Mini Cooper key cut & programming of smart key to CAS module on bench

BMW based Mini Cooper vehicles have been using a CAS system for quite a few years and in some cases additional keys can be programmed to the vehicle using a diagostic scan tool conected to the OBD port of the vehicle. However there is always the possiblilty that the EEPROM & FLASH files in the CAS module may be corrupted during programming and so it is always best to backup this data before any programming.

In the case of some modules using the CAS 3 ++ ISTAP software the only way to do this is to remove the module from the vehicle and connect directly to it using what is known as a bench set up.

In the case of BMW Mini Cooper cars this is much more difficult because of the location of the CAS module itself being behind the centre of the dash. The access the CAS module the majority of the top of the dash must be removed. This of course takes quite a bit of time and so we must charge extra for it to cover this labour and the equipment used.

We run a full diagnostic scan on your vehicle before we commence any programming and will provide a report of any stored fault codes found during this diagnostic scan.

It is also imperative that the vehicle is connected to a voltage stabiliser during programming to maintain adequate power to all modules while they are being read from or written to. Doing this work in our workshop allows us to control the environment in which the programming takes place, thus minimising risks.

To do this type of work on Mini Cooper vehicles can take between 2 - 3 hours depending on the specific vehicle model and year as the locationof the CAS module and design of the dash compnents in the vehicle will vary slightly and hence the difficulty to access it will also vary.