[jksgoh]

hi guys,
Drove my car fine this morning for a few mins. An hour later i tried to start it again but it wont start. When i turn the key it makes a loud clicking noise about once a sec while the Headlights flash and if a door is open then that window will jutter down in sync with the headlights .
just a bit of hist, which im not too sure is relevant or not. For past week or so car seems to start up a bit wierd (almost as if its going to stall), but it does start up. i thought that was just due to the cold mornings we are experiencing, as if the engine is already warm it starts up fine. Anyway i also filled up with Vpower racing a week ago too, i usually use mobili or bp, but thought id give it a go as my friend kept raving about it.
Its prob just all coincidence but thought id just put it up in case is not!
Anyway, does anyone know whats wrong with my car???

[MickyD]

flat battery?

[jksgoh]

thats what i first thought, but that doesnt seem to fit, cause i was driving just under an hour ago, and no headlights or nething was left on. and if it was a flat bat would it cause the flashing lights and windows going down?

[Mike Clarke]

Have you called MINI Assist?

[minigolf]

Have you tried unplugging it at the wall. It probably just needs a power cycle.



Blat fattery for mine. I know what you're saying re lights and so on, but do you have auto lights or anything like that, car parked under cover??? If all those things are trying to drain power form the battery on start all sorts of odd things could be going on.

How old is the car/battery?

[im_dave]

Sounds like the morning start problem could be related to the fuel... I had similar probs with vortex a few weeks back, waited for the tank to run dry before reverting back to BP ultimate... Solved the problem almost instantaneously. I think a few others have also had similar experiences with different fuels:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/australia...ml#post3013234

As for the windows going down and the headlights flashing - probably not related to the fuel, but maybe a flat batt/electronics as aforementioned...

["Megan"]

Quote: Originally Posted by jksgoh (original)

hi guys,
Drove my car fine this morning for a few mins. An hour later i tried to start it again but it wont start. When i turn the key it makes a loud clicking noise about once a sec while the Headlights flash and if a door is open then that window will jutter down in sync with the headlights .
just a bit of hist, which im not too sure is relevant or not. For past week or so car seems to start up a bit wierd (almost as if its going to stall), but it does start up. i thought that was just due to the cold mornings we are experiencing, as if the engine is already warm it starts up fine. Anyway i also filled up with Vpower racing a week ago too, i usually use mobili or bp, but thought id give it a go as my friend kept raving about it.
Its prob just all coincidence but thought id just put it up in case is not!
Anyway, does anyone know whats wrong with my car???

I know bugger all about cars, but do remember having this happen to me once, and it turned out to be related to the alternator? Not even sure if the MINI uses one LMAO!!

Hopefully it is something simple like a fuse that has blown, and nothing nasty. Good luck

[DaFlake]

Sounds like a flat battery. The MINI can have just enough power to run stuff but not enough to crank it. Mine did the same thing and it was nothing that a jump couldn't take care of.

Also, the original MINI battery is worthless. I'll be swapping mine out very soon and it is only a year and a half old.

[jksgoh]

hi guys,
thanks for the replies. anyway, i had uni today so wasnt able to do nething about it till the arvo.
Rang up RACV (road side assistance), and basically the battery had died.
Its interesting to note that even though the indicator on the battery was green (ie was ok to go) it still wasnt enough to get my car going. the racv dude said it was cause the indicator would only have shown it to be inadequate when under a load (ie when im trying to start my car). Also he said the lights and the windows was due to the fact that the voltage would have dropped to low causing problems with the electricals.
So ye, just ended up replacing it with a RACV battery, mostly for convenience, and because i really couldnt be bothered waiting till tomorrow to go out to bm and get another battery and i also figured there prob wouldnt be much diff at all. But ye hope it holds up just as well!

[DaFlake]

It will probably hold up better. As I mentioned, the MINI battery is pretty crap in quality.

[jksgoh]

hi daflake,
just wondering whats actually wrong with the original mini battery to start off with?
cheers

[minisidewalkman]

Hi DaFlake,
Just a bit of info for you. The green indicator on the battery only tells you the state of charge in that particular cell, not the other five as well. Also it doesn't show whether the battery is faulty or not. It's not the best diagnostic tool, but just a drivers aid to show the driver the approximate level of charge in the battery.

[DaFlake]

Thanks for the info guys and I do know about the little green dot (mine has been black for months).

Anyway, the battery that is in the car is just not the greatest quality and mine didn't last but about a half a year. The first really cold night and the car wouldn't start the next morning. I jumped it and it has been fine since, but I have a feeling that I will be needing another very soon.

When I was younger, I had batteries that would last for years. When the water got low I simply added a bit, jumped if necessary, and we were off and running. My VW Bug battery lasted well over 7 years and it was a DieHard (Sears battery).

Nowadays, I have had to replace the wifes battery twice already (car is 4 years old) and possibly mine very soon (car is almost 2). Seems to me like technology is going backwards on this one.