I have a 2005 Cooper S Convertible. About a month ago, I started having some unusual problems with it. Occasionally, while driving, usually while idling or at low speeds, several indicator lights will come on and the fuel and temperature indicators will drop into negative territory, and the radio will turn off. This only lasts for 4-5 seconds, the car continues to run, and then everything returns to normal. Sometimes this will happen numerous times in a day, and then I can go days without anything happening. On one occasion, I lost power steering while driving, but shutting the car off then turning it back on restored it. A few days ago, I tried to put the top down remotely, and it stopped halfway. Once I got in the car and started it, I could get the top to move a few inches at a time, but not close completely. Removing the keys and restarting it magically fixed it. On a few occasions, I had a hard time starting the car. Usually when this happened, the clock and trip counter also reset.

This morning, I unlocked the car remotely, tried to start it and got a single click, and then after that, nothing. There is no power at all.

I'm long out of warranty and the closest dealer is 30 minutes away and terrible. Anyone have any idea what's going on?

 

I began a thread about something similar about a week ago - Potentially Serious electrical Problem.

I don't think folks know enough about the electrical system...I paid for a half hour of diagnostic time to help define the general problem. After that Mini wants to charge $153.00 per hour to poke around the car to find a worn wire..."could cost you $70.00 or $3,000.00"

I do not trust mini tech's non-computer diagnostic skills based upon my experience. I had an angine stumbling problem about a year ago and brought the car in. The code offered a potential vaccuum related problem so min changed the spark plugs and individual coils and charged me about $600.00. I was quite angry and told them I could have change all of those in about 30 minutes for a lot less...and by the way, how does that fix a vacuum problem? I drove home, remove the IC cover and began to poke around...in about 30 seconds I found the vacuum line to the JCW air filter box had come loose. I re-connected it and all was fine.

I should have looked first, but the art of diagnosing problems is apparently not part of tech training.

 

Rhino,

You say your car is long out of warrantee, have you checked/changed your battery? It sounds like a bad ground or a short. but if your battery is not holding propper charge, it could potentially cause a similar issue.

If you do change your battery do a quick fuse check after. The few batteries I've changed in cooper S models always wind up popping a fuse, don't really know why, but it's an easy and cheap fix