Leaving for work this morning, I go to fire the MINI up and all I get is the clicking of the solenoid and that was it. I drove yesterday without a problem and today nothing.

All the ground wires appear to be tight and the batteries inspection dot appears to be green.

We tried to jump it off, but nothing. I only have the one car so this makes things much harder.

Anyone ever have something like this happen and if so what was the fix. I’m thinking it is the battery itself, but if some one has another idea what to try or look at I’d love any ideas.

 

This may be obvious, but did you try letting the MINI sit for 5 minutes or so while hooked up to the running jump car? Your battery may be real flat and need some time to charge. If this fails, after disconnecting the jumpers properly, try cleaning the battery cable connections even if they look clean - use a battery terminal wire brush. Sometimes they get grundged up enough to make for a poor contact even though they look clean. Did you try the jump start from the front auxilary connector under the bonnet? The manual (page 133-134 for the 2005) shows the proper procedure.

 

My Isuzu Trooper just lost a starter. It only clicked when I turned the key. I tried to jump it off with no luck. Because it was at the bottom of the driveway I couldn't try rolling it off so I had it towed to my service center. Once there, we were able to roll it off and it ran fine. Once the starter was off we discovered a bad armatuer inside. New starter was $185!

If it won't jump start, but will start by rolloing it off, it's the starter.

 

Thanks.

The connections are spotless. After rubbing with a little sandpaper, reconnected and still nothing but the clicking. Yes we did let it sit while being jumped off for some 20 minutes.

 

I'm guessing battery as well... if your battery is shorted inside, which can happen as the particles build up at the bottom across multiple cells, you can try to jump it all day and it wont jump. Pretty sure others have had this same symptom and had it end up being the battery.

 

Batteries are cheap and easy to replace. If its more than a couple years old, I'd just replace it - this elminates one possible problem and you're going to be replacing it pretty soon anyway.

- Mark

 

Another vote for the battery. My MINI was functioning perfectly fine, parked, came back to it not 3 hours later, and all of the electrics were screwy, and refused to start. I tried jumping from 3 different vehicles, and charging my battery from one of them for about 15 minutes. No love. I was convinced water had gotten into some computer component or somesuch (there was a very bad thunderstorm while it was parked). But it was towed back to the dealership, hooked up to a new battery, and no problems since.

The light on my old battery was green, too.

-Paul!

 

I had battery problems in my first MINI....
Try push starting it.... Good luck friend!

 

If you have a volt/ohm meter you can test your battery. Measure the voltage between the battery poles, the meter should read 12 volts or a little higher. With the volt meter still on the battery have someone attempt to start the car, if the voltage drops down several volts then you have a bad battery. If the voltage doesn't drop much then you have another problem.

 

It was the battery as I thought. I just wanted to see if there was anything else I should take a look at while I was checking. Thanks.

 

Unfortunately, maintenance -free batteries give no warning when they let go. One minute they work, the next-nothing. The problem is that the water in them evaporates & then the cell plates are prone to vibration & shorting against eachother. No warning, no slow turning over, just enough juice to maybe run the accessories-if you're lucky-and thats it. Normal life on these batteries are about 3 years or so, give or take a year. I have seen where newer cars have killed batteries inside a year due to short drives-not allowing the battery to charge completely after starting, to the typical garage queen with ultra-low mileage that just gives up after sitting.

Chances are likely it is just a battery, however since you didn't mention what year your car is, I can't say you don't have a problem with the BC1 (body control module) not going to sleep. If I were you, I'd check to make sure your passenger front floor carpets aren't damp. If not, then things are good. If so, you may have a water leak. It's worth checking.

 

.. in my 05 MCS. car has ~9600 miles. Same symptoms exactly - worked great driving to work, dead at 6pm. Jumping the car from the under-hood jumper had no effect. Starter soleniod just clicked, driver's window ratched down an inch at a time in 'low battery' state.

Jumping the car from the rear battery posts the next AM worked fine (!) and I was able to get the car home and place it on a trickle charge.

Battery appears to be holding a charge again but I am checking it daily with a voltmeter and carrying the jump pack until I get a new battery out of the dealer.


regards,

rc

 

The last battery I had go on me went quick. The truck had about 80,000 miles, 3 years old, with no signs that the battery was going. I jumped in it for a quick trip to the store, came out 5 minutes later and it took 30 minutes to get it to finally jump start.

 

Glad to hear it was just the battery and not something MUCH more costly - whew!!!

Donna

 

Battery was my instinct when reading the initial post...Glad it worked out smoothly for you.

Just curious...What model was the MINI & how many miles on the MINI and or battery when this occured?

Thanks!

 

If the car is fairly new and the battery is dying you might have a problem with the vehicle not going into sleep or parasitic draw. If the vehicle does not go to sleep it will drain your battery overnight. Take it to the dealer to get it checked for parasitic draw.

 

Good thing you figured it out. I had the problem with my 2003 Landrover Discovery. The battery has the same exact problem. But guess where it died? The service lane at my dealer!:lo l::lo l:

 

BMW batteries are known to suck. Don't expect them to last more than 2-3 yrs. Those new black ones are supposed to be better, only time will tell though