[HeroBrian]

Greetings fellow SE fans! I got a strange Check Control Message on my 2022 Cooper SE today. Not covered in the manual.
Driver display: Cont. driving possible: High Voltage System.
Center display: High-voltage system. You can continue driving. Have the system checked by your service center to prevent subsequent damage.

Went to the dealer who printed out the service data report. This error code is 00794. Also had the two messages above on the report.

I couldn't find anything on the internet about this. "Subsequent damage" sounds a bit scary. I scheduled a date for service, but the dealer couldn't (wouldn't) tell me what this is--said they need to check it out first. Anybody see this before?

 

[ventmore]

Found this for the BMW i3 which is a close relation to the SE:

https://static.nhtsa.gov/odi/tsbs/2016/MC-10151374-9999.pdf

 

[HeroBrian]

Hey this is very helpful and exactly what I was looking for. Trying to figure out if I should take the car in NOW or if it can wait a week. I'm seeing that it can wait.

Thanks!!

 

[Always_Be_Charging_22]

Hello fellow fans! I received the same error yesterday as I was finishing a DC fast charging on a road trip. DC fast charging got disabled and the error code hasn't cleared even during the night. I'm curious to find out what's the issue.

What was the outcome in your case @HeroBrian?

 

[HeroBrian]

Hello fellow fans! I received the same error yesterday as I was finishing a DC fast charging on a road trip. DC fast charging got disabled and the error code hasn't cleared even during the night. I'm curious to find out what's the issue.

What was the outcome in your case @HeroBrian?

Ah yes, well I took it in to the dealer mid-April. The dealer did some stuff which included disconnecting the battery and updating the firmware. Since that change, the car won't retain the ambient lighting setting (which has been discussed elsewhere) but nobody in my family cares about this other than me (purple damn you!). I didn't discuss what work was actually performed with the dealer, which is uncharacteristic of me; I was convinced it was software per the article provided by ventmore above. THEN we got the same error message two weeks ago. Same as last time the error cleared itself and went away immediately. I'm scheduled to go back to the dealer in two weeks. This time I'll get more detail as to what work was performed last time and this time. Clearly whatever was done last time didn't fix the issue.

 

[sushi]

Ah yes, well I took it in to the dealer mid-April. The dealer did some stuff which included disconnecting the battery and updating the firmware. Since that change, the car won't retain the ambient lighting setting (which has been discussed elsewhere) but nobody in my family cares about this other than me (purple damn you!). I didn't discuss what work was actually performed with the dealer, which is uncharacteristic of me; I was convinced it was software per the article provided by ventmore above. THEN we got the same error message two weeks ago. Same as last time the error cleared itself and went away immediately. I'm scheduled to go back to the dealer in two weeks. This time I'll get more detail as to what work was performed last time and this time. Clearly whatever was done last time didn't fix the issue.

HeroBrian thank you for posting , It would be helpful if you could share the outcome so if we encounter a similar issue we would be able to challenge our own dealer having been more informed from your experience.

 

[Always_Be_Charging_22]

I totally agree with sushi. Thanks for sharing HeroBrian.

I got my car back. They ran some diagnostics, found nothing wrong with the charging electronics, cleared the error code and tried their own DC fast charger. No errors came up and they gave me the car back. Let's see how it goes from now on. They said that if the error reoccurs they will take the car back in and most likely take the car apart to inspect the high-voltage system more thoroughly.

 

[Always_Be_Charging_22]

And it happened again! Same fault, same symptoms and even the charger was manufactured by the same company. The car is being diagnosed at the dealership. Let's see what they found and what will be the fix.

 

[HeroBrian]

Yes, OK here is an update from me. For me, this message happens while driving, not charging, seemingly at random moments. I had to reschedule my appointment and it happened a third time in nine months. Once in April before I took it in originally, once in June and once in July. I took it in for my service appointment last Friday 7/22/2022 and was surprised when they gave me a loaner. This seems kind of crazy, but they've installed some kind of proprietary OBD device, and the service technician will be driving my mini to and from home and the dealer each day until they get this event to happen. I offered to drive with the OBD device installed and they said it had to be the technician driving. I said, "so I'm going to be driving this loaner for three months?" and the counter guy rolls his eyes and says, "Sir, I'm sure it won't take three months." Maybe; maybe not. It seems like a long time to be without my car and a lot of miles someone else is putting on my mini. But I'm also kinda impressed with the level to which they'll go to solve the problem. I will keep you all posted.

