my car is very sluggish to start at any time of the day..last couple of days its happened.

also when driving, randomly itll shut off for a split second then come back on

mostly happens at idle though.

when the car is off, the batt is at 12.7 something volts when tested with my DMM.

any other 2004 owners had to replace your battery? (i guess its time, its 4 years old)

input please

 

Early 04.. replaced my battery just yesterday.

 

did you have any of these symptoms?

 

Sounds like you have a fully charged battery, according to your DMM. see table below.

Check for a loose negative cable at the battery or at the connection to the car. Check for a loose positive cable at the battery..

with car running are you getting a charge, about 13.5 volts on your DMM? Your local auto store can check it's cranking power. (Load Test)

Terminal voltage

The open circuit voltage,is measured when the engine is off and no loads are connected. It can be approximately related to the charge of the battery by:

Open Circuit Voltage (6V) ____Approximate charge _____Relative acid density
____12.65 V 6.3 V __________________100% _________________1.265 g/cm3
____12.45 V 6.2 V ___________________75% _________________1.225 g/cm3
____12.24 V 6.1 V ___________________50% _________________1.190 g/cm3
____12.06 V 6.0 V ___________________25% _________________1.155 g/cm3
____11.89 V 6.0 V ____________________0% _________________1.120 g/cm3

Open circuit voltage is also affected by temperature, and the specific gravity of the electrolyte at full charge.
The following is common for a six-cell automotive lead-acid battery at room temperature:

• Quiescent (open-circuit) voltage at full charge: 12.6 V
• Unloading-end: 11.8 V
• Charge with 13.2-14.4 V
• Gassing voltage: 14.4 V
• Continuous-preservation charge with max. 13.2 V
• After full charge the terminal voltage will drop quickly to 13.2 V and then slowly to 12.6 V.

 

Testing the battery when the car is off doesn't tell much but it should be over 13 volts so yours is marginal at best. That said a 4 year old battery is best to replace anyway. If it is marginal and you live anywhere where it gets cold in the winter you'll have to replace it this fall anyway.

I think the Optima's are still available with a rebate. You won't be making a mistake replacing a 4 year old battery if you need it now or not. And then the tests on the charging system will be more accurate.

Rich

 

'4 years old' is too early for replacement. My June 04 is used only 6 months a year and it's still very good. It's trickle charged 2x a week for overnight and engine is started 2x a month for 20 minutes. My 97 Honda took 10 years to replace the OEM Panasonic Battery. Check your ground or cable for loose connection or charge rate is OK.

 

but the battery in the Mini is known to be somewhat problematic. Failures at 3-5 years are not at all uncommon.

Matth

 

Before replacing the battery check the + terminal. Sometimes it gets loose, and does the momentary shut off thing. There have been some other threads on the issue.

 

Many batteries were replaced under a recall. I found that mine was replaced very early in its life, according to the carfax report.
Depending on usage, a battery can last a long time with proper care including using a battery maintainer [such as a Battery Minder] during times of non-use.

 

mine's a 03. factory battery no issues. the indicator is still green,
cranks up no problem.

the trick is to hook it up to a battery charger/tender while not in use for more than a few days or if you only use the car for very short trips.

 

while one, or even a hundred, may post that "mine's fine" out of a fleet of over 1 million cars, there really shouldn't be that many battery failures. They should be in the ones to the tens of parts per million, and failure rates are much higher than that. Are all batteries bad? Of course not, but many more have gone south than should for a volume product. Does that mean that all will die? No, of course not, if the failure rate is one in a thousand, that's still a thousand premature batteries dieing and you're still left with only a one in a thousand chance of someone saying yes if asked if they've had a battery problem. Sometimes I think no one studies or learns basic statistics anymore....

And put a car on a charger if it's not driven for a few days? You've got to be kidding me! Look at the energy capacity of the battery, and the current draw when the car isn't running. You ought to be able to go months without significantly depleting the energy resevoir... I guess math isn't studied or learned anymore either!

