I posted elsewhere about the passenger window not closing properly and the lights not flashing when I lock the car with the fob.

Last night, a friend came over at my request and looked at the door latching mechanisms. He used a screwdriver to simulate the doors being latched without actually closing them. I did and still do trust him as a knowledgeable car enthusiast; however, the MINI has proven to be radically different in some ways.

Is the door mechanisms connected in any way, directly or indirectly, with the starter? Is it at all possible my friend inadvertently damaged something critical to starting the car by playing ONLY with the door latch mechanisms? He did not take anything apart.

 

Sounds like a bad battery. Symptoms like these can be traced to a battery going bad.

 

That's the assumption we're now working with. We're going to check the electrolytes, unless the caps have been sealed shut, and give it a jump. Also make sure the contacts are clean.

 

FWIW.......it's always helpful to identify your make and year of car.

Once you get to around 4 years old on a MINI battery you're on borrowed time.

...Les

 

I agree that it just sounds like a battery issue.
You can connect jumper cables to another battery to see if things then work correctly.
You can take your battery to a local auto parts store to have it tested.

 

My clock was going away and the windows would be down a notch when I came back to the car. The battery was 5 years old and had gone south.