FWIW the loaner is the exact same car but the gas version--2022 Cooper S hardtop signature trim. So it's an interesting experiment driving this instead temporarily. It's fast, maybe not as fast. It's powerful but in a completely different way. It's fun, but not AS fun. I realize electric isn't for everyone, but we debated gas or electric. Having driven both, we are very pleased with our choice to get electric.

 

[Rod S]

So are they going to cover your petrol (gas) costs for up to three months ???

In the UK petrol prices are horrendous at the moment and I currently charge at 5p/kWhr (it will go up significantly once my current supplier's contract renews in Sept) and get about 4miles/kWhr. That makes the SE approx 300mpg equivilant at the moment.

 

[sushi]

So are they going to cover your petrol (gas) costs for up to three months ???

In the UK petrol prices are horrendous at the moment and I currently charge at 5p/kWhr (it will go up significantly once my current supplier's contract renews in Sept) and get about 4miles/kWhr. That makes the SE approx 300mpg equivilant at the moment.

Rod S, what I like about your posts is that you offer the less knowledgeable person, like me - the opportunity to think outside the box and do our own research as a direct result of your comments after which we can make up our own minds. Thanks for that ☺

 

[Rod S]

Call my cynical but the thought of a "technician" using my car as a "daily" for three months would be an absolute NO!

Who knows how he/she is going to treat it (probably ragging it to death as he/she doesn't own it) and probably driving it everwhere as the dealer will be charging the batteries for him/her.

If you go ahead with this, at the very minimum install a hidden tracker or, better still, non-obvious dashcams that do GPS.
(I have Blackvue 750s in all our cars) so you can download what is actually happening with it.

With my Blackvues I was able to show the Ford main agent did not do a full service on my ST when I took it in for its mandatory 3 year service (mandatory to preserve the extended warranty). Long story, not for here, it's on another forum, but do not leave yourself without any possible evidence.

Tracker is the easiest so long as you can run some hidden wires to the aux powere socket. TK102 are the cheapest and well worth it.

 

[HeroBrian]

So the costs are real. With current gas and electricity prices, I get about 41 miles for $1US with the electric mini, and 6.6 miles for $1US with the gas mini. Fortunately, it's my wife's car and she only drives about 50 miles a week. I'll get at least a month out of the gas the dealer provided and if the issue isn't resolved by then, they will be hearing from me.

Regarding the daily use, yeah I hear you. They encouraged me to use the mini app and I can see it at the dealer right now. I drove by on Monday and there is plastic on the seats and paper on the floor. I get notified when it's charged, and I can see the daily milage. I have not yet looked up if the guy is driving to the pub at night, but I have no reason to think anything weird is going on so far. After all, I have their brand-new mini as hostage. I'm going to give them at least a couple weeks, my wife is a nervous driver and I need this issue resolved.

UPDATE: The Mini app is working fantastic for this purpose and I'm checking frequently. It shows the car in the dealer parking lot OR the driveway of a big fancy house on a golf course in the country. It's never deviated from these locations. To SameGuy's point below, whoever the technician is, he's well compensated and is taking good care of the car. The biggest issue right now is that this guy commutes 50 miles a DAY which is like 10x our general useage. I suppose this will make the issue happen that much sooner.

 

[SameGuy]

I’m pretty sure they don’t just hand it to a junior technician. My next-door neighbour is the service department foreman for a large MB dealership, and he is the only “technician” there authorized to take over customer cars for diagnostics. Yes, Maybachs and AMG GTs do look out of place in my neighbourhood! 😂

 

[HeroBrian]

Ok here is an update. The technician put 200 miles on my car with the OBD and was unable to reproduce the issue. So they gave me my car back and said to come back when either a) I could reproduce the issue and/or b) when more is known about this error. Very disappointing but the car always seems fine so I'm not too worried. I confirmed that the first time in the shop, the dealer did upgrade the software but did nothing else--not the other remediation outlined for the BMM i3 above. They told me there is no mini service bulletin for this error.

We are glad to get the car back tho. So we spent two weeks driving around a Mini S level 1. Not regretting our decision to go EV at all. The S is fast, maybe even faster, but the acceleration isn't the same. it's jerky, unpredictable, too much at the start, not enough at 20mph. I want to floor it with the SE. This isn't as fun with the S for some reason. I will say this. It's a weird experience looking at the dash which says I have a 400mi range! It's nice to have a 400mi range. Still rather have the SE and plug it in more often.

 

[Pictsidhe]

Looking at the i3 nhsta report, you may have had a damp battery. Did these events happen in wet weather?
From what I've seen, the i3 and mini OBD codes are mostly the same.