Sorry, I just don't see it that way at all. If sitting and not charging the battery would have any effect over a couple of weeks, they're just not putting enough of the electronics to sleep, or need to spec a couple more joules of energy capacity!

Matt

 

For those few that do only very short trips, yes, it is a good solution.
What a waste of a MINI.

I Agree!

p.s. dont forget to check the +jumper post for corrosion, along with the other connections I mentioned earlier.

 

ok so i get a new battery

still sluggish to start, taking about 2-3 seconds before it cranks over.

sounds like something is making a high pitched squeeling noise within that 2-3 second time frame when its trying to start....

alternator tested fine....

 

there's not a lot that can cause this, but they all are attached to the front of the engine.... A/C pump clutch stuck on. Idler pulley going south or siezed. Tensioner pulley going south or siezed. Starter going south... these are about it. Anything else and it gets real expensive... The supercharger can be going south, or the water pump on the back end of the SC. Then it's the engine... Once it's running, is it acting fine?

Matt

ps, post some pics of the latest build progress!

 

yup, so far it looks to be fine once it starts.

about the build, ill post that later..i need to get this resolved...

what would be easiest to start at? starter? how much am i looking at for that, or is there tests that can be done before i go randomly replacing things?

im getting ready to give up and sell it

 

and see what isn't turning well.....

And if you sell, even the guys at FloridaSPL will never stop giving you craap!

Matt

 

im not gonna sell lol, im just angry at the moment.

it may look like IM the one that messed something up, but i havent touched anything, and havent touched any factory electrical except the a/c wires i extended, and that was months ago. this just happened 2 days ago out of no where. i havent worked on the car in a while....its gotta just be a crazy coincidence...

 

that's a fact. Either you learn how to fix them or you learn how to pay to have others fix them. Sad truth for sure....

Really, slow starting and running fine can be a couple things. Drag on the accessories, a starter going south, or problems with the high current leads to the battery. The only other thing is the engine not spinning freely, and this one is a very expensive thing.

Finding it is standard troubleshooting. Make a list of all posibilities, then eliminate them one at a time. What's left is the problem.

Matt

 

Did you check the + and - cable connections, for corrosion and tightness, as I suggested earlier ? At both ends. Also the +jumper post?

 

battery end isnt corroded. as far as the +jumper post, thats the one under the hood right? that isnt corroded either, just checked it when autozone tested my stock battery.

 

well when he tested my alt, i turned the car on, then the a/c on full blast, then the headlights. didnt notice the voltage drop (other than what is normal) and the alt charged it back up normally when i gave it some gas.

this sucks :(

 

i'm guessing starter/alternator...or an unseen drain on the battery somewhere else.

is any of your stereo equip hooked up to the main battery?

 

i dont have a thing hooked up at the moment. i had a small 2 ch amp. but that was just hooked up to 2 6.5s in the doors...once the car is started, it seems fine. headlights/air etc wont cause it to shut off anymore (just replaced battery)

so im thinking its the starter...becuase i do hear that slight high pitched squeeling...seems like it could be the starter....

and another thing i noticed that is broken (no big deal) but it just boggles my mind as to how the hell it happened...i have no clue...but i have the old style Xenon's, and on the drivers side, towards the top on the inside of the housing, the chrome part that you'd paint black if you were doing the Joey mod is CRACKED..how??? i have NO clue.....just noticed it today when i went to open the hood to have autozone test my batt/alt...maybe shutting the hood too hard, which it couldnt have been me becuase i put it down VERY easy, then just give it a nice push to lock it in...who knows....this crap makes you wanna just say forget it, and give up...

 

matt, try it and see. remember, i only talk from experience... i hibernate
my MCS in the winter time (the last 5yrs). the battery will NOT maintain
the charge for months like you say while it's still on the car. the first
hibernation let me know that the battery drains pretty quick on this car.

 

I agree with you Kenchan. I can tell from my charger indicator light that there is a charging period before it stabilizes and this is on my 2x a week overnight charge ritual during winter when my car is also in hibernation since 2004. Obviously, drain will be more if you have an alarm system.