Last Friday morning when I tried to start my
MINI, the lights came on but nothing else happened.
(There were a few little clicking noises.) I ended up
calling MINI Roadside assistance and they flat-bedded
her to the nearest dealer - about 1 hour away.

Turns out that there was a dead cell in the battery.
The techs couldn't get it to hold a charge so they
replaced it under warranty. My question is - has anyone
else had their battery go this quickly? A friend was kidding
me, "Is the battery English?" , although I didn't really think
it was a big deal since a dead battery certainly isn't a serious
mechanical problem. Also, this is the first problem I've had
in the 1.5 years that I've had my MINI.

Anybody else with this?

lhowlett (Mrs. Peel's owner)

 

It is fairly common for factory car batteries to last 2-3 years, specially in very hot climates. Here in Florida you'll be lucky if a factory battery lasts more than 2 years.

So far so good with the one installed in our '02 Cooper CVT with 24K miles.

 

Thanks for the info.
I'm not really concerned about it
but I was wondering if anyone
else had had this happen.
My Mini is a CVT with only 8,000 miles
on it and the service tech. said
that he had noticed that the dead
batteries that they had had to replace
had mostly all been on cars with low
mileage.

 

it MIGht not have been the battery... I thought I my battery died... everything came onbut the car WOULD not start I called a service rep and they were going tow my car to the service.. then got on here, apparrently if you have teh ky in the igition and not on.. and then press the lock button, you can set a anti-teft device which shuts of the battery to the engine.. to fix this you repeat the step adn it will give you the power back.. a 3 second fix, I didn't knwo this and neither did my representitive when I called... he knows now. damndest thing. That migh have been the problem, mayeb not a super dead battery... just a thought

 

I've heard of this type of thing happening
but in my case it actually was the battery.
It wouldn't even hold a charge. It was bad
enough that the power window went down
VERY slowly.

 

Make absolutely sure that the dealer checked your MINI's electrical system (Alternator, etc) to ensure that the battery is being charged properly. If it is not, the same thing can happen again to you in 5K to 8K miles down the road.

It is not normal for a car with just 8K miles to have a dead battery.

 

That's what I thought, too. However, she's due
in within a few weeks for her scheduled maintenance.
I'm going to have them check a number of other
things then, too. I've never had any of the problems
mentioned here, such as cold start, etc., so she's
been really trouble free until this happened.

 

One of our local club members had the same problem. Apparently, the Service Tech said that it's not all that uncommon in the hot weather. What's the temp there? Here it was 95 yesterday. And summer has barely started!

 

Hot! Hot! Hot!

When I get into my MINI at the end of the work day
the temperature gauge often reads over 100 degrees.
Of course, it's sitting on an asphalt parking lot.
At least at home, it's always garaged. It's been very
hot here but then, hey, this IS Florida. The MINI
tech at Ferman did mention the heat as a factor. In fact,
he said that since the hot weather started (about late April to early May here), they had had more MINIs with battery problems.

 

The heat in Florida will not harm your battery, in fact its good for it. Cold weather is what kills batteries. What will harm your battery is if the cells are allowed to go dry. High heat won't harm the battery, but it can evaporate the fluid out of the system. Even if the battery is a sealed type, it still may have a vent tube that allows the hydrogen gas created when charging to escape, and out can go moisture. A battery with filler holes needs to be checked more often in hot climates, and filled with proper distilled water - no tap or spring water. This can be difficult when the battery is under a seat or hidden in the back of the car, but it is needed. Back in the 60's, English batteries were a joke, but lately they have been pretty good. My Land Rover's stock battery lasted 7 years, and I replaced it more out of fear than need. If you love your car, and plan to keep it a long time, or have an inaccessible battery - replace it with a spiral cell battery, which costs a little more, but has no fluid to leak or evaporate. No need to ever check it.

 

Thanks for the info.
My battery is easily accessible - it's in the
engine compartment, so that's not a problem.
It's also a "no maintenance" battery so the only
indication I have that there's a problem is
trouble starting the car - or not starting at all.
The "dot" system on these batteries isn't that
helpful. Mine had a green dot on it even though
it wouldn't hold a charge. The Mini tech. told me
that the dot system really only tells you if the
fluid levels are where they should be. According to
him, a bad cell won't show up by changing the color
of the dot.

 

lhowlett - you should invest in a Sear's battery charger. Only like $35 for

a decent one with auto-shut off/trickle charge/float mode.

I charge my battery in the winter time from time to time because my weekend
cars sit inside the garage for weeks before I can get a dry day to take out
the car (in IL).

 

That sounds like a good idea. I just might do that.
During the week, my Mini is driven daily but on the weekends there are days when I may stay in and
Mini stays in the garage. My mileage is so low because I live very close to where I work. Even though I go home for lunch each day, my day-to-day driving is comprised of
short distances with lots of 'parking lot' style rush hour sitting.

 

The exact same thing happened to me this morning while I was leaving for work. I turned the key and all I got was the dreaded "click click click". I too had to contact roadside assistance and get towed to the dealership. My service advisor said this is a common problem and there have been lots of Mini's brought in recently for this because of the heat. My Mini is a April 03 build, so I've had it a little over a year.

 

Mine's an early 2003 build (November 2002).
Sorry to hear about your problem but I'm glad
to know that I'm not the only one. Well, I did
manage to go for a year and a half before it
happened.

 

I too have experienced the dead battery thingy earlier this month. Between the time I parked the MINI and ran inside to get paperwork from my office the battery when dead. When I came back out to start the MINI all I got the click, click, clicking. Called Roadside assistance for a tow. He tried to jump the battery, but it failed to hold the charge.

The funny thing is there was no indication of a low battery or power. The battery just went dead in a matter of minutes.

And, yes it was hot as Haiti in southern Texas that day.

 

I guess if you plan to keep your mini parked a long time at the airport or something, keep an extra battery in the truck.

 

I have an early 08 MCS that has also started its daily start up problems. I put the key fob into the slot, press the ignition switch and like everyone else "click click click" the exterior and interior lights flash quickly and the computer resets itself. First time this happened I had to call roadside assistance. The second time being the very same day about 6 hours later I was at home and was able to use jumper cables. The Third time being the next morning before work same thing. Each time the cable boost started the car and was able to drive out of my driveway, drove 30 minutes to work hwy. About an hour of being at work I jumped into my car and again no start.
Thank god for the invention of the booster cable or I would be screwed.
Doctors appointment is Wednesday for diagnosis. Thank god for Health care AKA Warranty....hopefully my Mini is only a year old.
The Weather here in Toronto is about 15 Celsius in the morning and only getting up to about 25 Celsius in the afternoon on a good day.

But its funny, its seems this has been a problem since the car started on the market. 7 year later crappy batteries being produced for a quality car with a ton of computerized electrical components. YOu think someone would take a hint and maybe have a decent stock battery.

 

Mini is fixed!!!
Brought my MCS into the dealer and they diagnosed my cars issue as being the sunroof Modulator. What this is or what it does I don't know, but it had to be replaced. The modulator was malfunctioning by telling the ignition switch that the key fob was inplace, therefore not shutting the onboard electrical down.
I'm glad warranty is still in place or I would be up the creak without a paddle.