I have a problem with my Cooper S that maybe someone can clear up.

The problem: My clock, trip computer, and a few other settings reset intermittently.

The circumstances: Many times when I go to start my car, it starts, but the clock needs to be set, and the trip computer has reset to all blanks. It happens more in cold weather, and it happens more if the battery hasn't been charged with an external charger in a while.

My contention: The battery is bad and is not holding a charge sufficiently.

The dealers contention: There is nothing wrong and it is my driving habits that are to blame (I make too many short trips...). That if you don't drive far enough, the car isn't able to charge the battery AT ALL.

The facts: Last year during the winter, this started to happen. The dealer had the car for two weeks, found that something was draining the battery, and replaced several modules. The problem doesn't seem to occur during the warmer months. The problem occurred 3 times in one day, twice when the car had only been shut off for 5-10 minutes. I have hooked up an OBDII meter and while running the voltage shows 14.2 volts.

The dealer has now had the car this time for almost two weeks and originally said they were finding a drain, but now claim that they really didn't.

Additional information: I have a NAV system and 'comfort access' option. When I first got the car I hid one of the keys in the car, but found that the car wouldn't lock unless I took the batter out (for those who don't know, the comfort access option had a replaceable battery instead of a rechargeable battery in the fob). They are claiming that,

A) even though the battery is removed and the key is in the boot, not near the dash, that it is keeping the car from going to sleep.

B) Having a Scangauge II (OBDII gauge) plugged into the OBD port is drawing power and draining the battery. (It goes to sleep a few seconds after the car is turned off and doesn't draw electricity or an infinitessimal amount).

C) That since I will drive my car 5-10 miles at a time frequently, that the battery doesn't have time to charge.

Am I nuts, or is the dealer correct?

A previous dealer asked why I bought a MINI if I didn't like the fact that my closest dealer was more than an hour away. This dealer is telling me that a MINI owner had to sell his car and buy another brand because he was a delivery driver and didn't drive it far enough each time to maintain the battery charge.

I think I've argued with the dealer long enough that he said he would replace the battery (just to humor me). But it seems to me (especially when it happened 3 times in a day) that replacing the battery is the correct solution to the problem.

Any comments, suggestions, or definitive facts would be greatly appreciated.

James
2007 MINI Cooper S

 

short answer

dealer is full of . h . t

Try to proove this on the other hand ....

my commute is 3 miles and I go weeks without going farther than this at a time

 

All three suggestions have some substance to them.

A, I agree fully that the fob will prevent the car from going to sleep because of the RF chip that they have in them. It doesn't require a battery to signal to the car that a key is still nearby.

B, although the Scangauge may have a sleep mode, it is still probably drawing power for a memory function of some sort.

C, cars that are driven short distances can have problems like this in cold weather. 5-10 miles seems like it should be enough to replace the surface charge that is removed while starting the car.

 

had the same issue. Dealer: your commute is too short. My response: other cars don't mind my driving habits...
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ally-over.html

 

Read the other thread. I forgot that I too had the stalling problem in very cold weather this year. I had to keep feathering the gas till it warmed up a little.

I also forgot to mention that the indicator on the battery showed a bad battery. Dealer response: "those indicators are not reliable, you battery is fine."

It does seem odd though that if the indicator, the circumstances, and the owner's gut feel that the battery is bad, why a dealer would want to spend 12 days chasing ghosts, when it would be easier to spend ten minutes to replace the battery.

As an added treat to this whole story, I dropped the car off when I had to go 70 miles to drop my GF off at Buffalo airport (dealer is a few miles from there). I asked for a loaner and would return it when I went to pick her up a few days later. They did NOT give me a loaner. Instead they got me a rental car from Enterprise, and all they had left was a Ford F150 pickup truck. So I had to drive 2 weeks in a vehicle getting 15mpg instead of one getting 35. A small issue, but you'd think in a time where the economy was going to hell and car sales were hard to come by, a dealer like MINI would be going to great lengths to keep their customers brand happy instead of giving them all the reasons they shouldn't be driving a MINI.

 

Funny thing: I went to the same dealer (more often than I liked). I got "the battery is not fully charged" from him after 120 miles of highway driving from my home to Buffalo...

 

I get the impression we're both dealing with Towne BMW/MINI. No? Although they are my closest dealer now. My selling dealer, MINI of the Main Line in Philly, was far worse. After bringing my car there. They were going to have me bring my car back (a 150 mile round trip) so they could order and replace what they said was a faulty switch assembly. I inquired why they thought it was a switch when there were 3 failed lamps on the same circuit. So they brought the car back into the shop to realize it was a blown fuse.

It's amazing that BMW won't allow their dealerships to do MINI maintenance despite the rarity of accessible MINI dealers because they claim MINI techs are properly trained. Yet I have encountered numerous instances where MINI techs have lacked the simple common sense and logic to diagnose a minute problem. And they seem to think it is inconsequential for a customer to take the time off and drive hundreds of miles for routine service or easy repairs under warranty.

 

Well, I have my car back, supposedly with a new battery.

Now, they could have replaced the battery initially as I suggested but instead they decided to keep my car for 13 days which cost them (or MINI):

Loaner rental - $35+taxes per day= $455
Tech time spent diagnosing ~26 hours (a guess) at $40/hr (another guess) = $1,040
Delivery of car via ramp truck 70 miles = $50 (a guess, probably low)
That doesn't count all the overhead involved in this 2 week nightmare, and the cost of the battery anyway.

So they probably could have kept me happy and saved themselves almost $2000. Almost the same as GM wastes per car in expenses vs. foreign car companies. Look where it got them....