I leave my '07 Mini S sitting all winter-- from September to March in my garage, covered with a "battery tender" hooked up. My new car battery is 10 months old and reads 12.5 volts
This year while re-activating this little beauty, it's acting funny. It started up fine and I drove it some. But occasionally now, it won't respond to the "start" button. I'm wondering if my FOB battery being low on "poop" can cause this sort of issue? I get a red service light when it won't crank.

My second Fob started it up okay--- and then the first FOB started it up okay too. I'm a little hesitant to drive it fearing it won't crank. The car has just 30K on it.

I've looked for answers on this forum-- and I've called a service rep at our home area dealership.
This forum gave me no insight into my problem. I'm not even sure how to open the FOB up to check my current battery. I guess different model years have different FOB'S.

The dealership told me the FOB is only used to activate doors & trunk lid. It has no connection with starting the vehicle-- true??? He told me to go to a "batteriesplus" store and have them work on the FOB-- My two FOB'S are 11 years old now.

Any ideas what's going on here?

 

not sure on your 07 but i know on 1st gens the fob is recharged while in the ignition. I know you only have a slot where yours go possibly they charge while in there.

 

They are correct.

 

The dealership told me the FOB is only used to activate doors & trunk lid. It has no connection with starting the vehicle-- true??? He told me to go to a "batteriesplus" store and have them work on the FOB-- My two FOB'S are 11 years old now.

I don't understand this statement at all and disagree .... for a GEN2 anyway ... (first year of GEN2, 2007 for the hard top)

I've had two GEN2 cars neither with 'comfort access', just the standard FOB <2007 S, 2015 Roadster S>. With both, the FOB must be in the slot in the dash for the car to start ... no FOB, no start .... Thinking I might be losing my mind I just verified in my R59, FOB not in the slot, push start and NADA .... ZIP .... nuthin.

On my 2002 GEN1 car the fob was attached to a physical key and the key was used to start the car. The fob buttons did ONLY work locks and boot. Actually a 2002 came with one key that had 'fob' buttons, and one plain key ..... no buttons

Back to a GEN1, NOT COMFORT ACCESS .... the base FOB does not have a user changeable battery. The battery charges when in the ignition and the car is running.

From 2007 owner's manual: 'remote control = FOB'
Each remote control contains a rechargeable
battery that is automatically recharged when it
is in the ignition lock while the car is being
driven. Use each remote control at least twice a
year for longer road trips in order to maintain
the batteries' charge status.



While not explicitly mentioned anywhere in the owner's manual it IS my understanding that a 'dead FOB' can not be read by the car and therefore the car will not start. This did happen to me once, the car would not start but DID when I got the other FOB and tried it. The bad FOB was replaced under warranty as it failed in the first year. Also, altho the GEN2 FOB has a physical key 'inside', the owner's manual mentions this is for locks ONLY and says nothing about starting without the FOB ....

There have been threads here on NAM about disecting a FOB to replace the battery but as I said it is not 'owner changeable'. An electronics savvy person would open the plastic case remove and solder in a replacement .... not something my local batteriesplus would touch!! <second thought, they will open and rebuild powertool power packs, so they might ....> A replacement FOB comes from the factory IME and requires 'proof of ownership' b4 they will sell you a very $$ new one. They must be 'matched' to the car so forgetaboutit wrt ones off the internet.

It behooves one to keep BOTH FOB charged. I try to remember to swap out every couple of months ....

{the Comfort Access FOB HAS a user changeable battery and under 'pre-paid' maintenance the battery is changed at certain service points. On my last R59 service the line item was "REPLACE KEY BATTERY" ... but then "NO COMFORT ACCESS" is noted with no action taken}

{For what it's worth, my other car, a FOCUS ST, has a comfort access like 'keyless' system. I recently got an alert in the dash display warning me the FOB battery should be replaced. It uses a very common battery I bought at CVS and replaced them in both FOB in about 5 minutes}