[Rob.]

So do we know whether it is just the CD Boost systems or any Boost system. If you know what i mean.

[JEB]

after leaving car for one day it had a flat battery,mini assist jump started it and advised to run for about 10 miles but book it in for check up.car ran fine for 4 days using it every day,however when i went to start it to go to dealership after not starting it for a day it was flat again, assist again came out but wouldnt take it away and give me a courtesy car, stating they have a time limit to get vehicle going and if they manage that there obligation to supply car stops and passes onto dealership.i took it to dealers who stated they couldnt find anything wrong, they then suggested that it might be due to not having many miles on clock(1335) and the fact i only did short runs.this was quickly retracted when i asked infront of other bmw customers if that meant a bmw was only good for persons driving long distances. they then thought that the battery although reading proper volts did not have the amperage so they give it aboost. i was given the car back but didnt have to use it again for 3 days..surprise surprise battery flat.by passed assist, dealership came to place of work and took car away replacing battery.my idea of checking out this website was met with a grunt! up to now (a week later no probs)

[Paul]

After that ridiculous fobbing off, I hope that the new battery solves your problem!

I mean, saying it's because it's a low mileage car and you only do short journeys?! What about the average dealer demonstrator? Do they do a lot of long journeys? Are they high-milers? Hmmm...

[Rob.]

The car having problems is one thing, but the dealers being absolute arses about a known problem is not on. I think the problems would be easier to cope with if the dealers all reacted the same and dealt with the problems correctly. Some dealers seem switched on and happy to help while other make you feel as if you are causing problems when you have just bought a new car that doesn't work properly. Lets hope things improve.

[Dogger]

Quote:

Originally posted by Silver and Black
So do we know whether it is just the CD Boost systems or any Boost system. If you know what i mean.

As with most of the MINI niggles, I doubt it's quite as simple as this - my MiniDisc hasn't drained the battery (yet) and this has the Radio Boost option, which makes me think it's the CD unit itself that causes problems? There seem to be 4 or 5 'fixes' for the drift problem doing the rounds, so it may be the same with the battery problems.

Saying that though, surely everyone who has a CD fitted would have been on here by now to highlight the problem?

I still can't beleive the dealers mentioned above came out with the 'drive it for longer/more often' line!! I used to have to do that with my Classic Mini, but then I bet half the people on this site have the same tale! You don't expect to have to do that with a £13+K car!

[mr.bill]

Paul, it is not the battery, it is the ECU. Everything is controlled by the central computer and it is not shutting all the devices off. If you read some of my early posts, you will see how this is one of the major sticking points in my decision on whether to get the car. The problem with having everything controlled by one microprocessor is you have no way of knowing if everything is switched off. If the ECU fails, you are screwed. The only current drain when the car is parked should be to hold the radio settings, ECU settings (it "learns" how you drive) and perhaps the alarm on standby. That should amount to no more than a few milliamps at best. I suggested a way to measure the current when the car is parked using a VOM or ammeter. Even a simple test light will work. It sounds as though several amps are being drawn. If no lights are on, then something else is the cause.

One thread said there is some "new software" for the ECU to correct the problem. But since the car has been running around in prototype form for four years, this should not be happening. I postulated that we will hear a lot more complaints about flat batteries on the MINI once the "newness" wears off and people stop driving them every day.

The ECU is also responsible for the central locking failures. I wrote to BMW about this and reminded them that if they bring the car to the States with these "niggles," magazines such as Consumer Reports will rate it "not acceptable" and that will be the death knell for it here. They did that to the Suzuki Samauri and Izusu Trooper, think they did it to the Dodge Omni/Plymouth Horizon if my memory serves me. The companies suffered major financial losses. It is too bad BMW chose to make the MINI a "personal luxury vehicle" because more foo-foo features just means more to go wrong. Had they kept it simple, it would have been a lot more reliable, especially over the long term. But it is too late to do anything about that now.

[Apial]

Good to see you are back mr.bill. With your last post on "second thoughts"I thought that you had given up, but no. I tested the current with everything switched off and locked ( no alarm either) and the current drawn was in excess of 0.5 A. This I know because it blew the fuse in my meter! My car is never left stood for more than 3 days, so I have not suffered a flat battery or any other electrical problems. I take it that the remote central locking must always be on so as to receive the key fob transmission.

I

[Paul]

Mr.Bill, as far as I am aware (from various whisperings) the problem is indeed with the 'body' ECU not shutting down certain things, one particular rumour points to the 'boost cd' but that's not to say that's the truth.

I was just hoping for poor old Jeb that the dealer is right and we are wrong, and the new battery sorts it out.

[mr.bill]

Tried to reply earlier but my post didn't go through, at least it didn't show up after a couple hours so figured I would answer again. My apologies if any of you see a repeat.

Apial, I was absent because I couldn't reset my password. Paul finally had to do it for me. I had requested the instructions several times but they apparently kept pulling left and never got to my mailbox...

If you blew out a 1/2 amp fuse (hope it didn't damage your meter!), you have a major problem with the electrical system. I suggest you get to the dealer and get it sorted ASAP. Draining a battery and recharging it repeatedly is going to shorten the life of it. Deep cycle (marine) batteries are designed for it but automotive batteries are not.

Whatever is drawing the current is going to be dissipating power, so will be warm or hot. With the car overnight cold, pop the hood and feel around the engine, on or under the dash, on the doors, etc., to see if you feel a hot spot. If you do, it means the ECU is not shutting that part off.

Excessive (over a few millamps) current drain when the car is parked is NOT normal. My neighbor has a Buick with central locking and an alarm. It stood in his driveway for two weeks without being driven (he was on holiday) and the battery did not go flat. It started right up when he got home.

