Won't start: click then instrument cluster lights go out
 

Intermittently over the last year there I have had several occasions when I have been unable to start my 2009 Mini Cooper S hard top. I put the fob in, push start, then I here the solenoid click once, and then the instrument panel lights go out.

This used to be followed by flickering of instrument panel lights and clicking of various solenoids under the hood. And I could usually resolve the issue by jump starting so I replaced the battery. But today with a brand new battery the behavior returned. And there is no flickering. If I remove the fob and put it back in, all the interior electronics and even the radiator fans seem to work normally until I press the start button at which point I get the click and everything shuts off.

It seems to help if I disconnect the battery for several minutes. But maybe I am just imagining that.

I am not measuring any current drain when the vehicle is off. The brand new battery still measures around 12.5 volts.

Is it possible the starter or starter solenoid are intermittently shorting out when I go to start it? Or is this some deeper electronics issue such as I read about on the boards like abs module or ecu on its way out?

Any thoughts?

Manual or Auto transmission and where is the clicking sound coming from? When you say jump start are you starting the car while it's moving forward or a jump start of the battery? If you are having to jump start you car when it's moving and then popping it into a gear it sounds like a starter issue. Could also be a key FOB insert tray issue and related electronics, the key FOB tray and electronics can get very dirty and full of dust over time, the mechanical and electronics can wear and not make proper contact.

Automatic transmission.

The jump starts were from another vehicle.

The loud click is from the engine and sounds to me exactly as I would expect the starter solenoid to sound. Prior to replacing the battery, the other clicks I was referring to were coming from the solenoids on the driver's side under the hood as well as from behind the dash.

I am increasingly suspicious that the starter and/or solenoid are on their way out. But I do not understand why the electronics go berzerk (display and other interior lights shut off) when this happens and then return to normal when I remove the fob and put it back in.

Is it possible there is a short in the solenoid or starter that result in such a large current drain that the ECU shuts everything down to prevent damage?

Perhaps it is time to invest in an OBD reader.

There have been many other threads exactly like this one and not one of them had an outcome that was actually updated to let everyone know what the cause was, this isn't nearly as common as other problems member's have with their Mini's. Have you check the relays or fuses? Relays can make clicking noises as well. Needing a jump start shows that somehow you don't have enough juice to get the starter or even the solenoid to activate, could be a bad solenoid requiring more than normal voltage.

Is your new batter the same group size with the same cranking amps capacity? If you get a battery that is larger or has more amps your Mini won't ever be able to top it off, good old German engineering! The ECU controls the amount of charge the battery receives, it used to be a fixed 14.2 volts charging the battery in the good old days.

I do not know why but this behavior disappeared after replacing the battery, but it took a day or so for everything to return to normal