I'm sorry if this problem has been mentioned in another thread, but I've been trying to research this problem for the last 2 weeks and can't find the answer.


Approximately 2 weeks ago my daughter got in her car (2009 Mini Cooper Base 1.6) and suddenly the lights flickered on the dash and the car went dead. All the lights shut off inside the vehicle and the brake pedal felt stiff. I went to jumpstart the vehicle and there was no power. I started checking the fuses in the engine and discovered fuses f2,f3,f4,and f5 were not getting any power. I changed the fuses (FL1 and FL2) undertensile fuse block and still I had no power. I then changed the relay that is up against the firewall and suddenly those fuses (f2-5) powered up. I placed the key in the ignition and still no power to the dash. I checked the fuses in the passenger kick panel and I'm not getting any power to fuse f44, as well as f31-35. I don't know what powers these fuses. I used a light tester and nothing. I bought a new battery and I also checked the terminal to make sure the ground had no corrosion. Any help would truly be appreciated. *The dome light, radio, and speedometer lights will come on but the lights that power up the engine are not. The air conditioning will not come on and the windows will not roll down. I have taken each fuse out and inspected it as well as used a test light and they all seem ok. I don't know where to got from here.

 

 

These are the fuses in the engine bay. Do any of these relays feed power to the fuse in the passenger kick panel fuse box?

 

So after replacing every relay yesterday, I ruled out that a relay must be bad in the vehicle since the car did not start. Before some of you say why didn't I test the relay from the beginning, I did using a volt meter. The surprising part was when I replaced the relay on the firewall, the fuses in the engine bay (F2-5) got power. I tested the original relay removed and it came back fine. I tried to rule out another possible bad relay but that was not the case. I took the dash apart to check if anything was wrong with the igntion switch. As I started to remove the switch, suddenly the car powered up and I was able to start the car. I ordered the switch, now I am hoping it doesn't need programming. I am going to continue to keep this thread updated in the event any of you run into the same problem.

 

It's quite possible that in the future I might develop the same issue, sometimes when I insert my key FOB, then push the start button everything goes dark, the entire dash as if the battery had been pulled. Therefore I don't insert the key FOB anymore, I remote start all of the time. I'll be very interested in the findings! I bet that was a shocker when the car came back to life!

Systemlord.

 

After working on the car every afternoon when I came home from work for the past 2 weeks it was a major relief to see the car power up. I was stressing the repair cost at Mini and was trying every possible route to correct the problem myself. I have to say, to discover the battery was bad initially and now the switch is done has me wondering if the low voltage could have fried the ignition switch. There was no warning sign in the vehicle. It just suddenly went dead that morning after driving it around the night before.

 

Switches usually don't fail because of low voltage. They will more commonly fail because of high current, and also mechanical breakage, particularly of plastic moving parts.

Maybe the switch could have been feeding some current to ground, which in turn drained the battery? Meh, just speculating though...

 

This makes sense because nothing else does except for the two being a coincidence.

 

Did you ever find the problem that was causing your issue?

 

All,
I have a 2006 Mini Cooper base model, one day in the morning I attempted to start the car and got the rapid clicking sound similar to a dead battery. In addition, the battery is brand new and the ignition switch as well. I attempted to start the vehicle again and got the same sounds without a start. I then tried one more time and heard a click and all power within the vehicle to include the exterior electrical went dead. I then checked all the accessible fuses in the engine bay and the foot well. All fuses are good and none are blown. I then let the car sit for the remainder of the day when I returned I attempted to start the car again and noticed the mini was able to remote unlock (I couldn't do this before), I then attempted again to start and got the same click and then all power was lost again. I then double checked all the fuses and still none are blown as of right now. I then disconnected the battery and will reconnect tomorrow morning and post an update.

I noticed a previous post with a similar problem on a 2009 Mini and I am curious if the problem was resolved.

docsigns

 

Hello, there. I purchased a 2009 that needed an engine rebuild. I rebuilt the engine, put on a crap ton of new engine parts, but did not touch the ignition switch. Now, I have the same exact issue as you described, where fuses 2-5 do not receive power. Can you help me?