When you shut the doors, the windows go up. I wonder if the power to the window motor is not shutting off. That is about the last thing that would be activated when you park and exit the car. To test it, you could roll the windows down an inch or two, get out and close the door, then test the standby current. Process of elimination is sometimes necessary to locate the source of the problem.

[Mini_me]

Quote:

Originally posted by timlowden771
My mini one has got the same problem. I have got a company car which I use every day and only use the Mini a couple of times a week and at weekends. My car has been into the garage 3 times now and they can not find a fault with it, even now it went flat when it was down there. It used to go a week or more before going flat, but now it only just manages a couple of days(if I am lucky!) Any ideas what I should do?

Have they tried reprogramming the ECU? if not ask your dealer to contact MINI UK (or BWM UK, whichever it should be) and ask for the instruction or software to do this. It certainly sorted mine. Failing that tell them to get an electrical specialist (a good dealer will have a mechanic that has the know how) to check all circuits until they find the one that it still on. Then check any components in that circuit until they find the offending part.

[Apial]

mr.bill,
The ecu does not go into sleep mode until 16 minutes have elapsed from door closure. Untill that time it will continue to draw current.

Some single CD boosts have sent a signal back to the ecu and restarted it later. Replacement of the CD has cured the fault.

[mr.bill]

Apial,

Well, that seems pretty stupid, doesn't it? I mean, when you shut your computer down, it doesn't stay on for 16 minutes doing nothing, does it? I also find it very hard to believe the CD player could be drawing enough current to drain the battery in a day or so. The motors are brushless DC and don't draw much current, and besides, the motor only runs when a CD is playing. Take it out, it draws nothing. The amps should be class B and idle current would be low on them too.

Automotive electrical systems usually have two positive wires from the battery. A large one goes to the starter and a much smaller fusible link goes to the ignition switch and fuse block. If you can wire an aftermarket amp meter in line with the fusible link, you can see if current is being drawn when the ignition is off. I prefer "real gauges" to the usual "idiot lights."

[Apial]

Its not the CD motor per se that draws the current, its the whole system. Once the wake up call is sent to the ECU everything is active.
The same system is on the 3-series BMWs. Systems that don't switch off will run the battery flat in less than 48 hours.
Unfotunately I don't have a high current meter.

[mr.bill]

Well, hopefully they can reprogram the ECU to prevent that. The one thing that has bothered me most about the MINI is the electrical system. I can forsee a lot of problems for long term ownership, but "that's the way it is." Most things are designed on a computer now and sometimes they don't work in the real world like they do in cyberspace. If I decide to get a MINI (and it is up in the air at the moment given the growing lists of problems and the inability of BMW to correct them), I will probably install an aftermarket amp gauge so I can tell if there is a major battery drain when the key is off. It would go a long way toward preventing a lot of calls to MINI services.

[Dogger]

Quote:

Originally posted by Apial
Its not the CD motor per se that draws the current, its the whole system. Once the wake up call is sent to the ECU everything is active.
The same system is on the 3-series BMWs. Systems that don't switch off will run the battery flat in less than 48 hours.
Unfotunately I don't have a high current meter.

Flat battery for me this morning after leaving the car standing during a very cold and wet Sunday (the 1st time the car's been stood for any longer than 12 hours). According to the MINI rescue guy, there were dozens of MINI's struck down this morning with the same problem. It may have been mentioned earlier on this thread, but the problem only comes to light when the outside temperature reaches close to zero at which point the fan in the radio wave unit is activated to ensure that the display screen doesn't mist over when the car is started up. As Apail says, the whole system is then on alert and its this that drains the battery.

New units are now available, so the problem is effectively fixed - my MiniDisc unit is on back order (might not get it before Christmas though). I'd strongly urge everyone with a Radio Wave unit to get these replaced asap before it happens to you!

Just to leave on a more balanced note, my old car used to do something similar - the internal clock and memory functions on an old Sony unit used to drain the battery if I forgot to take the fascia with me when I got out of the car. Still..I don't expect this to happen on an £11+K car..

[minimouse]

my car was left from tuesday to saturday. By then I had a very flat battery. My dealer told me today that it was my CD playerthat had drained the battery which was still playing when I switched the engine off.

[mini mini]

My CD player has now been replaced - problem solved - he starts every time now! (fingers crossed!)

[TJL]

I too have had a flat battery after leaving my Cooper for a week in the garage, but this wasn't the full extent of the problem. The Dealership traced the fault to the CD player which was drawing 0.8A continuously. A new player was installed which apparently has a modification to prevent the current drain when ignition is switchd off. This seems to have fixed that problem.

However as the battery was being drained the alarm system got upset and went off, which wasn't a good advert for the mini with my neighbours at 2am ! It was very difficult to reset the alarm. After charging the battery to get the car going, the alarm and central locking systems no longer worked which required a new Body Controller (BC1) because not only had it forgotten its settings but had seemingly been irreversibly damaged by the low battery condition. This can apparently happen again because it was replaced by exactly the same unit. Has anyone else had problems with this after suffering a drained battery ?

I am amazed that a fully validated body controller design could lose its settings due to a low battery - they normally have non-volatile memory for ECU settings, and that the hardware was damaged by what should be considered a 'normal' event in the automotive environment.

This is just a bit of potentially useful info for anyone else with battery problems and it would be interesting to hear if it has happened to others.

[Pglenning]

Well I only left it for two days with using it and the battery is flat(again). I have got it booked in on the 31 December. I will the CD player and is it the problem. I will let you all know soon.

[smiffy]

MINI have said that there is a 'faulty Batch' of CD Players, that have been fitted to 100 MINI's. MINI have said that they dont know what car's these have been fitted in. There is a letter that a reader has sent into this weeks Autocar regarding this matter.