Ok, bear with me while i tell the story. Took the mini to work, over the course of the day it rained very very hard. Somehow, with all the windows and sunroof closed, water leaked in. I went out after work, found the keyless entry wasn't working, unlocked manually, and found myself in a 3 inch puddle of water when i stepped in. The water was almost entirely on the drivers floor. There was alot more than i could ever imagine would get in from raining.

Anyway, ever since that happened i'm having lots of electrical issues. Immediatly afterwords, the wipers, headlights, a/c, and cig lighter were all dead. Through the drying process (good ol' space heaters), all the above mentioned items came back to life on their own. However, the car, about a day afterwards, decided it also doesn't want to start at all. I took it to a shop, and they replaced the fuel-pump relay, which did the trick. Now i'm having another issue. My battery is fine, and when i turn the key all the electronics work without issue. But when I go to start the car, I just get clicks. Sometimes if i try enough times, it will start up, which is why I think its the anti-theft system not recognizing the key. Also, I'm unable to open the gas cap without using my key to pry the locking mechanism back. And the passenger door does not unlock, even after multiple times hitting the unlock (drivers door works fine). Any thoughts on how to repair this? I'm hoping there is just another relay blown somewere.

PS Mines an 03 Cooper S, grey/grey.

 

It's all electrical and, most likely, related to the flooding. Given the intermittent nature, I would say a grounding issue, mnost likely due to things still being wet. You may want to pull out the relays/fuses and check for water on the contacts and/or in the contact recepticles and blow them out with compressed air. Both the ones under the hood and in the passenger compartment. It's a start, anyway.

 

I've pulled most of the relays/fuses and didn't see anything out of ordinary. All the fuses are good, with no apparant condesation on them or the contacts. Not sure how to tell if the relays are blown, but also no water/condensation in those. It may be worth noting the flooding occurred about two weeks ago. The oddest thing is I can occasionaly get it to start, but can never get the passenger door or gas cap to unlock.

 

Just noticed i put this in 2nd gen mini's, if a mod is around please move to 1st gen.