MINI Cooper S electrical gremlins

DeadSkunk wrote: In reply to racerdave600: Mine has the original from 2003. So far, so good.

As does mine....so far, so good!

Original battery from 2006 here. Sometimes it cranks a little slower so I doubt it will live through next winter.

I just replaced my MINI's original fall of '05 battery this winter, and my father's car is still kicking strong on it's original summer of '06 battery. I keep thinking I should replace it for him when I do my annual go through the car maintenance for him, but it's hard to justify replacing something that's working.

We just replaced the OEM battery in my father's 04 Cooper S. The car was doing all kinds of strange electrical things that were cured by the fresh battery being installed. ( windows going up and down randomly, doors locking and unlocking, etc. )

Fortunately, it's been pretty trouble free otherwise.

Joe Gearin wrote: We just replaced the OEM battery in my father's 04 Cooper S. The car was doing all kinds of strange electrical things that were cured by the fresh battery being installed. ( windows going up and down randomly, doors locking and unlocking, etc. ) Fortunately, it's been pretty trouble free otherwise.

We have had pretty good luck with ours. I will be sad to see it go in a few years, when I will probably replace it with another Cooper s....and make the R53 a track rat or HPDE car.

Weather finally broke so I could get back to this.

I couldn't get a signal at the starter. 12V primary is fine, but no power getting to the solenoid when the key is engaged. So, it's not the starter.

I replaced the battery on the off-chance that any limitation in voltage was causing no signal to be sent to the starter. Brand new 800A CA battery- no change.

I guess next I'll be checking the neutral safety switch.

I'll also check to see if there is any visual evidence of moisture in the BCM, or corrosion.

I don't really want to start pulling apart the column to check the ignition switch, but I guess that would be next.

After that, it's your fault.

I'm short on time today- not sure what I can get done.

I was expecting a momentary contact switch for the clutch lockout switch. Turns out, there are 4 wires on it. I guess it is a more complex position sensor.

Anyone know which wires would be jumped to bypass the switch?

I also tried both keys, in case one of them was faulty. No luck.

My gut is telling me it's an electronic lockout- computer, ignition, safety switch, theft alarm, etc. Any wisdom??

The car runs fine when push started.

I think you should install a push to start button to energize the solenoid and call it a day.

I am actually not the least bit opposed to that idea.

I just pulled the BCM.

The BCM appears clean and dry, but I found 1" of standing water in the floorboards under the carpet.

I'll open it later to check the internals. Now I've got to pull the seats and carpet...

Ah... bummer. Unfortunately, MINI's have been known to leak some water, although I've only heard of that in the rear compartments. Does the car have a sunroof? The drains getting clogged isn't uncommon.

No sunroof.

It wore a Lexan windshield for a while for the Challenge. It was poorly sealed.

Windshield has been replaced.

BCM appeared to be undamaged.

bgkast wrote: I think you should install a push to start button to energize the solenoid and call it a day.

A friend's diesel Jeep Liberty had no-start problems. He took it to the dealer, as he had more money than time. They replaced the starter. Worked ok for a week. Then they replaced the battery (and got raped with a handful of aquarium gravel, for the price). Again, it worked for about a week. They said, “Ours got to be the BCM. That'll be $1800." To which my buddy said, “Berk that!" We spent a few bucks on some wire and a switch, and drilled a hole in a dash panel. Now his wife has racecar starter.

EDIT: Before we got the wire and switch, we used a remote starter, to verify our theory. Can you jump the starter to life? (I don't recall seeing if you've tried that.

In reply to RealMiniDriver:

Haven't tried.

That will be my next step after I get it dried out and put back together.

I am assuming I can, since at this point there is no 12V signal getting to the starter. Pretty sure it would work better with juice.

I'd much rather have an extra bump switch on the dash than screw around with the ridiculous cost and complexity that this could become.

FWIW, there are no dealers around here who could reprogram the new BCM, even if I decided to go that route.

I once had this happen, it turned out that the wiring going to the transmission included a live set for the neutral starter lockout. Being that the car had a standard it was just a loop on the transmission side of the connector and that loop was broken.

I didn't find it until years later when I changed the transmission. I installed a push button right to the starter solenoid when the problem first occurred.

In reply to xFactor:

Not sure what you are showing me (hard to see on my phone).

I can see it is a wiring diagram, but can't tell any details.

Basically (yeah, right) black/blue (+) start signal from the ignition switch to the immobilizer unit(EWS), in the left kick panel. The EWS contains the starter relay, and looks for things like clutch posistion, and the rf chip in the key. Check fuses F5, f6, and F24 they are 5 amp fuses. I think F5 actually goes to the starter solenoid, and may be useful for your plan B.