I think my battery is going bad. It's been cold out and the car is cranking slowly first thing in the morning. After sitting the battery is down in the low 12 volts and the voltage goes right up to 14 volts after the car is started.

Anyway, I was talking to the guy at AutoZone this morning and he told me that if I take the battery out that the "computer needs to be reset and reprogrammed"? Is this true?

when I had my Saab a bunch of stuff like the Radio and ACC would lose its programming when I changed the battery so I used to use my trickle charger from my Volvo connected to the main power lines to keep the car powered. Would this work on the Mini? Do I even need to do it?

 

Look at you negative terminal. If there isn’t anything that looks like a fuse right at the battery then you are fine. My 09 clubby has a regular negative terminal, swapped out with platinum battery from O’Reilly’s, which is the AGM one, the one I replaced was a regular battery. All I had to do was reset my clock after replacement.

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-pictures.html

 

Thanks, fortunately I don't have one of those things on the negative terminal.

Off to Wally World to get one of their batteries. I've always found them to be the best price and good quality.

 

No problem, I had 25 bucks off at oriellys, so was a no brainer.

 

Ok so i put my trickle charger that I use on my "stored' cars on it overnight and the battery has been good since. It's been a week and I've had no issues starting the car. I'm beginning to wonder if I left something on, although can't think of what it is.

A couple of months ago I left my Bluetooth OBD thing plugged in and the battery was dead the next day so I chalked it up to that thing being on all night. (it's supposed to go off when not being used) But now I'm wondering if there are any odd ball gremlins that these cars have that sometimes leave something on? (like the Bluetooth audio thing I have plugged into the USB port. is that port active when the car is off?)

but hey, at least I don't need a battery, yet.

 

Going to resurrect this thread since this is still nagging me

Every now and then the car cranks over slowly. There's no consistency in when it happens. The car can be drivien at night the night before with the lights on or in the day with no lights. I'm thinking that intermittently SOMETHING isn't turning off that should and it consumes the battery. Happened again today while I was at work. Car started just fine this morning, no hesitation. Drove to work (no huge loads like lights on) parked and when I came out the car turned slowly. Drove home and turned it off and it cranked right up.

Any clue what to look at for some kind of parasitic drain?

 

Have you had the battery and alternator load tested?

 

I know in my clubby, my Bluetooth adapter for audio pulls power when the car is off. For example had the AirPods in the other day and got to the spring clean inside of the mini, as soon as I got close enough to the mini, phone paired to it and no more AirPods. Unplugged the usb and back to AirPods. If I know the mini is going to sit for a bit, I just unplug everything, even the scanguage. Car started no problem during our cold snap in February and has been firing up just fine.

 

yes, the results were that the charging system was working as it should and the battery was "weak" and needed to be charged (since it was one of those days when it was cranking slow), that was in December, the last time it did this

 

I do have a Tune2Air bluetooth adapter plugged into the USB. and my office is right above the garage so my phone is pretty close to the car. But I don't have issues with taking calls where the phone thinks the the car is on.

Is the USB on when the car is off?

 

I have the tune2air as well, my blue light blinks so it seems so. Easy one to check tonight for ya, go out when it gets dark and check if light is blinking.

 

The car will hold power to the accessories for 5-10 minutes after shutting down, plus it will power up the accessories when the key unlock button is pressed. I have a boost gauge with the illumination powered by the engine fuse block, and it will light up under those conditions. I imagine the USB and aux input port are powered the same. The OBD port might also act similarly.

 

Now when I park my car I always lock it and put the keys in the house, not in the garage where the car is. I was having a battery drain issue also, but this seems to have addressed it. I read this on the forum somewhere.

 

The little blue light is not on after the car had been parked for a while.

I often don't lock the car, I wonder if that's the issue. I'll start doing that at night to see if this comes back.
Seems kind of silly to lock a car in a locked garage.

 

These cars a so weird on electrical things. So it makes sense that as soon as I unlocked the car my tune2air would connect. I park in a car port so I lock it no matter what. My battery was on its way out, I had it tested and they said I could maybe save it with a good charge, I said nope give me the AGM one please.

 

Grrrr.... it did it again yesterday. parked the car the night before, locked it and then yesterday morning it wouldn't start. Jumped it, drove it to work and it was good.

this is getting annoying. Something is staying on but I can't figure out what it is. (it's not the Tune2Air, the blue light goes off after about 5 minutes)

 

Have you not yet replaced the battery? They don't last forever. Before going nuts troubleshooting, I would consider getting a new one.

 

I had it tested and it (and the charging system) were deemed ok.

 

What year is your car? The NEWEST R55 Clubman is now 7 years old, which is about 2 years longer than car batteries are supposed to last.

 

It's a 2011, but the battery is about 3 years old (according to the date code on the battery)