Hi all,

Hope this is the right place for troubleshooting talk. Thank you for your attention and help.

2013 r60 countryman - 66k mi (~107k km)

I get home 3 weeks ago and she simply won't start up after Parking in the garage. Suspect optima yellowtop battery. AutoZone tests and says it it's holding a full charge - swap for new battery. Start up once and then goes back to the same. Replaced again with another battery fearing that the AGM type was necessary. Tried to register battery with a handheld I bought on Amazon but the codes to register were not provided and I had no idea how to proceed. Returned and went down path for ISTA later

Buy new starter. Doesn't fix problem. New grounding strap from passenger side of chassis to motor mount - no change.

Yesterday I measured the signal wire to the starter and it's getting 12v when trying to start.

With the starter signal wire disconnected from the starter the same sound is made when starting the car (see link below). This makes me think the starter is not part of the problem at all.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ba1fZaHEwCFHbito9

Checked power wire to starter voltage and it's solid along with power wire to alternator from starter - they seem to daisy chain.

​​​​​​Codes pulled from ISTA are at following link - there are many so I'm not sure where to start (clear and then retest?).

https://photos.app.goo.gl/jAk7XM1YnzPsTkqQ7

I pulled the ignition switch and inspected, nothing looked out of the ordinary so I put it back last night.

So puzzled. The weird thing is that it started up two times after the first no start - once to get me to the auto store. Then no more start. Changed battery at store, started - got me home, then not once since.

Any ideas to move forward?

Thanks again,

EGO

 

Do you have door chime sounds?

 

Pretty sure she doesn't have any. The sound heard in the video is the rear view mirror that I installed which acts as a dash cam.

 

I have 08 mini Cooper customer brought it in with no crank all the lights come on the dash the battery is good but wont (justanswer.com)
Is it useful?

 

Thank you for suggestion, black_stallion. I think this model differs from mine as the fuses they are referencing at the end don't seem to be related to my model (for instance f17 and f34 in my fuse panel are steering column and mirror/accessories related).

 

This ended up being corrosion on the starter wire between it and the battery clamp post (I added a larger post terminal clamp some years back for car audio wiring and it turns out the OEM cable and new post terminal clamp did not like each other - the wire was completely fine but the terminal was milly corroding beneath where the wire was clamped.

I ended up going to the website justanswers.com and there was a really helpful BMW professional who helped me through the process of testing the wires, especially during load (starting the car). the voltage was there until I would go to start the car, then it dropped off to 1/2v or so.

Thank you all for your support.

 

Glad you got the help and able to figure it out! Thanks for the update as well. Good to know common sense and fundamental troubleshooting is still working :-)

 

What was the actual resolution? Just cleaning the corrosion?