Last weekend while visiting my brother in law 8 hours away the Roadster started making a squealing noise Saturday evening. Then the battery indicator came on. My BILs mechanic didnt work on MINIs and we figured the dealership was the best bet at getting on the road again quickly because they would have better access to parts. We bought a charger and charged the battery so we would be sure to make it to the dealer on Monday. Less than a minute after starting the car Monday morning the battery indicator came on again. We mentioned all this to the dealer.

MINI of Birmingham found the noise issue and resolved it fairly quickly. The drive belt was shredded. Turns out the bracket holding the air conditioner had broken and was shredding the belt. They said they had never seen this before.

They were unable to recreate the battery issue. Said they checked the battery and it was fine. We havent had the indicator come on again but we did check the battery after driving home (about an 8 hour drive). The new charger said that the battery was at 75%. We tried our old charger and that said 85%. We would have anticipated nearer 100% since we had just driven 8 hours.

What would you do if this were your MINI...replace or wait?

And if you would replace, any ideas on what battery you would use for the 2013 Roadster? Ive done the "Exact Fit" type things at Pep Boys, Auto Zone and Advanced. Advanced seems to have the best reviewed options but I am still worried about fit, particularly since several of the "Exact Fits" seem to be different sizes. The closest dealer is hours away but we have access to most stores.

 

If you don't mind getting stranded someplace then waiting is an option. If the battery is holding a charge, then the charging system needs to be checked out. Also keep in mind that the battery should probably be registered with the system to properly work. Some skip this step, but I wouldn't if you have the IBS in your car.

 

a 13?

aka the bat' is 5 years old?

replace ... it is hanging on by a thread .....

today's bat's ???? ALL cars not just MINI, if you get 5 years out of a bat ... well I consider myself lucky .....

 

I agree that a 5 year old battery is a good run. I celebrate the 3 year Battery Anniversary in my Gen 1. The traditional gift for that anniversary is a new battery in case you didnt know. LOL

The thing that was giving me pause was the fact that the dealer checked the battery and it seemed fine. Well, that and the fact that there isnt a clear choice for replacement. Any recommendations for a 2013 Roadster replacement?

 

Thanks for the thought.

Drawing a blank...you mean Nav? I saw that was an issue for some after battery replacement. We dont have Nav.

 

You would have a cable like this if your car has Intelligent battery Sensor.


IBS cable

 

Thank you, that is very helpful.

 

yep, +1 look at the cable. Most people that have navigation have that cable. If you do get a new battery you will have to have MINI or someone else reset the system so it recognizes a new battery.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...nt-help-4.html

 

The serpentine belt drives the AC, alternator, and water pump. If the belt was going then possibly the belt was slipping on the alternator so the alternator wasn't putting out enough current to keep the battery charged. Older batteries will make the alternator work harder too - I had a car where the mileage went up by 2-3 mpg when I replaced the old battery.

 

FYI doesn't matter if you do or do not have the IBS sensor. The battery still needs to be registered to the car. This is false info on the interweb. All Gen 2 cars have a register battery feature. We do it with every battery we replace otherwise it will not last.

 

So with the nearest dealership (and you too Way) hours away, am I just basically screwed battery-wise?

 

http://www.mycarly.com/product/bmw-battery-reset/

They claim that the app will do it, some have reported success with it. No guarantee!

 

is there an explanation of 'battery registration' some place

cuz I'm a sorta car guy, and a MINI owner since 2002

and this one still concerns me ..... seems like a SCAM to the 10th degree .....

only car I've ever had that needs 'battery registration'

WAY ... I'm looking to you .....

 

Is the battery registration something that BMW dealers can typically do if no MINI dealer local?

 

We purchased our pre-owned R59 on a Saturday. Drove the car about 50 miles over the weekend...then on Monday, the battery (original) was near dead! We have a specialty foreign car repair center only about 5 miles from us so, after a quick charge, off we went to have things checked out. The service center tested our electrical system for charging and drain and said all was good. However, a battery replacement, due to age, was recommended. A Bosch, direct replacement battery ($199) was installed and registered to the car ($40). After getting back home I hooked a Tender up to the battery and allowed it to charge overnight. In the morning the LED on the Tender was glowing green to let me know that the battery was fully charged. We haven't had any issues since.

Afterward, when reading the Owner's Manual I noticed that Mini frequently cautions the owner of the car not to perform certain functions which may wear down the battery if the engine is not running...like cycling the power top. This certainly raises a red flag as to how much power some of these accessories can consume. Typical of a new owner, Sunday evening I was "playing" in the car while it was parked in the garage...resetting radio functions, cycling the top up and down, checking out all the headlight and interior lighting features, etc.... So, I guess I am somewhat to blame for the battery condition Monday morning. Either way there is a fresh battery in the car now and, if nothing else, we now have peace of mind about it.

 

Thanks Rich and congrats on your new to you MINI!

This isnt our first MINI, we also have a Gen 1 Cabrio so I am familiar with the donts of running high energy pull functions without the car running. In the Gen 1 I actually wont leave stuff plugged in/ on because I believe she has an issue where stuff like that pulls a charge even when it shouldnt.

Ive stopped leaving the phone charging cable plugged into the outlet in the Roadster and some of the radio malarkey has stopped. So the Roadster might be having the same phantom pull issue.

Battery seems to be going strong now. (So hesitant to tempt the fates by saying that...) Unfortunately weve had continuous doggie health issues since I first posted and havent felt comfortable taking a road trip to a dealer.

 

Interesting to find this thread today that I had not seen yet and seem to come in the nick of time...

