Good evening from TN. The reason I joined is because I’ve found a nice 2002 mini S here locally for a real good price with 100,000 miles. The only bad thing is that the owner states that it won’t start and that the ground cable on the battery is getting hot. Any ideas what it might be? He says that it was doing fine and went to start and it wouldn’t turn over. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Ground strap getting hot -- well, real hot -- is a sign of excessive resistance. Broken wire strands in the cable and bad connections.

For a 2002 my advice would be to fit new battery cables and ground straps and be sure the battery/cable connections are good and this goes double for the ground strap connections.

 

Thanks for your help! This is too nice of a car to pass on and hopefully I will be able to get it running.

 

Welcome

+ 1 battery cable and check the cable to the alternator. Ground strap on the passenger side in the engine bay also. Its right on the motor mount to body connection.