Hello folks! I started having this recurring problem with my wife's Mini R50 2003. For no apparent reason, usually after leaving the car parked for a good part of the day, we will turn the key, and nothing at all will happen...no electric. Upon trying to jump the car, we get a clicking sound with the lights going on and off in sync with the clicking, but the car doesn't start. Not until I completely disconnect the rings from the positive and negative battery terminals and then reconnect them does the car start with no problem whatsoever. The car is currently at a local shop, where the mechanic is trying to recreate the problem where he can have the car hooked up to troubleshoot it. The problem there being that it starts up every time, so I am wasting time leaving it there. Does anyone have any suggestions on how this problem might be troubleshot? Thanks ahead of time. This problem is driving me nuts!

The first time I came across it really was when the car wouldn't start one morning. I called AAA, and they came. It exhibited all the same symptoms as above (with no electric whatsoever). The AAA guy thought the positive terminal looked loose, so he tightened it and it started right away. The thing is, I had disconnected the battery previous to that, and just not tightened the connections yet, so I basically disconnected and then reconnected the battery as I did more recently. When he left, I just felt dumb. Now I realize is was the beginning of a sporadic problem.

 

I know it defies all conventional logic (given the symptoms and workaround you found), but it sounds like your battery is failing.

 

nope. brand new battery. if it was a simple battery replacement, i'd be happy. the starter seems to check out fine according to the mechanic when he hooks it up to his computer. i've been reading all i can online, and wonder if a faulty ignition switch would show up on the mechanics computer (and can it be reset by disconnecting the battery?)

 

Ever figure it out? Had same thing happen yesterday. Went out to start car, nothing. No power, no lights, no bells and whistles, nothing. Doors wouldn't even lock/unlock but it was already unlocked at the start. Fiddled with it for a bit but still nothing. Came back four hours later and she hadpower and started right up. Known good battery, recently had starter replaced and ground straps checked (at least the two I could find).

 

Yes, we did figure it out. It was the cable that comes directly off the positive battery terminal, connecting to the starter. It is pretty wrapped up, and we weren't able to see that it was worn inside the casing. It was hard to replicate the problem because it wasn't happening all the time...we left it at our garage, and they just kept trying to start it...waiting for it to malfunction so they could see what was wrong via computer hookup. The cable was making intermittent contact, which was seen when they stripped the covering on the cable. It didn't cost a lot as parts go, but it required a lot of taking apart of things, which came out to a lot of labor. If you want to try cutting off some of the covering near the top, you may be able to see a break there, as with the covering running the length of the cable, you wouldn't expect a break anywhere in the middle...it would be at either end. The cable had two contact points besides the positive terminal...one to the starter and I'm not sure where the other one was, but if you had the starter recently replaced, the mechanic probably was able to see those connections, but still inside the covering it is hard to tell what is going on. Good luck...I hope this helps.

 

Thanks for the tip. Will look into that this weekend.