This morning my wife is about to go out and the car would not start at all. It's a first for us with the MINI in 5 years.
No crank what so ever. The car run just fine the prior day. I was puzzled.
I had just changed the oil this past Friday so I wasn't feeling so hot when she came to tell me. I went to check the oil level (my worry is always to have put too much or too little, or to have miss-tighten the oil plug).

Anyway, the oil level seemed fine. So next I thought, We've had the car for almost five years... So I plugged in the battery charger, pressed the 15 minutes boost charge, and waited. 15 minutes later I stepped in the car and it fired right up. I think it tells me there's a good chance the battery getting tired, if not dead already... despite the total lack of signs it was giving up.

So I've been reading quite a bit this afternoon to find answers on battery replacement for the Mini which doesn't seem to be as straight forward considering that I seem to have that IBS sensor on the battery cable.


I'm investigating investing on a scan tool to help me with long term maintenance, but the most pressing question I have is: Is it okay to swap the battery of same specs, and register that battery a few days later? Or will this cause a bunch of warning once I swap it?


I am looking at the Schwaben scan tool that's on sale, but I don't know much about it yet... I'm trying to learn how useful it would be for me, at my skill level. I've done quite a bit of mechanics on my cars, but when it comes to diagnostics, understanding the diagnostic, and fixing the correct system, it often sound simpler than it is...

 

So finally I was able to change the Battery, I thought I'd drop a note for the record.
It was by far the most complicated battery change I've ever done.
1: Finding the right battery wasn't easy.
2: Getting and learning the tool to register the new battery took a bit of time.

I selected a Duracell Ultra Platinum AGM BCI Group 48 (SLI48AGM).
It has a 4yr warranty, which makes me feel better.
And the early review seem promising. It's a relatively new battery type so long term is hard to judge.


I actually didn't realize exactly how long the old battery was. The car was manufactured in July 2013. We're in June 2018 so that makes the OE battery at least 5 yrs old. That's actually not too bad. Varta did well. Plus the MINI gets pretty hot under the hood so not bad selection BMW MINI.


In the past they use to say that an average battery last 6yrs. Now they tend to say 3 to 4 yrs which I think is a big difference. All I can guess is that they're making batteries more cheaply (despite new technologies), and also cars have become much more power hungry with all the sensor systems, car options, and electronics in general.

 

If you decide to disconnect your battery for some reason, such as to do an electrical repair, will the battery have to be registered to the car again after it is reconnected.... or will everything go back to normal automatically?

 

Registering as to do with the charge cycle. It's only needed when replacing the battery for a new one. In other words, from what I understand the IBS system adapts to the age of the battery and especially the recharge current as the battery is less and less able to hold charge. When I reset the battery it kept the mileage of when I replaced the battery, as a replacement marker. It also showed me the charge cycle history in percentage. I could see that day when the car didn't start. The old battery was at 30%. Registering clear that history to start a new.

It has little to do with the car preset.
That being said, while registering is only needed when changing the battery, disconnecting the battery does erase all the radio and clock preset. I don't know why they couldn't have build a permanent memory for that purpose. But I suppose it's an easy way to reset the system when something is out of wack. I don't know... Well the clock I understand. To juice no clock ticking.

 

Thank you. If the car is going to be sitting for a while and a battery tender is connected, will this play havoc on how the computer sees the charged status of the battery from before the tender was connected? Does the charging system ever really charge the battery back to a fully charged state during normal engine operation? If not, what max charge level should be expected from our charging systems?

 

I don't believe so. I don't know for sure, but from looking at the type of information it is using my guess is that the system uses the mileage in conjunction with real time data during charge, and possibly the clock to compare values and regulate the charge accordingly. I also read the battery temperature is a big component to it. For the most part the monitoring is done during operation I believe. It's a little bit like a battery tester that records trends over time. That's just a gut feel. I could be wrong...
I do not know if the system takes readings when the car is turned off. It's possible. After all many other system are still active when the car is parked (alarm, key entry). But it may not be necessary.


Generally speaking I believe the charge fully depends on the type of driving one does. If you do a good stretch of highway regularly, it will be fully recharged. If you do just small trips maybe not as much. The older the battery the worst obviously. And the more you use accessories such as radio and roof tops the more power the battery will need to be recharged. In normal conditions the engine provides power once started, but occasionally the battery might provide additional power to accessories, when the system is under more strain.


Also, when I swapped the battery I took the old one out, and then went to the store to get the new one. It took me maybe 30-45 minutes round trip. There's no power system reserve for that long a time. When I put the old one back in and started the registration. The old data was right there. So, to me, this means that this information is stored in the car computer permanently, a bit like coding.



Personally, with modern cars, I don't unplug the battery when going away. We've been gone for over two weeks at a time. I prefer that the system uses a tiny bit of battery discharged over time, than letting the battery discharged itself. it's just a gut feel. We sometime leaves for a long two weeks, and both of our cars starts without issues, even during the harsh winters.
The only time I would consider unplugging the battery would be for long time storage. Let say over a month of none use.

Also, the old battery was about 5 yrs old. To my surprise the battery connection had zero corrosion. I think the AGM tech is doing well in that regards. Hence I have little hesitations to leave the battery connected.

All this is more experienced based, so one with more technical knowledge would have to pitch in to speak more accurately about the IBS system

 

I think you have the system pretty much figured out. Well done. Thats pretty much what it does.

 

Looks like it will work. I got into demo mode and it read my battery stats and did a demo registration without complaining. It doesn't like me using a BAFX adapter, but I think that's a sales pitch.

 

I installed my battery yesterday and coded it with Carly for BMW. The worst part of the whole operation was figuring out how to get the bolt back on for the battery hold-down. I stuck a piece of electrical tape on the bolt head and crammed the 10mm socket on it, then fished it in with my handy-dandy telescoping 1/4" drive nutdriver/extension and tightened with a stubby ratchet.