When turning hard right or left when decelerating like turning into a parking lot from the street, I am losing power steering, gauges go to zero, and most of the warning lights flash on like when you start the car. Engine and radio do not lose power. Seems like it must be a loose connection somewhere, but I just bought the car last week so I know little to nothig about how the wirig is set up on these or where to find the suspect harness. No engine codes from this.

Thanks!
Brandon

 

Hmm no replies, not a good sign. Anyone know what wire harness that the steering and gauges have in common?

 

I also have a 05 MCSa and the same thing happened to me once when I was at the track. Loss of power steering coming out of a turn. Not sure if it had to do with the fluids as a result of the banking of that turn. Or I heard someone say that it could be due to overheating of the power steering motor?? Hasn't happened ever since.

 

That would make sense, but the speedo dropping to 0 and all the lights coming on, basically the dash resetting indicates there is a loose wire. Thing is these things never happen independently of one another and appear to be linked somehow.

 

Well it turns out apparently the radio is cutting out as well when this happens, so now I am thinking there is a problem with the main battery cable. The battery in the auto is in the trunk, so i will have to track that down.

 

Well pal i'm no wizard,but i have read on here that some people have had probs with the batt cable corroded under the battery box,common sense shure leads that to be a common denominator if everything shuts down.They are some pretty tec savvy guys on here and i'm shure one of them will be to the rescue in a bit.

 

Bad battery? Is it the original one? My battery is 4 years old and still good but I don't expect it to last for another year.

 

It appears to be a new battery, definitely not the original and does not fit quite right. It appears that the terminal clamps that are part of the car are unusual and do not clamp down as tight as they should. Both battery cables can be pulled on and rotated around the terminals. While this is not desireable, it would be hard to imagine that the connection would be completely lost even momentarily. Even with a lateral force, one the terminal is going to be pulled against one side or the other of the battery terminal making a strong connection. There is another accessory box next to the battery which I am not sure what it is. Waiting on my Bentley manual to figure out some of this stuff, but will be looking for a correct replacement battery tomorrow to see if that fixes the problem. I am guessing Mini batteries from the dealer are ridiculous like BMW batteries are? If so may just grab an optima and eliminate any battery concerns....

 

Well I tightened down the battery terminals as much as can be done without stripping the bolts, and the ground can still be rotated a bit with some force. The battery that is in there does not fit with the battery bracket, so it could move around a bit. I turned the car on and wiggled the wires around and rotated them on their terminals and no problems. I pulled the pos off just for a fraction of a second, and the gauges and radio reset, but the radio switched to aux and the clock in the dash reset, which was not happening when I experienced the issue, so that leads me back to thinking it is another connection loose somewhere. Still have no idea what the box with all the wires coming out of it next to the battery is. It is orange and black which usually indicates something to do with the airbags in most cars, but this has a large probably 8ga wire coming out of it. Are these cars equipped with something that cuts power to the car when the battery gets too low so that you will still have enough power to start it? Remember that in the automatics the battery is in the trunk. I called mini and they want $150 for their battery...

 

$150 for a battery that last 4+ years is not a bad deal. Definitely, try to get the correct fit/spec battery for the car. Sears carries correct spec replacement batteries for the R53 MCS at around $70-$80.

You have to think of these cars like if they were rolling computer hardware. The slightest fluctuation in current/voltage will cause all sorts of weird problems like the ones you are having. Before digging up further, replace the battery and see if this addresses the problem head on.

I am thinking that if the AMP rating of that battery is not correct it may be affecting the car's computer. Everything in these cars runs by way of the computer. So make sure the computer is being fed with the proper voltage and AMP rating.

 

The battery rides on the trunk of all first generation R53 MCS (hardtop) and R52 MCS (Convertible) MINIs, regardless of transmission type.

 

Okay, some of the manuals I looked at before I bought this one had the battery under the hood, I guess they were newer models. Also many of the cold air intakes and such don't fit the automatic cars, and the airbox is in the same area that the battery was in the manual I looked at, so I thought maybe they moved the battery due to the transmission type. Thats helpful as at least I don't have some unusual wiring harnesses in my car that none of you with manuals have. I have looked around at everything I can get my hands on under the dash, under the hood, and under the car and nothing appears loose or shorted out anywhere. Although I can't seem to find the fuse for the power steering with the lovely icons that mini uses rather than words....still waiting on my Bentley to show up.

 

The Cooper models (R50 Hardtop and R52 convertibles) have the battery up front in the engine bay. The reason why the battery in the supercharged models was moved to the trunk, was to allow additional space under the hood for the intercooler and other hardware in the already crammed space.

BTW, the battery is now upfront (Right side passenger) for all R56 and R55 second generation MINIs regardless of engine/transmission type.

 

I still think your problems are due up to the el cheapo battery that you have in the car.

 

I'm having the same exact problems as pilot650. I have an 05 MCS still on the original battery. I've checked the positive & negative terminals on the battery and made sure they're both tight & secure. The battery itself is tied down securely with the stock battery tie down. I checked the voltage with the car both off & on, and they checked out ok.

I installed a new head unit & 600 watt amp about a year ago, but I've never had any problems with the battery dying. The losing power steering & gauges just started about a week ago. Anybody have any theories of what it could be? I'd rather not go to the stealership

 

My problem was resolved by tightening the battery terminals. I kept the el cheapo battery as it should be more than enough for a stock mini. The terminals seemed tight before, but I used 2 wrenches and tightened them down so tight that it appeared to be crushing the battery terminals and deforming the connectors a bit, but it worked. I have been driving it for months pretty hard, and zero incidence of the problem. The amp and head unit will not cause this, unless you installed a new battery terminal to hook up the amp and it has loosened up.