get it fixed.

First fix attempt they looked at the blend doors (or something) and reset them - it became apparent on the drive home it wasn't fixed
Second attempt they replaced an actuator on the drivers side - climate control worked correctly 50 % of the time after that, so not fixed
Third attempt (last week) they swapped out the heating matrix, car was in for 3 days - climate control (at least heating) seemed to be working

Drive home tonight, bit warm, discovered no air con....and also some kind of plastic retaining clip has fallen out of the dash and dashboard trim now rattles every time I go over an uneven surface.

The fact they "lost" my USB cable during the most recent fix and handed me my car back with zero fuel in it I'll just let slide

Apart from the above it drives fine and is a nice enough car.

So it's now booked in for the 4th time and my 60 day warranty expires next week.

Any ideas on how to approach this latest issue.....I just want the thing fixed to a good standard......

[sherman]

Your aircon needs a regas or its gas topped up after the heater box got changed.
The trim is lose because its not been put back correctly after the garage disasembled most of your dash to replace the heater matrix.
Its almost fixed its just annoying they hacectaken 4 attempts to finish the job.
Its not worth rejecting the car over.

[towser]

sherman said:

Your aircon needs a regas or its gas topped up after the heater box got changed.
The trim is lose because its not been put back correctly after the garage disasembled most of your dash to replace the heater matrix.
Its almost fixed its just annoying they hacectaken 4 attempts to finish the job.
Its not worth rejecting the car over.

I don't want to reject the car....can't be bothered with the hassle

but I also don't want to have to take it back for a 5th time (1hr 20m round trip to the garage) plus losing cables and burning my car to zero fuel the last time they had it gives off the whiff of zero f@cks being given.

I guess I should have a calm word with the service manager in advance this time.

Also if a regas of aircon is something standard after a heater box replacement it would have been good if they'd done it as part of the work they'd just finished.

[georgeyboy12345]

I wouldn’t have even bothered taking the car to the dealer with that problem, I’d have just taken it to my local indy for a regas. If there was a leak anywhere it would show up as they put a UV dye in it. Sounds like the dealers were totally barking up the wrong tree

[richhead]

towser said:

Hi.....looking for some advice on how best to proceed with an ongoing issue I have with my car.

I bought a, new to me, 2021 Mini Cooper on 7th July from a large, nationwide motor trader

About 3 weeks ago I noticed the climate control only blew cold air to the driver side the passenger side I could get it to work properly (hot and cold)

Under the 60 day warranty I took it in to get it fixed.

so it worked fine both sides, or am i missing something.

[towser]

richhead said:

towser said:

Hi.....looking for some advice on how best to proceed with an ongoing issue I have with my car.

I bought a, new to me, 2021 Mini Cooper on 7th July from a large, nationwide motor trader

About 3 weeks ago I noticed the climate control only blew cold air to the driver side the passenger side I could get it to work properly (hot and cold)

Under the 60 day warranty I took it in to get it fixed.

so it worked fine both sides, or am i missing something.

On the driver side, no matter what setting climate control was set at it would consistently blow cold air......

Passenger side would put out air temperature as expected.....

[Alex_225]

The issue was present before the 3 month warranty has run out, so they still have an obligation to get it fixed, don't worry about that. I mean it's covered for 3 months (at least) but the consumer rights act and they have a duty to repair it anyway.

It is a hassle but hopefully they can get it sorted on the next visit, agreed though OP, it is a pain.

[gotoPzero]

I would get them to agree the car goes into a Mini dealer to be diagnosed and fixed.
You need to get a thermometer so you can test it on collection.

Set heater temp to max, you should see at least 40c from each vent. Ideally closer to 50-55c.

Then set temp to min, you should see around 5-8c out of each vent.

If its got split zone you can test that too - just be aware you can get a bit of a mixed result if there is air leaking between the zones in the system but it should be warmer / cooler in each zone as per the setting.

I would not be driving away if it was not working correctly. These AC faults can be expensive to fix - because sometimes it may require a lot of labour to get to the parts. In many cars (dont know about the Mini) you may even need to remove the dash.

[mcpoot]

georgeyboy12345 said:

I wouldn t have even bothered taking the car to the dealer with that problem, I d have just taken it to my local indy for a regas. If there was a leak anywhere it would show up as they put a UV dye in it. Sounds like the dealers were totally barking up the wrong tree

So you'd have paid to potentially get it fixed/diagnosed rather than use the warranty?

[Puppisadeer]

mcpoot said:

So you'd have paid to potentially get it fixed/diagnosed rather than use the warranty?

For aircon problems I personally would. A mobile specialist should be able to diagnose whether it’s the gas or something else such as a faulty part - if the latter, take it back to the seller to get it fixed. Otherwise you can end up in the situation of numerous visits to get it sorted.

[Pickle_Rick]

You might risk the warranty if you let someone else look at the problem first.

It's a 5 year old out of warranty German car, so you'd expect some problems, otherwise they'd give a 10 year warranty like Toyota and Lexus.

[towser]

gotoPzero said:

I would get them to agree the car goes into a Mini dealer to be diagnosed and fixed.
You need to get a thermometer so you can test it on collection.

Set heater temp to max, you should see at least 40c from each vent. Ideally closer to 50-55c.

Then set temp to min, you should see around 5-8c out of each vent.

If its got split zone you can test that too - just be aware you can get a bit of a mixed result if there is air leaking between the zones in the system but it should be warmer / cooler in each zone as per the setting.

I would not be driving away if it was not working correctly. These AC faults can be expensive to fix - because sometimes it may require a lot of labour to get to the parts. In many cars (dont know about the Mini) you may even need to remove the dash.

Yeah - it's been to a Mini dealer to get this looked at the last two times.....so I'm kind of disappointed the now need a 3rd chance to fix it.....