Hey guys, I've searched a few different Cooper forums and ended up with several open ended solutions to my problem but the thing is I did plenty of searching and I still cannot pinpoint my problem. With that said, my issues on my R50 are solely electrical and I originally thought there may have been a trickle of water from the A pillar drains but when I opened things up to see if there was any damage to the Body Control Unit, I didnt come across anything. Secondly, I have a multi meter and I began checking all fuses that have anything to do with the BCU or causes of the intermittent electrical issues but everything seems to be fine thus far.

The issues I'm experiencing are
1. no interior left/right turn signal on the tach when I flip the lever to make a left/right BUT the exterior of the car does flash when I signal.

2. When I turn the **** to turn on the headlights, my headlights go on but my interior lights for the tach, speedometer, A/C & radio do not turn on (or they turn on when they want to once the headlights are engaged)

3. The radio works when it wants to. Same for my iPod adapter (oem). Sometimes my iPod works then I get a high pitched sound and its off and wont come on again for some miles/minutes.

4. When I try to lock my car from the outside the car locks then immediately unlocks all doors. I usually have to manually lock the doors before leaving my car.

5. The A/C works when it wants to

6. The problems worsen when my Mini is driven in the rain. Basically, the symptoms normally come on and off within the first 10 minutes of driving but in the rain it wont turn on for a longer period of time.

Right now im tearing down the interior because I want to be able to see if I can eventually see if there is water coming in through the interior. I have not checked the electrical assemblies in the rear which could also be a culprit but im unaware at this point.

Has anyone ever experienced these kinds of issues and solved them ???

 

I know this sounds silly, but have you checked the battery? Even if its tests ok, it might be bad. I have seen strange things happen because of a supposed good battery. Most Ap stores will take a battery back. Get a new one and give it a try. You have nothing to lose. Maybe you can buy a BCM off ebay and give it a try if the battery does not pan out. Just my 2 cents.

 

My mini would open and close the trunk latch by it's self....water was entering the latch open switch and it was very corroded.


Here is another link to another electrical water problem and solution.

 

Hey thanks for the speedy replies!
Braminator, I actually just replaced the battery about less than a year ago when I was getting similar issues but It just wouldnt crank even after charging the battery. :/ If I leave the batter on and connected with the Ipod on the Ipod turns on and off and on and off to the point where after a few days my battery is low and wont crank up until i recharge it. I disconnected the ipod and then connected the battery back (after an overnight charge to 100%) and everything was fine. But the problems with the electronics remained.

Spidertnt, thanks for the link man. Ill give it a thourough reading and see if it gives me any clues. Ill definitely post back if i get any progress.

 

It looks like I'll take out the BCU and inspect it for corrosion/let it dry. Seems like its a common fault.

 

I just took apart my entire rear and headliner and let the car sit in the overnight rain. I found a drops of water coming in from the rear passenger side and drops of water on top of my Harmon Kardon Amplifier. I couldn't locate the leak and ended up taking out the Amp and looking at the guys. It seems that transistor 030 NQ took up the only damage. Everything else looks fine which is possibly the cause of the Intermittent radio but I still have the delayed issues with the tach & speedo lights and the other symptoms remain as well :/

 

Did a few water tests as I suspected the sunroof drain system to have a leak. As it turns out all the 4 corner drains are OK but the leak I found was coming from the rear passenger window and I looked outside on the roof gutter rail and realized its cracking and when I move it, it exposes a hole that leads to the interior which is where the water was dripping onto my HK Amp. After taking apart the amp and putting it back together it works ok but the intermittent issues persist. I lifted up the carpet on the passenger side and Felt it was moist after the morning rain. So the Green clip onto my BC1 is getting the moisture
Now it looks like I'll be gutting my MINI and finding different ways to seal the interior (Thought about using dynaspray & dynamat).

 

Found the problem. The OEM iPod adapter I purchased after purchasing my car and installed it myself was the cause of all my gremlins. After removing the iPod adapter cable my gremlins had dissappeared and all my electrical things were back to normal and the cause wasnt because of the BCU or the HK Amp.

 

I took a closer look at it seems that the white/red/yellow cable that comes in from the HK AMP is the cause of the erratic issues.

 

Try this disconnect iPod or cd changer form radio. I had some problem. Had to cut white wire on the s-version like connector to iPod or cd changer

 

Had similar problem thought it was water but turned out to be wiring. Behind radio you will find a s-video like connector black. It is for either your iPod or cd changer. Connector goes bad. To fix I cut the white wire which is the CAN-k bus data wire. My iPod dosent work with radio anymore but everything else is back to normal.

 

I had the exact same problem. I disconnected the OEM iPod connecter on my R50 and VOILA! back to normal. I ended up using the GROM kit and an external hard drive.

 

would you be able to tell me where do you see the water dripping/leaking in the hk amp? thanks

 

Disconnecting the battery would make the problem go away for short while on my car. Problem would soon come back. I had the OEM iPod connector. Do you have the iPod connector, CD changer or sat radio in trunk. Try disconnecting them from harness behind radio. Also check for damage to harness. I believe the connector on my wiring harness when bad do to using a iPhone instead of an iPod. An iPhone draws more amperage then iPods. It maybe the cause of the short in my connector