2003 MINI Cooper, ~42,000 miles, will be 36 months old on May 16, 2006.

We had about 15" of snow this weekend (Jersey Shore area) and after work Friday, I parked the MINI in the garage and it's been there ever since (took my wife's Malibu to work this morning, her work was closed).

My wife was out in the garage getting some paint supplies this morning and she calls me at work "The MINI is possessed... I was in the garage and all the door locks simultaneously began unlocking and locking. It did this two times in succession: unlock/lock, unlock/lock."

Now... is this normal behavior for a car that has been sitting in a garage for about 72+ hours? Could the battery be dying? Any ideas... I despise electrical gremlins because they are often the most difficult to diagnose/repair.

Thanks,

-boognish

 

Did she have the keys in her pocket? Or a place where the dog or cat could get to them?

I have gone out into the garage twice to find the top on our '05 convertible completely down. Don't carry the keys in my pocket anymore - they hang on a hook on the fridge.

(Or maybe your MINI was getting impatient..)

 

Nah, both keys are hanging on a hook upstairs. Hmmmm... I'm thinking *maybe* the MINI starts to do odd electrical things when the battery is about to go bad.

 

try to start the car i'm willing to bet that the battery is dying and it will crank slow. especially since it sounds like it has been pretty cold in your area and it is common for mini's to have a bad cell in the battery's. or it is possible that you have a parasitic load in the car and keeping the car awake and running the battery down. have you had any eletrical accesories installed on the car? when the battery starts to loose power the body control module will start to wig out. sometimes the windows will creep down aswell.

 

Take it for a drive its lonely, you're giving the Malibu more attention. My MINI always acts up on a small scale (i.e. sputter at start, make it hard to find first gear (always happens on a hill) or flash the ASC light needlessly, windows go down after first not third press of unlock on key) if I miss a wash or don't drive her for a while. She just needs some lovin'. If there is still an iussue after that give the dealer a call and it might be time for a check-up.

 

Another thing I thought of, make sure your ECU connections are good (and all other elec. wiring for that matter), I know if the ECU is unplugged the windows go down sunroof opens and doors unlock so it is possible to get into the car (I'm assuming).

 

do you mean the BC1 (body control module) and not the ECU?? i've unplugged many ECU-DME's and i have never had the windows move. a few times i've had the aux fan kick on but never window move.

 

Any real info. on the mystery door locking?

I have an '05 MCS and the battery is fine, just drove in from work yesterday, parked in the garage unloaded my stuff and threw the keys on the seat.

After about three hours my wife comes in through the garage and says the 4 ways had flashed and sounded like the doors locked. Sure enough they had locked w/ the keys on the seat in the car, no problem unlocking just got her keys out from the house and unlocked the car. The doors were still unlocked this morning...strange

 

The BC1 is screwing up. On '05s check for wet passenger front floorboards. On earlier cars, check the sunroof drain tubes & windshield seals. you may have a leak.

 

Ok, we have a '06 MCS with just over 5k miles on her, 3 different times my husband has heard the doors sound like they are locking and then unlocking( she sleeps in the garage with one set of keys sitting on the dash the other is hanging on a hook inside the garage), he doesn't think that they actually are locking, just sounds like it, then yesterday evening, we had her outside washing her and the lights all of a sudden came on , the key was on the dash and not in the ignition , has this ever happened to anyone else? I am making a list for our SA when we go for service, I would run it by the dealer and have them look at it, but that is a 180+ mile trip one way so I will have to wait until time for service.

 

Hmmm, you guys are tempting your MINIs beyond control by leaving the keys in the car.

It's like putting the candy jar next to the kid's video game controller, eventually they won't be able to contain themselves anymore.

Your MINI knows, its BC1 can sense it. Leave the keys in the car and it will eventually lock itself just for grins.

MINIs do have a sense of humor, you know. Listen sometime after you turn off the lights, they tell Classic Mini jokes in their sleep...

"How many Classic Minis does it take to screw in a light bulb?"

"What's the difference between a Classic Mini and a chain saw?"

"What did the Classic Mini driver get on his IQ test?"

There is much, much more...



Best,

-- Don