Looking for some insight on an intermittent no-start issue that has me questioning whether this car is trustworthy for longer trips.

Background

Car is a 2002 MINI Cooper S (manual). No prior starting issues. About 70k, I'm the second owner. I bought it two years ago after it had been sitting for three years. I've put 10k miles on it.

Initial Failure

A few nights ago:

• Turned the key → engine cranked briefly (maybe 1 second) and stopped
• Second attempt → nothing at all
• Third attempt → started normally and got me home

Current Symptoms (When Failing)

The next day:

• Battery shows ~12V
• All accessories power up normally (dash, lights, etc.)
• Turning key to “start” → absolutely nothing
  • No crank
  • No click
  • No relay noise
• It genuinely feels like the car doesn’t recognize the key being turned to start

Suggestions Received

From others, the main ideas were:

• Battery / dead cell / voltage drop under load
• Ground strap or cable issue
• Clutch safety switch (manual)
• Starter solenoid
• Ignition switch failure
• Neutral safety / interlock logic

What I Checked / Tried

• Battery is only a couple years old
• Connected a fully charged jump pack → no change
• Cleaned ignition switch contacts → already clean, no improvement
• Pulled codes → nothing relevant to starting
• Removal and checks of battery connections
• Visual inspection of the clutch pedal switch

Current Status (The Weird Part)

I went back out to begin proper troubleshooting (checking for voltage at the starter trigger wire)... …and the car started normally. No changes. No repairs. No adjustments.

New Observation

I did notice something interesting: If I turn the key to “start” and then stab the clutch, there’s sometimes a slight delay before it cranks. That made me wonder: Is that normal behavior, or does it point toward a failing clutch switch / interlock?

Where I’m At

Right now I’ve got:

• A no-start that lasted for two days
  • No crank, no click when it happens
• A car that is now working normally
  • No clear trigger or fix

Which is honestly worse than a hard failure, because I don’t trust it to leave the driveway.

What I’m Looking For

Before I start throwing parts at it, I’m hoping for insight from people familiar with R53s. Does this pattern point strongly to:

• Ignition switch (start circuit)?
  • Clutch safety switch?
  • Starter solenoid/control circuit?
  • Is the “no click at all” a key diagnostic clue here?
• Does the clutch interaction/delay suggest anything definitive?
• Any known MINI-specific failure points that match this behavior?

Appreciate any insight—especially from anyone who’s seen this exact failure mode before. Right now it feels like I’m waiting for it to strand me somewhere inconvenient.

 

so many possibilities. my most resent issue was a bad ground connection on the alternator

battery will drain pretty qucikly like that

 

Have you actually removed, cleaned and re-connected the engine ground strap?

 

Clutch safety switch?
​I will preface by stating that; I am not a mechanic.
Therefore I can only inject an anecdote when this similar symptom occurred with my pre-facelift R53.
I was out joy riding across the country from Atlanta,GA to Santa Fe, NM. Everything was working fine during the 1,700 journey. Clutch seemed normal. Staring the car was normal. On my way back East I stopped in Texas for a short rest. Pushed in the clutch, turned the key, lights came up on the dash as normal - but nothing. Not a click.
Tried a few minutes later and the Mini fired right up. This happened several times before I made it back to Atlanta.
After trying many times to start the car, I soon discovered that the only way I could get it to start was if I stood firmly on the clutch pedal as hard as I could - the car would turn over as normal. Oddly as it seemed - the car shifted just fine.
When I finally arrived home, while slowly backing into my parking spot - as I held my foot on the clutch - The car just died.
I could never get it to start again for a while. When I finally did, I had no clutch.
Although (to the best of my knowledge) the clutch switch wasn't my issue. In my scenario it was my clutch that was toast.

​​​​​​My apologies - I don't know if that is any help/relevent.

 

I have not. Would you expect that to generate an intermittent no-crank?

 

Yes it could. Easy to get to - right side frame rail. Takes about 3 min. Start to finish

 

Yeah, that was easy. 13mm socket, a wire brush, and some contact cleaner.

They looked perfect, FWIW.

 

One less item to be concerned about.

 

I guess? Only I wasn't worried about that.

 

Problem was in the ignition switch and the gremlin was oxidized pin 8 to pin 5 contactor. Opening up the switch it was slightly obvious the contact point was darker than others. No doubt from repeated starts with miniscule arcing occuring. Might be able to see it in the uppermost contactor:

Furthermore, taking an Ohmmeter to pins 5 to 8 revealed 1.2 Ohms whereas other connections were all at 0.8. An emory cloth with electronics cleaner got it back down to 0.8, put the puzzle of a switch back together and voila!

Need more time to be sure, but as an added bonus this has also solved the hard starting issue this car has had since I got it (must crank for 5-10 seconds before running). Now starts up crisp everytime. I totally thought that was a fuel pressure regulator issue, but a little more time will tell.

 

Thanks for that!

I did open up, inspect, and clean that set of contacts, and it all looked fine and there was no change when I reinstalled. It was later that the car began working normally again.

I ordered a new clutch switch and that set of contacts (< $50 for both), so if it fails again I'll start with those parts.

 

I don’t have a Manual. My last manual did not have a safety switch. You could bypass the switch and see if that does it.