Flat battery problems

[monsta]

Hello all

It's been a while since I posted a fault on here but my car has had a problem with flat batteries for two consecutive winters now and nobody seems to be able to fix it!

The problem last year only occured a couple of times during the winter and I mentioned it to Broad Oak Mini when it went in for a service, they checked everything and found no faults.

Everything was fine until this winter when it started again. If I don't drive the car for more than 24 hours it won't start. This has happened at least 4 times now. I booked it into my new local dealer (Chandler's MINI) and they had it for three days, leaving me to drive around in a rather thirsty Auto MINI One

They called me up to ask if I would come in and disconnect any extras I had fitted, which I did. They later called and asked if I had a tracker fitted, which I don't.

I was supposed to be picking the car up on Thursday evening but they called about half an hour before saying they couldn't trace the problem and would need it until the next day.

On the Friday afternoon, they phoned and said it was ready to collect, saying they tracked the fault down to a faulty bc1 unit (Body control) which had previously been replaced as part of a recall anyway.

I picked the car up last thing on Friday and was confident that it would be ok, anyway, didn't drive the car all day yesterday and when I went to start it this morning it was flat again

Quite annoying to say the least!

My problems only seem to occur in the winter, I went on holiday for about a week towards the end of last summer and it started first time when I got back.

Any ideas? I've been told the battery has been tested and all is OK. Same for the alternator.

Need to get this sorted asap as the winter will soon be over and my warranty runs out in August so next winter will be too late!!!

[Speedster]

Ive also been having electrical problems this winter. Last night I was driving back home down non-lit country lanes and all my electrics stopped working one by one - 1st the ABS, then the radio, wipers, power steering, heater, clock and finally the headlights! Couldn't see a thing and luckily managed to pull into a layby. I waited there with the engine running and all other electrics off for about 1/2 an hour, after which all the electrics suddenly came alive again.

Had exactly the same experience back in November and the car went to BMW. They tested the battery / alternator and could not find anything wrong.

Being a JCC race car it is fitted with a battery isolater , but I am certain that is not the problem in my case.

Monsta, I reckon in both of our cases it is a problem with the alternator - JCW did say to me that they heard an intermitant strange sound coming from mine when they had the car for a period of time late last year, yet BMW did not agree. The alternator is probably not charging the battery as efficiently as it should. Therefore when you use headlights / wipers / heater, etc in the winter months it results in a sudden decrease in battery power.

I might be wrong, but I can only pin point the problem to the alternator.

[Racer]

Being in need of a new alternator I was suprised to find out that there is more than one type ! presumably taking into account how many power sapping optional extras you have !?

PS Speedster probably just a side effect of driving with one wheel on the grass verge as oppossed to the tarmac all the lectricity has drained to the right side of the car away from the battery

[Speedster]

Quote: Originally Posted by Racer

Being in need of a new alternator I was suprised to find out that there is more than one type ! presumably taking into account how many power sapping optional extras you have !?

PS Speedster probably just a side effect of driving with one wheel on the grass verge as oppossed to the tarmac all the lectricity has drained to the right side of the car away from the battery

Very funny!

[MiniMinor]

I had this problem on my first mini. My battery went flat after only standing for 3 days over christmas ( 02 ) called out mini service and they just boost started it, only for it to go flat again a few days later so called them out again so they boost started it once more and told me to book it in at the dealers.
So in it went for them to tell me it was the battery the had gone down. So all was fine until this christmas even though it had stood for over a week in the summer while on hoilday it went flat after only standing again for about 3 days. Called out mini service who boosted it to get it going. And they told me it maybe the mindisc head unit apparently they can drain the battery if the temp drops below 0'c so he showed me which fuse to take out, which solved the problem. Traded it in a few weeks later so not sure what they did to it in the end.

[monsta]

Thanks for the info, I have a suspicion that it will turn out to be the minidisc player but I'm a bit worried they won't replace it as I had a CD player in there as standard (which was replaced as part of a recall) and it's possible the minidisc wasn't recalled whilst in the previous owner's possesion.

Any opinions on this? In theory it should be covered by warranty as it's a BMW/MINI product still despite having changed owners.

Oh well, time will tell... back to the dealers this week..

[MiniMinor]

Well i know for sure that my minidisc unit was checked ages ago so they must have missed mine too. Don't know how they check it unless it's certain set of serial numbers.

[snoopy]

I would tell them that you think it is the mini disc player becuse a "friend" had the same fault and it was the minidisc player. Let them tell you that it is not covered under warranty. As you said it is still a MINI product and it is faulty, what would happen if you bought this unit from them as a spare part? would they warranty then

Any way it should be Apline (the OEM MFG) that should be paying for these faults, not BMW nor the owner.

[reallyv]

well, i have had a problem with the battery aswell,

when i bought the car i could not test the sat nav cos the battery was flat, the dealer said that it had only been on the forecourt for a week. I have fitted a stereo to it, and it all seems to work fine. but i did sit in the car one day for about 2 hours with the music on quietly, and when i went to drive off the batery wa sflat,

luckily i was on a hill and i could roll off to go!!.

but then about 3 days later the battery was flat again, and the indicator was black.

i have heard that the sat nav takes alot of standby battery life when you are not moving.

Is this true?? and do any of you guys have sat nav?

[dietcokeplease]

Quote: Originally Posted by monsta

Thanks for the info, I have a suspicion that it will turn out to be the minidisc player but I'm a bit worried they won't replace it as I had a CD player in there as standard (which was replaced as part of a recall) and it's possible the minidisc wasn't recalled whilst in the previous owner's possesion.

Any opinions on this? In theory it should be covered by warranty as it's a BMW/MINI product still despite having changed owners.

I doubt that the service department will concern themselves with the fact that the MD wasn't the original radio on your car. It would be way too much work for them to check the spec on every MINI and BMW that they service.

In addition if it is a recurring fault within the period of warranty, they can't refuse to fix it after the 3 year cutoff.

Quote:

i have heard that the sat nav takes alot of standby battery life when you are not moving.

Is this true?? and do any of you guys have sat nav?

Not sure if this will help you Linden, but I have aftermarket SatNav in my MPV and I notice that the CD-ROM unit doesn't switch off for about a minute after withdrawing the key from the ignition. Also there's a flashing light on the CD-ROM unit that flashes so I presume that it doesn't switch off fully and enters a standby mode.

[monsta]

Quote: Originally Posted by dietcokeplease

I doubt that the service department will concern themselves with the fact that the MD wasn't the original radio on your car. It would be way too much work for them to check the spec on every MINI and BMW that they service.

In addition if it is a recurring fault within the period of warranty, they can't refuse to fix it after the 3 year cutoff.



Not sure if this will help you Linden, but I have aftermarket SatNav in my MPV and I notice that the CD-ROM unit doesn't switch off for about a minute after withdrawing the key from the ignition. Also there's a flashing light on the CD-ROM unit that flashes so I presume that it doesn't switch off fully and enters a standby mode.

Cheers DC

I've booked it in for next Monday so I'll point them in the direction of the MD player, see what they come up with.