Hey fellas, long time lurker but this'll be my first post. I've scoured all the pages and have found related problems but I've still got no fix. I've got a 2002 R50 Mini Cooper base model with a manual transmission.

So, this is what's happening and what I've done so far. Started having problems about two weeks ago after my harmonic balancer blew up and shredded the belt but didn't break. Fixed it, and was running fine for about a week to now have some funky electrical problem. Went out to start her up after work one night and the engine wouldn't crank over. All the electrical systems appear to be working fine and we were able to push start it so I assumed my starter was going. Yesterday I finally got around to replacing the starter, get it all back together go to turn the key and I hear what sounded like a turbo spooling up so I can only assume the starter was spinning up but not engaging the flywheel. So now I'm thinking its the clutch sensor. I did a little bypass of the violet/white wire to brown/black and twisted them together to still have the same issue.

If I push start it everything shifts fine and sounds beautiful. Also there was normal wear on the starter teeth and no metal shavings or anything. So, any ideas?

 

If you hear the starter motor running, then it's not the clutch safety switch. And it's probably not any kind of electrical problem outside the starter, although a weak battery is said to cause similar symptoms.

Look for missing teeth on the flywheel.

Bad solenoid on starter.

Incorrect starter.

Improper installation.

 

This. Pretty much nails it. I would expect that the least likely problem is missing teeth on the flywheel since you've turned the flywheel multiple times by running it, unless of course it's missing a *lot* of teeth on the flywheel.

If it's not too much trouble to take the starter back out, do it, then use a set of jumper cables to go directly from a battery to the starter terminals while it's lying on the driveway, or whatever, and see if the starter gear snaps out like it should to engage the flywheel. If it does, your solenoid is good. Then you're just down to the last 2 problems above. If you test your starter solenoid this way, be ready for the starter to jump. Those motors have a ton of torque.

 

So my girlfriend just informed me that evidently the one and only key we have got wet and it had already started to split open at the button so im sure some liquid got in. Is there a way to test the chip in it to determine if its still ok?

 

If it still starts your car, then the key works.

Not sure if you're thinking that a cracked key is causing your starting problem or you're asking about a separate issue, but if the starter spins, the key is working.

 

Sure sounds like the starter solenoid is not popping out to engage the flywheel.