Hi guys,

Ive got a 2006 mini cooper S r53, bought it 2-3 month back. Up until now it drove without issues, but this morning (approx. 10 Celsius) it was acting up.

it started with unlocking the car, where I wasnt able to unlock it with the keyfob, it only worked through the keyhole. After unlocking the car it started up without a problem, but half way to my destination the car started acting up. First ABS and TC lights came on the dashboard, after that many other lights + radio flickering and (one of the pictures below) a moment after the whole speedometer and tachometer turned off together with the radio and climate controls. It was stop and go traffic so I pulled to the side and decided to shut of the car and see if it cranks again, nothing happened. Every time the key is in the ignition and turned one click, all the electronics come up and I can hear the fuel pump prime, but when i try to start it, nothing happens, no sounds of starter or other clicks.

i should also mention that the power steering goes off before the first two lights lights come on.

i managed to get the car home on its own power as affer 2-3 hours of standing it started up again, but while driving all of the above repeated again. When i got home I also noticed that the engine is working kind of choppy (the sound from the exhaust I mean)

any Ideas of what could it be? I checked the battery and its fully charged, also tried it with a brand new one, same thing.

 

Get your hands on a BMW/MINI specific scan tool and see what error codes are present.

 

I will try to do that tomorrow morning, thanks for the suggestion.

 

Almost sounds like a voltage problem....first thing I would check would be the charging system, if that fails, the first thing that goes is the power steering
Check your voltage at the battery and any other positive cable connections with voltmeter while engine is running and see what it's reading....should be around 14v

Bryan

 

Always good to check your ground connection(s) as well. The easiest and obvious one is at the passenger side attached to the upper engine mount.

 

Friday Ill bring the car to a friend who is a mechanic, he will do that. Thanks for the suggestion

 

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I checked the one in the boot, next to the battery. It had some oxidation, will check the one you mentioned here today. Thanks

 

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Remember, changes in temperature will change the air pressure in your tires. The R53 TPMS system doesn't use a sensor, it uses wheel speed sensors (flat tires spin at a different rate). TPMS problems will cause the traction control and abs lights to come on, so the first step is to inflate all your tires to spec and then perform a TPMS reset. 2D step, clear codes and drive it to see if the DTCs return. If they do, pull up your wheel speed sensors under the DSC tab and see if they are all reporting the same speed or if one is glitching.

Next, check your battery voltage and cranking amperage; make sure the cable connections are tight.

Then scan the car modules for faults and post them.

 

A few days back I got myself a voltmeter and measured the battery with the car on and off. As the battery was new it was all good for the first few minutes, but after some time the power steering went out again. Checked the voltage again and while running it was under 13 (approx. 12.6V). For now Ive ordered a new alternator and will swap that out during the weekend. If that doesnt fix the problem ill go with this path.

I also got a friend who is coming to help and has a scanner. So we will see the codes if any.

thanks for the advice

 

Hey, thank you all for the thoughts. A few days back I got a voltmeter and measured the voltage, the battery was low and pretty old (From 2017), so I replaced it as a first step in the chain.

With the new battery, the car starts and runs until the same thing as mentioned above repeats. I've also measured the voltage right after it happened, it was less than 13V (That was yesterday morning, approx. 13h ago). This morning I went to pull it into the garage and measured the voltage again, just in case. With the car running and heating, AC and everything else turned on it was showing 14 and a bit. Is that normal?

I've ordered an alternator as I thought it will for sure be that. I will replace it tomorrow or Saturday as a prevention, but I feel like it isn't going to be the problem. Hopefully, I'm wrong. My friend is coming to help me and he has a computer, so we will scan for codes.

I will also check the tire pressure today, as that might also be the problem.

Thanks again, will update you when I have something new.

 

It does potentially sound like an alternator. A fully charged battery is ~12.6 V, and I want to say that my alternator normally puts out >14 V. It should certainly be on the order of 14 V when running.