[dantay999]

I've had a look through the threads but cant find this particular problem.
The other day my Mini would not lock so I started the engine, turned it off and closed the door again and it locked. I thought this was a fluke.....got back from the shops and the car would not open! had to unlock manually and the b****y alarm went off (looked great driving through town) and re-set itself after about five minutes. Today I got to work and it would not lock....moved the car and then it locked. These have all happened in places without mobile transmitters and with both the old and new key. My car is a Nov 2004 build cooper, does anyone have any ideas? Thanks.

[Paul]

I've heard that mobile transmitters can mess with the signal, have you tried this at other locations and it's worked OK?

[rickaroony]

Short story, and you probably have already done this, get the dealer to replace remote locking key (& you'll need to bring all the keys in to get them sync'd, should only take 1/2 hour). Not sure what you mean by old key & new key...?

Long story see below:

Had a number of problems with locking on 52 plate MC.

First boot lock kept opening before autolock kicked in. Slightly unnerving, but then when the boot wouldn't open at all (and unlike some US models there is no internal manual release pull to open it) I contacted Mini.

As we were in Sweden we had the delights of dealing with the Local breakdown agent, which was not brilliant, but I digress....

Anyway, dealer simply replaced boot lock, problem solved.

Second the autolock has been problematic (I'm sure there are a few other threads on this website regarding this problem). It had been reset twice. But still would sometimes not autolock (and I know that the driver's door is in effect the 'reset button' for the autolock).

The long and short of this merry tail is that the dealer finally admitted that the remote key do have known problems which messes with the autolock amongst other things (including locking generally, and alarm). Can't believe it would be the remote key battery on an '04 unless you've got a predilection with lockin' & unlockin' every 10 mins.

Also remote can get confused if you repeatedly lock & unlock (say more than 5 times in a row), though it didn't cause the problem you described.

[dantay999]

Cheers guys, when I say "new key" I mean the one I keep in the draw. The problem is has not happened again since (twice was enough though). The 2005 3 button key charges whilst in the ignition so I dont think its a dud battery. Spoke to a friend who's mate has an 05 spec S and they had the same problem and their dealer fixed it with a software upgrade?....mines due its first service in 900 miles so i'll let them know then....did call my dealer but they never got back to me, hey ho . Thanks again for your help.