Mini Parking Sensors

[Crompy62]

Hi I'm looking for help my wife's 2016 MIni Cooper parking sensors have stopped making an audible sound. The visual from the camera still seems to show the green to red colours. I've checked the fuse (55) and it looks fine.

I think the sensors are working as they show on the screen but there is no sound and i'm now at a loss and welcome any help.

[eybic]

Is there nothing in the menu system to turn the noise off?

[Spunagain]

Hi All
We have had our R57 Mini Convertible for 10 years now and the parking sensors had also packed up. Here’s how I fixed mine for a tenner.

Following a YouTube video suggestion I tried dousing them in WD40 but this did not help so I decided to get a bit technical.

With the ignition off, handbrake on and car locked; I crawled underneath with just my head and arms under the bumper (no need to jack the car up) and removed the connector from each one by putting a small flat blade screwdriver into the slot and pushing in while pulling out the connector with the sensor still in the bumper. I then removed the sensor by pushing the two ears in the bumper outwards which hold the sensor in while pushing the sensor through from the outside of the bumper. Here is a view from inside the bumper (spoiler - with the new sensor!)


I then cleaned the connector using an old interdental brush and some WD40 contact cleaner. These little brushes are great for reviving old car electric plugs. But this alone did not cure the problem and to be honest the connector contacts looked pretty good anyway.

Then for each sensor I measured the resistance between pins 1 and 2 and between pins 2 and 3 using a multimeter set to 1000s of KiloOhms (or kΩ) resistance. I measured positive (black wire on 1 and red wire on 2) and negative (black on 2 and red on 1) and the same again for pins 2 to 3. Here is the numbering scheme I used.


Here is a table of the measurements I made:

Sensor	Pin 1- to 2+	Pin 2- to 3+	Pin 1+ to 2-	Pin 2+ to 3-
Driver outer	159kΩ	196kΩ	145kΩ	128kΩ
Driver inner	164kΩ	200kΩ	138kΩ	132kΩ
Passenger inner	161kΩ	190kΩ	137kΩ	130kΩ
Passenger outer	112kΩ	147kΩ	107kΩ	90kΩ

You can see from this that the Passenger outer sensor was an outlier so I got on line and ordered this replacement sensor from Ebay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/362056839471 for £9.95 delivered.

Here is the old one and new one - they are actually the same size!


I popped out the old one and in with the new one in less than 5 minutes and I am back with fully working reversing sensors! No need to reset the ECU. Remember to make sure the ears holding the sensors ‘click’ into place though.

It seems that if one sensor fails the reversing sensor system stops them all working so you don’t try to rely on a sensor which isn’t working.

Hope this helps!