I just replaced the original battery in my 2007 Cooper. I am having trouble getting the car to start. Is there a step that I am missing? Anyone have good suggestions or have you had this problem? If you had the same problem after replacing battery, what did you do?

 

check the terminal connections

not unusual to find a cable loose .... depending on the battery make, you might even need a shim. I try to use copper in that situation

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and you are telling me I NEED to replace the bat' in my 07'

darn

I knew that but was trying to ignore . . . pads too!

 

We cleaned the terminals when we replaced the battery. Everything appears to be connected well. The car turns over but will not continue to crank. Don't want to continue to try to crank it and run down new battery. Any other suggestions appreciated.

 

Even though it is a new battery, it may not be fully charged. Put a battery charger on it.

Dave

 

You didn't say, but was replacing the battery your idea to fix an existing problem or was the replacement of it just preventative maintenance ?

 

The original battery when taken to the auto parts store was completely dead with no percentage left at all. So, the battery was a problem, but there may be another problem. The car tries to crank, but will not turn over completely. The exhaust almost sounds like it is making a putt-putt sound (the best way I can describe it). Is this possibly a fuel delivery problem?

 

I just recently replaced the battery in my 08 MCS. The Volts read 14 while car is running and the amps at 53. I've been told by the tech at O'Reilly's that was helping me that the volts should be higher. Does anyone know? I've read other posts that the battery should read about 13.5-14.5V running so that seems about right for mine...but I'm not sure if the current is high enough. It starts pretty well, but of course not as quick as when it was new. It's been about 4 days since the battery was replaced and volts and amps holding. I guess my real question is if the alternator is getting ready to go out and if I need to shell out the 1300.00 to replace it. How can you tell?

 

My radar detector has a voltmeter as an optional display. It reads 14.4 volts, when the engine is running, so you are in the ballpark. Anything over 12 volts means it is charging.

The current output will vary with the electrical load.

It sounds like your alternator is just fine.

Dave

 

+1

It all depends on where exactly the voltage reading is being taken and with what.

If the battery was not really fully charged (and when i replaced mine it was not) then you may want to just charge the battery with a battery charger one time then as long as you take some nice long drives once in a while you should not have problem. But i can say that if the car takes only short 5-10 mile trips then you need to start taking it for longer trips to get a good charge on the battery

 

Thanks for all the advice, y'all. After having baby car towed to the dealer, it turned out that the battery issue and the P0014 and P0015 codes were related. The battery died due to being original battery and was "cranked dead". The failure to start and the trouble codes turned out not to be the Vanos, but a rail supporting part of the timing elements broke and wedged somewhere. Had to have it replaced along with the timing chain, tensioner pulley and a few other things. I appreciate all the advice and suggestions.

Pete