[dguard]

Strange one this morning. My '04 Cooper S won't start. When I try to start the hightlights (the Xenons) and dome light blink on and off, the driver's door indexes down about an inch with each blink. The car was just serviced Friday - first oil change and inspection.

The dome lights were bright, suggesting its not a battery problem but the car has
a history of have a flat battery on 4 different occasions. MINI Service previously
attributed this to a large parasitic drain coming from my after market CD changer ;-(.
This is a new problem / symptom since removal of said CD changer.

Is it possible for a MINI to act like this if the battery was border-line. Still enough life in
it to run the dome lights but when asked to engage the starter motor, all h*ll break
loose?

Any ideas? I called my local MINI service and got an answering machine, arghhh.

Thanks for the help,,

Dave Guard
'04 Cooper S, 11,700miles

[S33BBY]

I can't answer your question, but have you called MINI Emergency Service? For a serious problem like this, it's probably the best starting point.

[Malin Dixon]

Yes, dead batteries can do all sorts of things but even a virtually flat one will manage the lights for a bit.

There is a solenoid that operates the starter motor. If the starter causes the voltage to drop very low, the solenoid will turn off, so the starter turns off, so the battery voltage recovers, so the solenoid turns on, etc etc

The result is 3 ish clicks per second with everything electrical misbehaving in sympathy.

If you've flattened a battery a few times it may now be damaged and time for a new one.

[dguard]

So yes, I called MINI roadside service last night. I didn't have time to mess with it
during the day yesterday due to work priorities. I posted here becuase I got an
answering machine at MINI Service department. I was hoping for some advice
on how deal with the issue now that's in the service department.

I don't want them simply charging the battery and returning the car. Its happened
before with and without my aftermarket CD changer. They blamed my CD changer
because it wasn't made by MINI. Its not in there now and hasn't been for a number of
months.

Yes, its cold 2F (-17C) here in Cincy right now but the car is inside overnight and
recently sat for 9 days and restarted just fine. The dome light in the boot was pulsing
while the tow driver fiddle with the tow hook. He was kinda amused by that. Again,
the driver window was creeping dow with every pulse.

Thanks for the help,

Dave

[dguard]

Dealer response:

Charged the battery. No other faults found.
We'll see.

Dave