Hi All - I'm new to the forum and new to Mini - just picked up a 2010 R57 Convertible to pull behind my RV. The car needed a new top so I decided to swap it out myself. Picked up a lightly used top from a donor car and got it installed pretty easily.

Here's my problem - the top will no longer go up and down automatically. Everything was working correctly before I swapped the top, now nothing.

My symptoms are:

- No action at all from the convertible switch - it only blinks a slow green light.
- Dash indicator says that the trunk is open (yellow convertible icon with an exclamation point).
- Oddly, the rear windows no longer go up or down. The front windows are working perfectly.

I have tried to trick the system by flipping the latches on the trunk and I know it is properly closed, so I don't think it's a valid error.
I have no idea why the windows will no longer go up or down.

I ran the OBD against it and it says that all of the components in the convertible top mechanism are working correctly.

I could really use some help - I asked ChatGPT and it said the wiring harness in the left rear, but as I said, everything was working, and I figure I've done something stupid.

Troubleshooting 101 - what changed? I touched it...

Any help is greatly appreciated - my frustration level is now off the charts.

Thanks - Tom

 

An update: I'm an idiot. I knew it was something that I had done, but even so, I'm an idiot. I had just purchased the car and I'm doing a bunch of stuff in parallel, including adding a base plate to the front so that I can tow it behind my RV. Well, not knowing the cars or the engineering, I didn't realize that there's a wire harness that goes through the front bumper area that will impact the operation of the convertible top. I had the bumper off the whole time, and yesterday in my frustration around the top, I went back to working on the base plate. Imagine my surprise when I put the bumper back on, reconnected all of the wires and everything started working correctly again. I ran the solution through ChatGPT and it immediately agreed that the module that senses if the trunk is closed was disabled by what I had done.

 

Yep,

Its must be shared. Most of the time the top will not operate if the rear trunk switch is not triggered.