internet guessing car problems through lame **** descriptions is tough...sorry but I'm at a loss.

I have an 04 MCS with 199460 on the clock. A few months ago I went out for dinner tried cranking it and nothing but every accessory worked fine (radio, lights, etc.). I walked home without looking at it, came back in the morning, popped the hood, looked around, shook the wires, shut the hood, and it started right up.

I drove it to a local bmw shop just for them to take a look and they couldn't find anything. Apparently they thought leaving the evap cannister unhooked was a good idea so the gas cap light came on.

The issue never came back during the following week or 2. I drove the car and it stayed parked for about 7 weeks while I was driving and working on my jeep. I didn't do a great job of keeping up with running it while it sat but it cranked right up after that time. One day back driving the mini and the problem came back. Opening and closing the hood fixed it for a day. It came back...again. This time I couldn't get it to go. I had a guy give me a jump and it started right up. I drove to an autoparts store and they tested the battery which came back fine. 2 days later and it happened again...I'm lost.

So the battery tests out fine, the shop couldn't find an issue. The starter clicks. I'm thinking possibly the coil pack or spark plugs could be changed out (the plugs do have 100K on them). Might clean out the ignition switch too.

Basically I just would like so consensus on my next part to buy. I'm going to test some voltages shortly just to see if anything else pops up. Any thoughts?

As usual advice is greatly appreciated.

 

I'd bet a chocolate donut that it IS the battery even tho "it tested fine"

but it COULD be a loose grounding strap too - check the connections at the battery and the block grounding strap which is near the pass' side upper motor mount as I recall. I had a similar problem on my 79 - sometimes the strap was making a ground and sometimes not because the bolt holding it was loose. Opening and closing a door could shake it enuf to change that . . .

 

Generally (and the other gurus can correct me if wrong) if the starter clicks, but engine doesn't crank, that usually a low voltage from the battery or a starter going bad. Coil packs, etc will allow the engine to crank, but not start.

Where it fired up after shaking the battery cables, my 1st thought is to disconnect the cables, clean them up, and re-attch securely. See if that works first as it's easy and free.

In my old Jeep, I sometimes had to give the starter a tap with a hammer and it would fire up, but I don't even know where to find the starter on the MINI.

 

I tried to hit the starter with the tire iron the other night and could barely reach it (it's underneath the header).

At lunch I'll clean the grounds, the connections in the trunk are clean as a whistle. I really didn't put a lot of faith in the battery test, although they said the costco battery I had was showing 690cca with a 600ca rating. There is a napa right around the corner that has the 7547 battery in stock I might go pick up.

The fact that I can't duplicate the problem makes it tough to pick it out. The existing battery is close to 3 years old and I've never got a battery to last more than 3 years in this car.

Thanks for the help, I'll report back with my findings. As usual, I learn something new every time I get on here.

 

Your cables on the inside may also be corroded. That would also explain why it would start after you moved the cables around and by shutting the hood. It may have jarred the interior corrosion just enough to allow more current to start until corrosion built back up. This is not uncommon. You can cut the cable tubing back just a little to see if it is corroded and then wrap some black electrical tape around it when you are done.

 

Any thoughts on replacing the positive cable with some 4awg welding wire rather than spending $320 on a new one from BMW?

 

Wanted to update to thread in case others have a similar issue. I nosed around under the hood and found the main positive connection (the one under the black plastic cover) was loose. Just a quick crank on that big nut seemed to fix it. It's been two weeks and I haven't had the problem come back.

Thanks everyone!