I bought a used 2008 Mini Cooper Hardtop (base, not S model) this past summer and I have been enjoying it a lot.

The mini came with a "Y" cable adapter for Apple iPod/iPhone 30-pin devices and I had an older iPod classic that I have all my music on, so I just kept that in the car and plugged in all the time. This worked great. It was really nice to have all my music with me so I could listen to whatever I wanted. This worked great for months.

Now the problem. About two weeks ago, I started to have a problem where the music would play fine for a few minutes, then cut out (stop playing) for a few minutes, then come back and play again until it stopped. I made sure the Y cable was well seated and restored my iPod (a process to reset it back to factory default, then reload music). The problem still happened. It was as if the mini was losing communications with the iPod. I thought this was a problem with my old iPod so I actually ordered another iPod. It has not yet arrived.

However, when I was driving yesterday I decided to bring along a different music source and the AUX connection with a 3.5mm stereo cable plugged into an Android tablet that I had music on. After a few minutes, the music stopped. Looking at my android tablet, it was still playing music. I unplugged and plugged the AUX cable, which didn't help. After messing with this, I noticed that if I switched the Mini to the TUNER and back to AUX (on the Mini controls, push AUDIO -> TUNER, AUDIO -> AUX), I would get music back for a few minutes until it stopped again.

In troubleshooting this, I have now tried multiple music sources (iPhone 5C, Android tablet, iPod) and multiple 3.5mm AUX cables on the AUX input and one Y cable and one iPod on the USB/AUX inputs with the same result. Music plays fine for a few minutes, the cuts out for a few minutes, then comes back and plays again (and repeat the process over and over).

I am now thinking I have a problem with the Mini Radio Boost CD system. Has anyone had a similar problem? Any recommended solutions?

Thanks,

-Dale Smith

 

I have recently bought the 2009 mini cooper (R56) and the aux does not work at all. I know someone else with an 07 cooper, and they bought a bluetooth device called a parrot. Aparently that works