[Stormbringer55]

The Car finaly went in to the Mini dealers today.
Having had it in the independent garage and all faults cleared plus a new vacum sensor fitted the stop start still refused to work .
The air con neeeded checking as well .
So after 2 hours I was told the car was ready .Great Stop Stat and Aircon working I thought.
I enquired what had been done,the air con is leaking said the receptionist ,from where I asked .
The tank was his reply.
I told him they dont have a tank and they were susposed to be telling me where the leak was .
His answer to that was he wanted to rebook it for a leak test which will cost another £99 and they want it all day .
As for the stop start they said the battery was causing it not to work as I did to many short journeys .
So 1400 miles last week touring round the Lakes and Liverpool and keeping the battery on an overnight smart charger with battery showing 13.9 volts ,how can it be the battery?
So I left £99 worse of and neither fault fixed or diagnosed .
The dealer in question is amain BMW /Mini dealership.
So what next?

 

[mike1967]

charger with battery showing 13.9 volts ,how can it be the battery?

with the charger on the battery this just proves the charger works, a brand new battery left for a few hours after being charged should read 12.6/8 volts standing voltage, people get confused between how many volts are showing and what energy is left in a battery, ie amps,, amps do the work over the 12.6 volts, Batteries are typically made of six galvanic cells in a series circuit. Each cell provides 2.1 volts for a total of 12.6 volts at full charge. its a chemical reactions that charges the battery the very first time its filled with acid really is magic, hmm maybe not its science etc,
to correctly check the battery it needs to be drop tested ie 30amp plus load on it over a 30 second time span and watch what happens to the voltage, of volts drop right down low and dont jump back up after removing the load the battery is nailed, ie volts jump back to 10volts then 1 cell will be open circuit or damaged,, just be careful not to put to much of a load on battery for to long have seen them explode when a spark from the load prongs make a spark if been on charge for a while, battery gasses are so explosive and burn you if get hit by it below link drop test tool safe to use we have the old style ones with prongs
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/GUNSON-S...=160919951377d96989aa01bb4537982513597a165c62

 

[Stormbringer55]

What I don't get is that before the independent garage changed the vacuum sensor and cleared the code the stop start light would come on with a line through it .
Now it does not come on .
Could they have left a lead off ?
I think someone said there should be a lead on the earth Terminal of the battery for the stop start .
I cant see one other than the main earth and a wire going to a terminal attached to the side of the earth on the battery.
I will drop test the battery.

 

[mike1967]

What I don't get is that before the independent garage changed the vacuum sensor and cleared the code the stop start light would come on with a line through it .
Now it does not come on .
Could they have left a lead off ?
I think someone said there should be a lead on the earth Terminal of the battery for the stop start .
I cant see one other than the main earth and a wire going to a terminal attached to the side of the earth on the battery.
I will drop test the battery.

that's a new one on me ie earth cable only for the start stop on the battery not saying it dont just i've not heard of that before , i always was under the view it was all controlled within its own ecu that takes feeds of the canbus net work through the body control module that also plays with the comfort and main car ecu,
this is one of those faults that needs a deep diagnostics done as its based around the central ecu control areas of the car or within these are clues ie codes stored maybe,

 

[Stormbringer55]

Thats what I was hoping BMW would do ,however there are no stored codes so beond that they didnt know what could cause it not to work other than my journey profile of 130 journeys under 5km .
When I told them I had driven to the Lake district and then Liverpool and back to St Albans last week they where suprised .(and had the battery checked and on my smart charger).
So Im now sure what to check next.
I also tried disconecting the battery overnight .
This weekend I am going to check around the enging bay and fuse box,does the SS have it own fuse?
Can the air con not having any gas effect it?
The leak test and re gas is being done on Tuesday by a local mobile company DT Airconditioning that has been recomended as Mini want another £99 to do a leak test then ther cost of any repair and regas.

