So, I go to the store, buy some ice, stick it in the boot, close the boot and get into drive to my daughters grad party. On the way there I notice the light is on indicating the boot is ajar. I have a short distance to go so I just drive to the party. Flip on the blinker and no inside directional indicator light. Strange.

Get to my destination, get out, open and close the boot, light still on. Try it again, same result, open and close the bonnet, same problem. I decide to deal with it after the party.

Turns out that is not the only two problems. More exploration determines the following:

1. Blinkers work outside, but no inside light, and no noise of the blinker in the car.

2. When door lock is pressed on key fob the doors lock then immediately unlock.

3. AC indicator light does not work and AC does not come on.

4. Interior dash lights do not come on.

5. Bonnet/Boot ajar light goes off after I reset the system via the key in the ignition, press the odometer reset button "trick", but no other problems are fixed.

Everything else works on the car with no problems. Suggestions for a solution? General Module? Fusible link? Possessed MINI?

I have looked over the Bentley Manual with no clear answer. I am reaching out to the collective wisdom and knowledge of the NAM faithful.

 

Anyone?

 

Going way out on a limb here. How do the battery connections look? Loose ground?

 

How old is the battery? On a Mini, if a lot of wierd things are happening with the electronics, suspect the battery.

 

I am driving it daily still with no change in any other aspect of the cars operation. I have no trouble starting the car, etc. I would think that if the battery was suspect then the biggest draw on the car would be starting the car and problems should arise there.

 

Safe to assume you've checked ALL the fuses?

 

I have, though I will take the Bentley manual out to the car today to double check to make sure I am not missing any that I should have checked. But the combination of problems makes me think it is not a fuse. For instance, the door locks should not work at all with a bad fuse, not lock then immediately unlock. Make sense?

 

Has there been a lot of rain lately? Check the BC1 module and make sure it isn't wet.

 

Well, I have been doing a bit of cleaning up under the bonnet. I had considered that possibility, but that was more than a week ago that I had done my cleaning and it had worked fine multiple times since then. Time to pull the kick panel and see if I can find some evidence of water.

 

The only thing I've ever seen that would cause locks to lock and then UNlock is the car thinking that the key is in the ignition, which in this case would be a wiring or switch fault.
These newer cars are a bit silly- have you tried simply unhooking the battery for a good five minutes to reset all the systems?
"Thank you for calling tech support, Have you tried turning it off and on again?"

 

A wet BC1 will also make it do this as well. It is also a common fault in the MINI.

 

That really sounds like a battery going dead. There are several threads in NAM mentioning weird issues with locks, dash lights, etc. not working correctly when it's on its last leg. Your signature says '02 MCS. Are you still on the original? You might set a record for having a nine-year battery!

 

Nobody makes it nine years in Maine- not if they take it out in the snow
I'd check the module thing for moisture.

 

Hehe, gotta laugh at that one. I missed the note in his sig about being from Maine.

 

I had to laugh at most of your replies, until I had to turn on the heat briefly today to take the chill off as the high temp here was 52 with drizzle all day long.

I posted earlier about the battery, but I would be surprised if it was battery related as the starter draws the most load and I have had no problem with the starter during this saga.

I do not know if the battery is original or not. It looks like an original battery but I bought the care with 45K on the odometer. I have not changed the battery while I have owned it but I do not know if it was before I purchased it.

Interestingly enough, my problem was solved today. So, what did I do to fix it? Well, I honked my horn at my daughter to let her know where I was parked. I had dropped her off at a store and gone to park. Parked and left the key in the ignition with the radio on. When she came out to look for me I hit the horn and when I did, the horn sounded as well as the blinker made a sound like it was had blinked once. Started the car up and everything was back to working as normal.

I had just filled up the car a few miles back and when I did the gas gauge did not change from being almost on empty with the red light glowing. So I used the trip odometer and the key position to reset everything. While that worked to reset the gas gauge it did nothing for any of the other problems I was having.

I suspect that probably their was moisture at some point in the electrical system and it finally dried out enough for everything to work. Either that or I have a self healing MINI, which may be a possibility considering some of the other things that have happened to the car that have "fixed themselves". Just happy to have the car functioning completely again.

Thanks for everyone's input, suggestions and help.

 

My Mini had all the weird things happen dash gauges flicr locks doing weird stuff,while the car starts fine.Unbelieveably one morning i started normally and went 5mins up the street and the car would'nt restart.DEAD BATT.Never seen a batt die like that one with no warning.Replaced and all is normal.

 

For problems similar to yours, I was told by a the local MINI tech to visit a witch doctor. Believe it or not, the old hag was factory trained and certified straight out of Oxford.... and speaks the Queen's English too.

Whuwuuddah thunk!!!

 

ACEkraut11 -
My '02 MCS had EXACTLY the same symptoms that you describe. It did seem that the car was possesed!! It started about 5 days after a heavy rain we had in SoCal this January. Turned out to be moisture that seeped into the connector for the BCM. Ended up replacing one of the BCM's and the harness. Battery was fine.

 

Well, after 10 days there have been no repeat problems unless you count the driver's side window not wanting to go down for a spell. In my self healing MINI I just keep pressing the switch and it works sooner or later. Tonight it was sooner. Spent about an hour tonight taking stuff out of and off of the car as it will be heading to a new owner on Saturday. I think it will be in good hands. One more MINI to sell(check out the marketplace) then I will be looking for a low mileage silver MINI S with the right options.