New to this forum so first of all Hello.

The issue here is in regard to my 2004 cooper. This is my daily driver and was running quite fine all day yesterday. I got home, and 30 min later was planning on running an errand and the car would not start.

The car simply would not turn over. It made a cliking sound and the lights flickered. It was almost like the battery had no juice. Did some research on this and found a you tube video :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXStFaSihbs

This is exactly what my car is doing. I could not get it to jump and I even tried to keep it connected to a running car for 10 min before starting it again. Nothing worked.

Other info: I dont have a security system (just incase that could be deemed the culprit)

Upon researching this topic I found some old threads that sate 03-04 coopers having stock battery issues (maybe even a recall in 04 05?)

My car had 65K miles on it. So it is not really that heavy on mileage for a dead battery. Also it is run daily so the battery is constantly charged.

Thanks in advance

 

batteries don't die gracefully anymore

just had virtually the same set of circumstances when the bat in the 02 gave up. an hour after a good start it wouldn't even take a jump.

if you can, take the bat to autozone, pep-boys or the like and they can test it. but I'll bet a donut you are due for a new battery

I was just at auto-zone and they had a sign up about rebates for OPTIMA batteries. Not cheap but good stuff....34R is the recommended fit.

I use a red-top in my 79

 

Thanks. A buddy of mine who is a mechanic is going to swing by tonight. I think we will end up tring a new battery. will update this thread to create a refernce for others

 

I have an O4 - first battery went at about 20,000 miles - towed to dealer, said it had a bad cell that's the reason it would not jump start. Have 67,000 miles now and just replaced battery again went with a local parts dealer and installed myself.

 

Just hooked a volt meter to the battery and tried to start it. Battery power drops to 6-7V. Most likely culprit here is the battery. I will have a new battery on Monday & will update at that point.

 

I put a battery in my '05 MCSc yesterday. The group 47 batteries fit. Group 34R works if you can find one with a vent (or go with AGM type). If the top clamp bar does not rest on battery, do not worry as the battery is held in place from the bottom.

Normally the failure mode (as you described) is a shorted cell. With such a failure, the battery will not accept or hold a charge and in many cases not allow jump starting.

I went with an Interstate Group size 47

 

That battery is shot! Time for a new one.

 

any recommendations for a good replacement battery on the R50???

 

Duralast Gold Battery (H5-DLG) from Autozone