Minis been perfect lately, drive it yesterday parked it until today. Started driving then the tachometer stopped dead. As did the temp and fuel gauge. I have speedo and the lights on the speedo, but nothing on the tach at all. The speedo needles go crazy at startup but it starts fine and drives fine. The speedo display will not come on until I turn the key 3 clicks, so I can't run a test. The cherry on top is the brake lights stay on permanently until I unhook the battery.
Is it a battery issue? Pretty sure it's the original battery. (2005mcs) is it a ground issue? Or something more expensive?
Need serious help as I can't drive with brake lights stuck on.

 

Yep, a marginal battery can cause odd electrical problems. Original battery? That's where I would start. Replace it, you're way past due..

 

Hoping that is all, electrical problems can be a nightmare.

 

Now simply unhooking the battery and re attaching doesn't turn the brake lights off. Plus every time I do the window goes down a little.
This isn't good...

 

Anyone had similar experiences?

 

You take the battery out to get it tested or swap it (temporily ) with a known good one from a second car?
Any battery that's good will work...does not need to "fit" right....
Next look at the ground connections...corrosion can cause issues...another cheap/easy/free thing to try....

 

Battery is in need of a charge which it's getting now. Friend if mine who owned an 03 r53 had similar issues which for him was water in his body control module, he's pretty sure that's what I'm experiencing. Gonna rip the interior apart tomorrow afternoon and see if that's the issue. Thanks for the replies I'll update progress incase anyone has similar issues in the future.

 

have you had issues with the windows fogging up when not running the ac?
same symptoms are possible.......but battery should NEVER be less than 100% charged if the car is driven 20+ minutes on a daily basis....
And the "eye" on a battery does not indicate it is charged...only sufficient to be tested....which USUALLY means charged...

 

No issues with the ac, drove it for 4 hours the day before I had issues. Sat parked while it down poured all day, next day went to drive, had issues. Could be a coincidence because I pressure wash it all the time with no issues before. Charging the battery probably won't do anything if it needs replacing but I'll try it for now until I can swap a good battery in.

 

Try replacing the battery. I bought a replacement battery at a local Auto Zone for about $150 or so, installed it myself in 5 minutes (even though Auto Zone states they will install any battery in any car, when I told them I had a Mini the guy said "Oh, no way we won't touch those, not even install a battery."), and all the odd electrical issues went away. This was on a 2006 MCS with the original battery... I couldn't believe the original battery lasted almost 8 years... but the electrical gremlins were a sign that it was dying... at least for me it was... the new battery "fixed" everything. Also, I returned the dead battery to Auto Zone and they gave me something like $20 (core charge) for it...

 

Awesome, it's gonna be the first thing I do when I get paid Friday. Its good to hear that it could possibly be an easy painless fix.

 

When my battery went, the car wouldn't start, a bunch of lights on the dash went on and then off, and the windows rolled themselves halfway down and wouldn’t roll back up. It was pouring rain. This was just last spring... 7 years isn't bad for an OEM battery!

 

Ok, so the battery is fine, wires and body control module, all dry. Got the tachometer back working, fuse was blown. Unfortunately, the tachometer,speedo, interior lights and brake lights stay on after car is off and key is removed from ignition. Temporarily put a switch in the fuse that controls those to keep the battery from draining. The switch must be on for the interior and gauge lights to work as well as the tachometer. The brake lights will work even with the fuse switch off. Pulled the body control module and it had no effect on the lights, they stayed on.
Possibilities?
- ews (Immobilizer) no good?
- ignition issue?
No idea where the issue is

 

Ecs tuning? Waymotorworks? You guys have any idea? Really don't wanna pay a dealer a grand to maybe fix it.

 

Check the ground wires....sounds like a high impedance issue from (most likely) corrosion.

 

Checked the grounds everything looked clean, couldn't find any evidence of water or corrosion. Might need to have a pro check it out.

 

Yea,

I was going to say the same things, battery, BCM, water, but did you check the power cable from the battery to the ALT. Did you check the pins and connection on the BCM ?

Did you check the engine bay for chewed wires , had this in another thread " Rodent damage " .

If all checks out I would go to MINI, they can hook it up and read all the codes and wires , even down to the ABS sensors and PDC module. Other then that its a game to chase down electrical.

Thanks

 

So the last couple days the brake lights have been working normal, just can't get the dash lights to go off. I'll give it a little longer incase some moisture may resolve it self, if not I'll take it to the dreaded dealer. It hurts to type that.

 

Much much later I have fixed the issue, as diagnosed by dealer, speedo cluster replacement did the trick!

 

Thanks for the update , so they reprogrammed a new one ?

 

not exactly, I bout a used one for $40 until I can afford a new one to have coded. I assume the accumulated mileage will store elsewhere until coded onto a new cluster.

 

Yes, think its in the DME, i will have to check, did you get a little tamper dot near the miles when the plugged the new one in.

 

haven't seen one yet, not sure if it gives me a grace period. I did end up with obc from the new cluster somehow so that's pretty exciting.