Hello,

I hope that someone on this forum can help me. I have been having issues with turning my 2004 Mini Cooper engine on in the last two weeks. I would turn the key all the way to the point where normally a bunch of lights show up on the dashboard, but most of them wouldn't light up. Then, when I keep rotating the key and try to start the engine, nothing happens. It would take me a few tries before eventually seeing the lights on the dashboard light up and then being able to turn the engine on.

I am thinking that something is going wrong with the ignition switch but I wanted to seek your opinion before bringing my Mini in for an expensive service.

Any ideas on what might be happening?

Many thanks,

Thomas

 

Silly question, but have you checked to make sure your battery cables are tight?

Friend had a similar issue in his jetta just the other week...

-Chase

 

Hey Chase,

Thanks much for your post. I did look into the battery connections, tried to tighten them, and since then, I haven't experienced anymore the issue with dashboard lights not lighting up. I'll see if the "fix" works in the next few days and will post again to let you know.

Again, thanks very much for your help, I appreciate it!

Thomas

 

Sure! You may want to make sure that all of the washers are where they belong on the terminal connectors. When I put mine back on, I got mixed up where they were supposed to be and they didn't tighten properly, giving me a similar problem.

-Chase

 

if it were me I'd dtop by AutoZone or the like and have the battery condition checked. Your charge may be dropping such that you are "on the edge".

Most major parts chains will check the battery for free.