Won't start - clicks and nothing happens
 

Hey all,
Our 2006 won't start since yesterday. I got into a car - turned the key, but it only clicked for as long as I've had the key turned.

I figured it is a dead battery, so I've put it on the charger over night - in the morning same story. It sounded like it was trying to turn over a little, but still nothing close to starting.

I've put the charger into a start position and tried - still same.
Started my Toyota truck and tried to jump it - same thing.

Clicks but not even turning.

Any ideas?

how old is the battery? if old replace it you're going to have to anyways and its the easiest .Minis do wierd things with low batteries. Do the simple stuff first,clean connections, check grounds; there are straps to the engine, buy a battery

Battery is probably an original one.

I've called dealer, they want $150+tax
Autozone has Duralast Gold ( H5-DLG) for $145+tax.

Any suggestions on OEM vs Duralast? Costco, NAPA and others don't have our size/type.

Walmart has their brand Everlast or Everstart Maxx for $109 and also 3 year replacement warranty like Duralast

Are your lights, radio, dash display running?

Yes, they are. But i've been trying to charge the battery overnight and throughout the day, which may be providing enough juice for these needs.

lights working don't mean much, Minis do wierd things with low voltage old battery's

I had a different vehicle exhibit the same symptoms it ended up being the starter motor. If you jumped it then recharged the battery overnight, and you don't hear the starter motor click, the battery may not be the main problem.

Take the battery out and have it tested at an auto parts store. The battery will probably come back weaker than it should be due to age, but they will tell you if there's enough juice to crank the starter. In my case, they told me my battery was close to its last leg, but still had enough to crank. I replaced the starter and all was good until I sold the car.

i can hear the starter motor click, but not enough to crank. It sounds like it is trying to turn over, but then everything dies down. At this point i'm quite sure it is a battery problem, but haven't had a chance to replace it yet.

Before you think the worse change the battery. When the battery died on my '05 it wouldn't jump off of anything lights would still come on but the battery was just beyond dead.

I agree with the above statements. My '05 would just click and click. I put the battery on charge for the entire night and the thing still wouldn't go. It ended up just being a 6 year old battery.

I had the same exact symptoms as you are describing a long time ago.

If all your electronics are working and nothing is dimming, your battery is fine


It could be your ignition switch that took a crap...happened to me on my r50 once...no idea why, it just did.
It wasn't sending full signals...something like that I don't remember it was so long ago.


.....buuut wait, how old is that battery first off???

Bet the battery has a bad cell....
So it cannot provide the amps to crank....on the S, the cables are LONG, so there is a pretty large amount of resistance to overcome.
To troubleshoot it, you could "borrow " the bat from the pickup ..bypassing running power through the battery in question, getting a definitive answer if the battery is ok....sure a bench test is ok, but functional test rules. Remember, if it fails to start with a different bat, check the cabling, battery disconnect in the box next to the battery and the connection to the starter before spending $$ to swap it out imo.

Check the grounding strap on the left side of motor, if its tight and no corrosion the I put money on battery, mine did same thing, was a weak battery.

The fact that it won't jump start when you are using the truck means that it's more than just the battery. The starter is the most likely culprit but the battery *and* the starter could both be bad. Depending on where you live, another consideration is that a weak battery will almost certainly fail in the dead of winter. Most of the time it's worth the money to change it now when you can work on the car easily. Not being stranded someplace in the snow is worth big bucks.

I've had great success with Autozone batteries.

Success!

Just picked up a Duralast Gold ($145 before tax) and it started right up. So the old one was definitely bad. Now the question why i still couldn't jump it in the normal way (which seems to work for other cars)?

When the battery died on my MINI it wouldn't jump start at all and I tried 3 different methods...it was beyond dead I suppose. I know some people say maybe it's a sign of a deeper issue but after I replaced the battery I had the car for another at least another 2 years and had no issues with it starting.

Interesting. Glad you got it solved.

Good to hear it was something simple and comparitivly cheap.
Mini's seem to have a problem getting a jump with a very bad battery...my guess is that the long cables from the batt to the starter makes the issue worse.

Thanks for posting the resolution. Glad you're motoring again!

My last dead battery wouldn't jump start either. I was, however able to pushstart it although just barely.
If the battery is really shot or especially if it has a shorted cell, you may need to take one terminal off the dead battery to jump start it.
I'm pretty sure you can't push start it with one terminal off, however.

My battery just died (it was 8 years old) and it went from starting (although I did have to push start it once) to not starting and not taking a jump instantly. I'm from the midwest and know how to jump a car, and nothing worked- it just wouldn't take a charge and wouldn't start off of the jumper cables. It's an R50 so the battery cable length wasn't an issue. It was just beyond dead. Supposed to have 590 CCA and measured out at 143 CCA.

So, yeah, it can be just the battery if you let them go long enough.

Val

yeah I'm kind of ashamed to say this, but when I had my 2003 Kia Optima LX V6 (that's right, I owned a ****ing Kia. It was a gift from sick grampa) the battery one night just died out of nowhere and wouldn't take a jump no matter what from my Jetta. Bought a new battery from O'Reilly's and it started right up. If you don't hear a click and all the connections are good and the battery is good your starter is probably dead. This happened to me on my last MINI about two miles after I just spent about a grand on a new clutch and flywheel.

The same exact thing happened to me in my 04 MCS about a month ago. I went to Rite Aid to pick up some soda and when I tried to head home, I got nothing. Just a click. I freaked out for a couple minutes and then called my lifeline (aka dad). My brother-in-law ended up coming to my aid and bump starting and driving it home.
Turns out the battery was the original factory, yikes. Replaced that and tried to start again. still nothing. It's heartbreaking when your cooper is sick.
A little more research on the matter, we figured out that the ignition switch needed to be replaced. I think that cost me about $90 or so if I remember correctly, and a case of beer for labor charges for my father to fix it :)

I had the first battery replaced 6 months after I bought the car. Then Friday night couldn't start it and all the electrical items went crazy. Though I couldn't shut the doors, since the windows wouldn't roll down. I called roadside assistance they jumped it. Drov it to the dealer and waiting to hear on Monday. I have need had a car go through batteries like this. Not happy.