Dead Battery
I really want to emphasize this message to all mini cooper owners! I own a green on white roof 2002 mini cooper (not the S). I woke up a few days ago to find I had no power to the car whatsoever. I was stunned! The car has 15,820 miles on it...not to mention this same exact problem happened not even a year ago. Anyway, i was not going to send the car back to the dealership in charleston, south carolina which is two hours away from my home in hilton head and costs an arm and a leg to have towed. I came on this website, which i think is great, and read through all the threads regarding mini owners with battery issues. After all the reading, I decided to disconnect the battery and have it checked. Before I even did this, i tried to jumpstart the mini. I ADVISE all mini owners to NEVER have your mini cooper jumpstarted or jump someone else. It just will not work! (at least not for me). I then took the battery out, and had this battery tested to find that it was completely dead. (keep in mind its a 9-month year old batter). So, i figured there was something other wrong with the car. Some component in the car's electronics was drawing power out of the battery, EVEN WHEN the car was turned OFF!. So, after A LOT of investigating, I found that the EVERSTART batter company has a battery called the PLUS 47-3. This battery is an exact fit and even comes with the vent tube which vents the battery. Its great, and costs ONLY $48.87 dollars. A complete savings compared to the MINI battery that costs close to $175 dollars. ALSO at walmart, for $2.83, buy battery turnover switch! This is the MOST IMPORTANT COMPONENT and will save your mini from dying as mine did. The way it works is you simply connect this value/switch to the negative terminal on your battery, then connect the mini's hard wire negative to the switch. Its completely easy to do! (Im 23 years old and have no automobile knowledge) If you ever plan to not use your mini for even as many days as a week, (as I did) you simply turn the **** on the valve to the OFF postion, and it will cut off ALL power to the car, even the electrical components that draw on the battery, and as a result give you a dead mini. Its a 2.83 cent part that will save you a lot of hassle, and keep your mini powered up and not dead as I found out. I am relaying all this info. to all mini owners, because you would not believe all the trouble and hassle I had to go through this past few days to get the my mini back on the road. PLEASE FEEL free to e-mail me at any time at BS8315@aol.com if you have any other questions regarding a replacement battery for your mini cooper (NOT THE S) or if you need me to explain more about the shut/off value that you can connect to your mini's battery! I would love to share my knowledge so that you wont have to go throuh all the hassle as I did!!!

 

Toyota wanted $197 for a battery for my MR2.

Wallmart sold me one for $37.

A year later, no issues.........

 

If the batt. is defective a jumpstart will not work if a batt. is just drained it will work (I've done it, but took some voltage as result of poor desgin in the other car)

 

An alternative to a cutoff switch is a trickle charger. That way we **** MINI owners don't have to reset the clock and radio stations, and the trip odo won't reset to 0. I use a battery tender model.

 

No reason to buy a MINI battery...there are plenty of others that are as good or better.

I got a notice from MINI about 6 months ago that when I came in for my 3 year maintainance check, (03 MC), they'd give me a new battery because of a potential problem with the original battery. Got a new battery under warranty. I jump started my MINI a couple of times when I had the original battery, after my car wasn't driven for a while. It started right up with no problem.

 

I would strongly discourage anyone from installing a switch betwen the battery and the car's circuitry. Trust me if it needed one they would have built it in! In doing so you are removing power from vital circuits such as the general control module, K-Bus and ECU. Of course, they are not getting juice when your battery is flat - but this is a very flawed approach to solving the problem. If something is drawing excess current to a point where it is flattening your battery, then that must be located. Also doing such a mod is liable to impact your warranty. Do try to find out what the problem is and I would advise strongly against installing a cut-off switch.

 

I don't see anything wrong with a cut off switch. Anytime you work under the hood, you are supposed to disconnect the negative cable. Cutting off all power will not have any kind of negative effects, but it will erase all engine codes. If you are getting engine codes, you will not be able to see what the problem is after disconnecting the battery. I don't think it is necessary though. If there is something draining your battery when your car is off, there is a problem...maybe a defective battery?

Also, if you leave a blinker on with the car off, it will turn on a parking light which could drain the battery if given enough time...maybe a week or two?

I always disconnect my battery if I will be gone for a couple weeks. I'm not sure if it is actually necessary, but it is a habbit I got from my last car that would die after 2 days of not being charged.

 

I own a green on white roof 2002 mini cooper (not the S). I woke up a few days ago to find I had no power to the car whatsoever. I was stunned! [/quote]

You have a five year old battery and your stunned its dead?:impatient

wow ... I'd be happy as heck ....

 

You have a five year old battery and your stunned its dead?:impatient

wow ... I'd be happy as heck ....[/quote]

He said the Battery was only 9 months old.

 

Nine month YEAR old battery?

 

Will the battery please report it's real age?

 

That's a lot of drama for a dead batter. And it is a 9-month year old "batter". (Just funnin').

The OP says this same thing happened not even a year ago, so I would assume the battery is 9 months old. Given that the car only has 15,000+ miles on a 2002, I wonder how much it was driven in that 9 months. Not to mention how much it was driven when the battery was first installed. i.e. was it ever fully charged to begin with.

 

A battery tender is the way to go. I have a 2000 Z3 which I store every winter with a battery tender attached and still have the original battery.
No problems... starts right up every spring.

 

From the original post: "(keep in mind its a 9-month year old batter)"

I recently took our F150 in because it was having trouble starting in the cold weather. I was all set to buy a block heater and battery blanket, but then the technician came out and said that the electric brake controller that I had installed (for towing) was drawing a lot of current ant that was draining our battery. So it ended up being my fault and not the battery or the vehicle.

So maybe there's something that you've installed that is draining your battery? Aftermarket stereo? GPS? Powered subwoofer?

Mitch

 

Props to the original poster for getting some info out on the issue. Good to know the exact type of a low cost battery for the Coop.

 

that first post was too much reading for me, but mine is a 03 with
about 23k miles and it is charged every other week when not in use.

it's still showing strong cranking power...