All,
So, just a FYI for folks with low mileage rides....I can only suspect that it contributed to the issue detailed below....
Went to go start the car today in the garage (always garaged at home) and was presented with the "clicks" upon engine start from the starter. The battery didn't have enough juice to turn the engine over.
The car is 3.5 years old and has 11,000 miles.....as it's typically driven around town on short journeys (one, maybe two highway trips of 30 miles per week), I wonder if that ultimately contributed to the battery running low. A MINI Roadside Assistance jump had her back on and running within 30 seconds. Went on a purpose oriented highway drive and stopped at MAG MINI of Dublin on the way home in case the car decided NOT to start again. No issues....fired right up. Did a few more trips today and seems back to normal.
I've done some reading on the topic and some folks had issues with the post engine turbo cooling fan staying on too long and draining the battery. Others fully admitted to leaving the dome lights on for an extended period and paying the price as a result.
In our case, I have to wonder if the aggregation of small trips is the culprit and perhaps a trickle charger/maintainer is in order.
It's not uncommon that we'll purposely hibernate her for two to four days at a time....would be good to know the battery is in top shape.
Any thoughts on the matter or similar experiences would be welcome.
Just wanted to let folks know that it kind of snuck up on us out of nowhere as the car had been used the day prior without issue.
Happy Motoring!

 

It might be time to have the charging system checked out, better to be safe then sorry. I have read a lot about the fans staying on too long after engine shut down, usually a faulty thermostat that feeds temperature info to the computer from the fan housing. I recently had my coolant thermostat housing replaced (coolant spraying out) and unlike before my fan stays on after shutting off the engine for .5 - 2 minutes which is great news for my turbo! Purchased the Mini in March and the fan never came on unless I was climbing a long steep hill, then parking.

ow long does your fan run for after parking your Mini?

 

I'm at 31000 miles on my O8 and still on the original battery. I've never had an issue yet.

 

64k on my 2007 MCS original battery. I'm probably pushing my luck lol.

 

Did you leave the key in the car? Not just in the ignition, but anywhere in the car. I believe even without comfort access, the car will be in constant communication with the key if it is inside the car or close proximity. It may not be enough to drain the battery overnight, but if it's still the original battery after 3.5 years and only 11k miles, it may have played a part in it.

I would say it's probably your battery starting to go bad. Short distances with low miles will greatly increase the chances of the battery failing.

With the batteries, it's more about how old the battery is as opposed to the miles driven. A car with lower miles over a longer period of time will be more likely to have a battery go bad than a car the same age, with more miles. Shorter trips will take a greater toll on the battery as well, not allowing it to charge up properly.

My '08 was on the original battery at 81k miles when I sold it in August. Never had it not start except for when I left the key in and the radio running for too long.

 

Holy cow, I'm in AZ as well. I never get more than 3 years out of a battery. On a 7 yo mini, I would go ahead and replace just so you don't get stranded.

 

I have 50,000 miles on my 07 MCS and my battery is still running strong. My job is less than two miles away so I take a long route through the canyon and double back just to get it to operating temperature and run it long enough to keep a healthy engine and battery. I baby it when the engine is cold! How accurate are the green indicators when looking down that microscope thing that shows if the battery is still good by either a green dot or black dot?

 

I'm not saying a word. Don't want to jinx mine.

 

I get a kick out of folks that try to squeeze that last bit of juice out of a battery. A lot of batteries don't give you a warning, until you get the 'dreaded click'. Like I posted above, I'm lucky to get 3 years, but then again we have summers over 110 degrees day after day. But, I would think 5-7 years is pretty much the limit in any climate..

 

I'll probably wait one more year before replacing my stock original battery, does anyone know if 07 MCS came with that battery module requiring the coding of an new battery by the dealer? I looked at my negative and positive battery cables and I see nothing connected to them. I'm told only those with the modules on both cables are the batteries that need to be coded to your cars charging system to get a proper charge.

 

There is a fairly good thread here on just that subject -

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ment-help.html

Seems there is some merit to having it reprogrammed after a battery swap, but a lot of folks say no big deal..

 

Thanks for all the input here, folks. Still working with the original battery. I got one of the Battery Tender Plus units through AMAZON and it's been working great. I think I will check the little indicator on the battery just to see if I can detect any GREEN. My buddy at work also attached a multimeter a month ago and the battery was reading something close to 14 V with no load so seemed to be in range. Will keep checking....also saw that weird looking graphic on the cluster display which actually looks like a window rather than a battery. Since it came on once, have not seen it again.

 

My wife has a BMW with low miles. She was having problems with the computer losing the memory of radio presets etc. The dealer told us that BMWs and MINIs really need to be driven a fair amount since the cars have systems that tend to be running in the background and tend to drain the battery. They flat out said that unless the car is driven regularly, for more than just a trip to the grocery store for example, that it absolutely needs to be on a battery tender (i.e. trickle charger) every couple of weeks. We have done that with her car now for the last 3 years with great results. I put my MINI on it every 2 weeks as well. For those of us that dont drive a lot, or go on long drives regularly, it saves the battery.