Urgent help needed (perhaps from the UK) - MINI Cooper Forum

scottwkurth · #1 (**permalink**) Mar 1st, 2005, 09:41 AM

Help! It is 4:30AM here and I woke to a noise I thought was my smoke detector signalling a fire in my house. Fortunately, it wasn't that, but once I located the source of the noise in my garage, I was stumped.

My MINI is sitting in the garage turning its interior lights on and off, periodically locking and unlocking the doors and having the alarm piezo chirp randomly. Obviously this needs to go to the dealer for service, but can anyone offer some IMMEDIATE suggestions to make it stop the chirping noises? I tried using my key to lock and unlock the doors, but the poltergeist just continued away. I also put the key in the ignition and turned it through several of the settings, but to no avail.

I am afraid to actually start the car and "give it life"...

I saw the movie "Christine" and we're just not headed down that road.

Unfortunately, it is several hours until my dealer opens and I don't know what to do. Anyone in timezones that are actually awake now have any advice?

Thanks!
Scott

scottwkurth · #2 (**permalink**) Mar 1st, 2005, 10:05 AM

I have now attached a short video of my haunted MINI

ButtonIt · #3 (**permalink**) Mar 1st, 2005, 10:07 AM

That sounds very strange, all I can suggest is remove the positive battery connection. That'll stop it.

scottwkurth · #4 (**permalink**) Mar 1st, 2005, 10:13 AM

Won't that cause the alarm system to go nuts, though? I thought that there was something in the alarm to prevent people from disabling it by disconnecting the battery as a further theft deterrent. Thanks for the advice - I'll give it a try.

ButtonIt · #5 (**permalink**) Mar 1st, 2005, 10:23 AM

If your car is unlocked then the alarm should be disabled anyway.

scottwkurth · #6 (**permalink**) Mar 1st, 2005, 04:16 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by ButtonIt

If your car is unlocked then the alarm should be disabled anyway.

Unfortunately, it keeps locking and unlocking itself constantly (hence enabling and disabling the alarm), so tampering with the battery should trigger the full alarm.

I drove it to the dealership this morning and it continued to misbehave for the first 5 minutes of the drive. I think other people thought I was stealing the car because the alarm was chirping and the lights were flashing.

scottwkurth · #7 (**permalink**) Mar 1st, 2005, 07:35 PM

Just to close out the thread so that others know what the solution is should this happen to someone else....

The BC1 had to be replaced in order to stop the behavior. My dealership (Patrick MINI) was really great about getting me a loner car at the last minute to get me to work and getting the problem fixed promptly.