I had a very odd experience last night, not yet resolved.
Executive summary: I changed the front brakes and now the car is acting like a pinball machine in TILT.

My buddy (who services his own 2001 BMW) helped me (my ability is not much beyond DIY oil change) change my front brake pads (2008 R56 50,300 mi). We changed the pads, rotors and the one brake wear sensor in the front-left.

I didn't know (yet) how to reset the car computer's warning that I was 110 miles overdue for front brakes, so I thought I'd just give it a blind shot before looking it up. I know I had read it once. I got in the car, put in the key and hit Start without being on the clutch. I used the BC button (on the turn signal) to cycle into the SERVICE-INFO menu and got to the "change your front brakes" page. Then, I held in the BC key for long periods, and sometimes held it and the opposite button (intermittent windshield wipers) both at the same time for many seconds. No luck, it didn't reset the front brake service counter. Then, I did a few more similar things.

A few minutes later, as I'm sitting there with the owner's manual, it starts showing other icons: the brake symbol with "ABS" in the middle, then the brake symbol with a ! in the middle, then the air bag.

Then, it got really crazy. The tach's display went blank, console and tach lights started to flicker. There is repeated clicking under the hood (think pinball machine cycling actuators in TILT). The power windows ignore my commands. When I open/close a door, rather than the window moving down/up 1 cm *weeep* it was labored and slower like *waaaaaaap*. I unplugged and plugged in the key fob while trying different things, and the car wouldn't let go of the key fob for some periods, then would let go later. I'm an electrical engineer, my experience with flickering like this is that a microprocessor is repeatedly resetting.

My buddy plugged in his OBD II scanner and it seemed unable to boot up while connected to the car.

I've unplugged the battery overnight (to give microprocessors and such a good reset), then reconnected this morning and I'm back to the statuses in my fourth and fifth paragraphs.

The only electrical thing we touched (as far as we know) during the brake job was to replace the brake wear sensor. During that process, we broke off a tab on it and will need to get a new one. During the trouble last night, I unplugged the sensor altogether, but that had no effect on the crazy MINI.

I find it difficult to believe that any amount of "holding in the BC button" should cause anything to fail, so I'm leaning more toward something during the brake job being the culprit.

I've spent some time searching this site, haven't come up with anything similar. Thoughts?

 

Can you try entering the service menu again and reset the brake warning?

To enter the service Menu:

Insert Key
Do not press clutch / brake
Press Start button
Wait until the Car / revelant Service symbol disappears on the Rev counter display
Immediately after the symbol goes out - Press and hold Both buttons on the Rev Counter
Continue to hold - the system Will run a dash light check:rolleyes:
Continue to hold
Display will then show VIN / Menu, - continue to hold through this until the time Reappears on the display.
Now release Only the Right hand Button (trip reset) for about a second, and then press and hold again (whilst still holding the LH button)
After another second of 2 the display will show the Front Brake Symbol You Are Now in the Service Menu:D
Use the BC Button (on indicator stalk) to scroll through to the relevant symbol - eg Rear Brakes

To Reset the warning indicator light - Press & Hold the BC Button at the revelant symbol until RESET appears - then press and hold again until the process is complete.

Turn Off and On the Ignition again - Warning should now have gone!

 

Couple different options are available for resetting the service indicators. See this document I put together outlining both of them (one of them is what aznqtboy984 posted). http://www.totehmoon.com/uploads/r56...procedures.pdf

 

In the current state, the car ignores any button pushes: BC, wipers, odometer reset, windows-up, hatchback lever, Start button. The computers are completely out to lunch.

 

That sucks... I would try switching out the brake sensor wire with another one before bringing it to the dealers...

 

Disconnect and reconnect battery?

 

he did - over night

sounds like you engaged LUCAS mode

 

Re-reading the OP, I'm leaning toward a weak battery that you managed to drain while fiddling around trying to figure out the reset procedure. Wacky electronics is typically a sign that the battery is weak/failing.

 

 

Guess I missed that part I was just skimming instead of reading. Whoops

 

jcauseyfd, you nailed it. It seems a very odd coincidence that it failed during this maintenance. I only sat with the key on for a few minutes.

And I have since found the proper reset procedure. I'll give that a try this evening.

Thanks, all, for your help. CASE CLOSED

 

Nice, did you get the battery from the dealers or went aftermarket?

 

(I measured the battery at 9.3 V no-load earlier.)

So far, I have merely jump-started it and it successfully restarted twice so far. I am planning to go to Advanced Auto to get a battery test. For a wear-out item like a battery I don't think I need to be picky, but your question makes me think I should search this forum for battery stories. The local MINI dealer is 40 minutes away and I hate working with them.

 

9.3V? That's dead and already buried.

 

Aftermarket batteries are as good as (and normally better) than the oem battery. And will also most likely cost much less than your dealershit would charge.

 

There's a difference between a discharged and damaged battery. You can discharge a battery down to 9.3 V without doing permanent damage. This one seems to be still accepting charges.

Follow up: The Advanced Auto tester machine says the battery is still pretty healthy, so I'm sticking with it. ...partly because the "if I'm wrong" consequences are low: merely pull out my cables and get a jump start, then buy a new battery.