Hi everyone,

I was coming back from work and noticed the ABS, Traction, E-brake and the airbag light were all lit. As for the needles themselves, they would get stuck or not move at all. For example, the RPM needle move up and get stuck at 1500 RPM and the speedo needle will shake and stay at 0.

As for the temperature control, they are not working at all (no light). The window control isn't working and the door lock switch won't work. The key remote is my only way to open the car.

I parked the car for two days and I tried to start it and the battery was dead. The battery is only a year old. I removed the battery and had it charged and all these problems still occurred. Along with this, I noticed that the power steering will stop and stiffen the wheel and higher speeds but will work fine at idle.

If anyone has encountered anything from this grocery list and can help, I would greatly appreciate it.

 

All these problems at once eh:
- Christmas tree lights and electrical charging issues all at once are usually tied to the crank pulley (harmonic balancer) ripping apart. As it is the connection between the engine and all the accessories that are driven off the belt: supercharger, alternator, air con etc.. when it fails (the inner part separates from the outer part) you start to see these problems.

Fairly easy to inspect - jack up the passenger side of the car, take off the plastic wheel liner and inspect for damage. The article below tells you all about the issue and process of replacing. Its not that difficult of a job but requires some specialist tools.

http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarti...eplacement.htm

 

There most likely won't be any visible damage. Loosen the belt and wiggle the pulley in every direction. If it moves it's time to replace with an ATI damper.

 

You need to have the car looked at by either MINI or a Euro specialist that has access to quality scan software, such as Auto Enginuity, AutoLogic, etc. There will be manufacture specific codes stored that can better help with your situation.

The logic of a possible crank pulley failure is a good one, as when the engine is not under load the pulley is able to almost make a "mesh" between the two broken halves and charge the battery, while on the other hand the power the engine is making is able to free spin the broken hub separate from the pulley when under load.

If the pulley isn't failed you'll want to have the alternator & battery tested.

 

+1 for what nkfry said...

Motor on!

 

First off, thank you all for the replies.

I've been busy so I haven't been able to check the pulley as of it, but I was able to quickly check the battery voltage while running.

Voltage when off is 12.3v. When running, I am getting a reading of 17.5v on the battery. I guess this is the reason why it feels warm to the touch. Apparently this can be related to the alternator regulator?

I'd like to mention that when the key is turned to accessory, everything that was mentioned in the first post works normally.

 

Yeah, sounds like a charging issue.