 

[mike1967]

Thats what I was hoping BMW would do ,however there are no stored codes so beond that they didnt know what could cause it not to work other than my journey profile of 130 journeys under 5km .
When I told them I had driven to the Lake district and then Liverpool and back to St Albans last week they where suprised .(and had the battery checked and on my smart charger).
So Im now sure what to check next.
I also tried disconecting the battery overnight .
This weekend I am going to check around the enging bay and fuse box,does the SS have it own fuse?
Can the air con not having any gas effect it?
The leak test and re gas is being done on Tuesday by a local mobile company DT Airconditioning that has been recomended as Mini want another £99 to do a leak test then ther cost of any repair and regas.

its possible that aircon faults might cause the comfort module to go in to a safe play state i would guess based on the this. the other day i had a citroen in with same engine as mini petrol and it had been to a few garages for a over heating issue, they got told one place head gasket, another place got told gasket and thermostat housing and temp sensor another place said it was main ecu as this car would not should more than -48 below freezing,,, i have spent a few hours a day on it in my spare time, i had the main ecu checked and was perfect, even try'd a known good bsm module and stripped the wiring down checked that through,,, still no further a head even the guy who has been repairing ecu's all his life was baffled,, made a a car to a guy i use dale he specialises in this things first thing he said was body control bsi module,, this controls all the other ecu's. via can bus and Citroen would want £800-£1200 to replace it, bought secondhand one for £35 plus sent it off to get it cloned to the car and job done, unfortunately the mini bci is near impossible to clone its protected so new one tends to be the only way forward some other a repair service etc at a cost, trouble is its so complicated to work on and trouble knowing whether its a software issue or hardware issue or wiring or outline ecus that play with it,

 

[Stormbringer55]

Thanks for the info .

Over the weekend I checked various things, conections ,relays etc.
There are three fuses in the main fues box that are linked too the stop start ,they are all ok .
Charged the battery again and tried the spare key .All failed to get it working .
The Air con is being done tomorrow .
After that I will just have to live with the stop start not working.

 

[Stormbringer55]

Air con done today .
After the test where done and the vacume held, the aircon was recharged .
All working fine now .

Stop Start still not working !!

 

[mike1967]

Air con done today .
After the test where done and the vacume held, the aircon was recharged .
All working fine now .

Stop Start still not working !!

start stop works via the body control module that links the switch and throttle and clutch and brake pedal sensors, so if clutch sensor was faulty that could cause it, if brake pedal sensor switch as well or it might be wrongly adjusted ie it had slid out of its holder hole as such, worth checking first, as if no codes listed for it then i would think that the body control module would be doing its job, but that said these stupid control boxes are a rule on to them selves, as they are interlinked with everything the car is, ie if they dont work nothing works or if a glitch in a chip they will effect something down the line,

 

[Stormbringer55]

Thanks will check the brake pedal switch (is that the same one that does the brake lights )?
Are the clutch and throtle sensons on the pedals ?

 

[Stormbringer55]

I have just removed the pedal trim panel ( 3 torx screws on lower edge and 3 trim clips on upper edge).
The brake switch is in place and sucure .I guess if the brake lights are working this switch must be ok?
There is another sensor / switch on the lower steering column.
Nothing on the clutch pedal or accelerator pedal.

 

[mike1967]

I have just removed the pedal trim panel ( 3 torx screws on lower edge and 3 trim clips on upper edge).
The brake switch is in place and sucure .I guess if the brake lights are working this switch must be ok?
There is another sensor / switch on the lower steering column.
Nothing on the clutch pedal or accelerator pedal.

do you need to press clutch pedal to start car if not that could be a clue i'm pretty sure on my two clubmans you needed to press clutch pedal in to get it to start, ie should be a pressure switch to clutch pedal

below link gives idea of what it looks like
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mini-R56...m3d87851503:g:tn0AAOSw8d5ZTkWs&frcectupt=true
and pedal box
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BMW-MINI...255318&hash=item1a7aabae79:g:xCcAAOSwXn5bf7Kj

 

[Stormbringer55]

Yes I do have to press clutch to start .
So if the starting and the brake lights work the 2 switches are ok ?

I need to have another look.
I had another look and the clutch switch is there and seems as if it's where it should be .
How does the ECU know when the car is in neuteral ,is there a switch on the gear box or gear lever ?
My car also has the gear change arrows which work ok.
So still no SS .

 

[Robuk2]

Saw your post and wondered why you are so concerned over stop/start not working, are you aware the gains from this system are marginal, set against that, are you aware that the system considerably reduces the expensive AGM batterys life. Me, I have disabled mine by disconnecting the sensor (IBS) attached to the negative lead of the starter battery, my car is a 2015 SLK though, with the sensor disabled the smart charging is also disabled which means your alternator will now attempt to always fully charge your battery, smart charging under engine power only charges the battery to around 75% the other 25% of space left in the battery is for intermittent regeneration only which may or may not occur, depending on how the car is driven.

batteriesinternational.com agm-aftermarket-falters-as-drivers-disable-start-stop-function