Hey all, since it started to get colder this winter (midwest Minnesota) my 2006 MCS has not always started right away in the cold mornings. This happened for a few weeks but always started after 2 or 3 tries. Then over the christmas/new years break, I did not start the car for about 3 days. Now the car wont start at all, I still get the interior lights to light up. I figured it was a bad battery, so I went to my local Advanced AutoParts and had them test my battery. And after 49 minutes of testing, the battery came up as bad. So i got a new battery Optima 34R red top, and car started up fine. So that solved my problem. So i drove a few places and on the way way I noticed things were still not right, the battery seemed not fully charged, so before I went to bed I unplugged my after market items from the battery.
My aftermarket items are a computer and an amp for my sub. My amp is connected to the battery positive and the pc is hooked up to the amp for the power, so there is no other electrical connection for power. I did unplug the amp power so my aftermarket items did not draw any power over the night. The next morning the car was totally dead, no lights at all.
So currently it is at the dealership getting looked at. Drove my 90 minutes away from home to get it looked at. I had the battery charger on the car over night so I could start the car in the morning. I got a rental car just for that day so I didn't want to go home and right back, so stuck around and waited. About 5 hours later they called me and said they still didn't know what the issue is.
They said something was drawing power from the battery and that is why the battery is dying. They are not sure what is drawing the power, and they are trying to blame my after market items and saying its not covered under warrenty.
They told me the car isn't totally going to sleep, meaning not everything is turning off... So the car has a load of ~4 amps on the battery when the car has been sitting, where the mechanic said it should be around .04 amps. Initially the battery has a load of ~4 amps and sometimes goes down to the .3 amps. He told me that he unplugs my usb hub (which has no power since it's power is hooked up to my PC) and sometimes the load will drop from ~4 amps to .3 amps. I tried telling him that this is the only power source which is the power cable to the amp (which was unplugged from the battery) and none of my aftermarket stuff is hooked up to the electrical system.
I also had the pc installed for 13 months now and the amp installed for 19 months and never had an issue like this before. They are trying to blame my aftermarket items, but they can't prove it, and they can't find what is exactly drawing the power.
So they are supposed to call me Monday afternoon to give me an update on my car and what the issue is. I just have a feeling they aren't going to be able to find the issue and going to break my aftermarket items trying to figure it out.

So anyone have any thoughts on what the issue is? Or any advice on how to handle if they try to say it was my aftermarket items?

Now time to wait and see....

Thanks,

Arty

 

Have someone there that knows what they are doing test the alternator. If any part of the diode bridge (converts AC to DC) in the alternator has a short, it will discharge the battery when the ignition is off. It's not exactly like a direct short, but it draws the battery down like a trunk light that won't shut off.

 

I had a similar issue with my 2003 MC. The dealer said my battery went dead due to a "parasitic drain" from somewhere in the car. They did tests and narrowed it down to a faulty power steering motor, which they said was not shutting off. They replaced the PS motor and all was good.

 

Thanks for the input, the mechanic told me that there were several typical things that would cause this type of issue but he said all tested good. I did not ask him specifically what he tested. But from my searching on NAM before I brought my MINI in, I thought it was probably the Power Steering Motor so that is why I brought it in. If they still havent found the issue on by Monday afternoon (is when they are supposed to call me) I will ask if they checked the PS Motor, and I'll also bring up the alternator. I also heard some people had an issue with the Fan Assembly drawing power on NAM so guess I'll bring that up too.
I just know the mechanic is pretty focused on my aftermarket items, since he tested the typical things and nothing came up for him. But once he found out that it has been there over a year, he told me he'll try not to look at the aftermarket items as the issue and look elsewhere, but from what I saw him doing, he was still monkeying around with the after market items.

Well one more day to wait and hear what they come up with. Hopefully good news for me.

Thanks,

Arty

 

I would phone them first thing in the morning with the list of things you want them to check, otherwise you may have to wait another day before they get around to checking them.

Hope it goes well for you

Mark

 

Do you have the factory 6 disc changer in the trunk, or have anything hooked up to the factory 6 disk harness?

 

I do not have the 6 disk cd changer, but I do have a Car-to-PC adapter which hooks up to the OEM Stereo which it then sees it as the 6 disk CD Changer. From this adapter, it has an audio input (for the pc) and a USB (data out) cable (for Steering wheel/HU control for Winamp), so no power cable with that, and that is directly hooked up to the PC which is unplugged.
At a point I thought this could of been the only possible issue with my aftermarket items, but then it shouldn't, because nothing is accepting any data from it (when the PC is off) so that kinda ruled out that for me.
Why, what do you think that could be the issue with that?

Thanks,

Arty

 

Well they called me Monday afternoon. They still do not know what is causing the drain. I asked if they check the PS Motor, Alternator, and Fan Assembly, he said yes, but he wasn't the mechanic. He told me they tested it all again on Monday (in case they missed something) but still did not find anything.
I think they are going to call me again on Wednesday, but probably with the same news.

Arty

 

Connect an amp meter in series with the battery to observe drain. Give the car some time for the computers to go to sleep (could be as long as an hour). If the drain is above 50ma there is a problem. Disconnect items one at at time (i.e alternator wire, fuses e.t.c). If the drain goes away you have found the problem. Also be advised that there is a TSB about battery drain if the key is left partially in the ignition, where it continues to communicate with the antenna in the steering lock and the body computer will not sleep. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

Hi: I have a note here placed last Friday with a very similar message. And, what is even more interesting is that it is probably the same dealership, since I'm in Minneapolis. They decided it was my aftermarket "newministuff" harness for my cell phone. As far as I can tell, from Mike and from these and other forums that is very unlikely. My car is brand new. I have less than 2000 miles on it, and I've had it about 7 weeks. They charged me $125 to tell me that it wasn't anything else, and it is not a warranty issue. I am research.ing other ways, and Mike, from NewMiniStuff is sending me a new loom (harness) just to see. But I am amazed in the similarity in our stories and in the response from (is it?) the same dealership.

I would like to know how this turned out for you, Arty13.

The link to my post about my battery problem is:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d.php?t=130026