Hey Guys,

My 2005 Mini Cooper S (80k Mi). Won't start.


Here's the story. I was going out to buy some lunch down the street at the local market. I noticed when starting the car it sounded like the car having trouble starting as if the battery was drained, it did start and drive fine. So after I'm done with lunch shopping I return to the car and try to turn on the car. NOTHING. Car does not crank at all. No cracking sounds, nada. There no starting noise or clicking noise. At first I thought it was the battery, but a friend came to help me jump the damn thing and it still did not start. Funny thing is, all accessories have plenty of power. So I had AAA tow it back to my drive way.


I need help. What could it be? Bad starter?

It could be a poor connection on the starter motor, although it is more likely the key needs to be resynced to the car, do you have a spare key you can try?

It could be a poor connection on the starter motor, although it is more likely the key needs to be resynced to the car, do you have a spare key you can try?

Yes, I have a spare key. It does not work either. However I did do research about the immobilizer doing strange things. My key fob still is able to unlock and lock the doors+trunk. Does that exclude the immobilizer?

Well update.

I pulled the battery out and brought it to Autozone, tested at 12v with 99 percent charge. We were able to test the starter and it was fine. We tested the neutral safety switch and the prong plugged into it and it was fine. I've looked at every single fuse in both fuse boxes and they were all fine.

Today we were able to turn the car on by pushing the car and popping the clutch. I left the car on for 20 minutes. Turned it off, did not turn on.

I think it has to be either the ignition switch or my key and immobilizer are no longer working together.

My question is, should the car started up by pushing/clutch pop if the key/immobilizer were bad? Should the car still turn on from pushing/ clutch pop if the ignition switch were going bad?

Any way to test which has gone bad?

If your immobilizer key was not talking to your car then clutch starting would not work as ECU controls the ability for the car to start. If the car is starting by push starting then I'd be taking a closer look at whether the starter motor is getting power.

You should try and have it plugged in to a diagnostic tool and see if any error codes come up.