When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Stock Problems/IssuesDiscussions related to warranty related issues and repairs, or other problems with the OEM parts and software for MINI Clubman (R55), Cooper and Cooper S(R56), and Cabrio (R57).
Hello again guys! Last time I had a problem here everyone helped me fix it.
Now I have another problem! Last night my friend (who is 500 miles away at the moment) was driving the Mini and stopped to go inside a store. When she came back out the red steering lock icon was on and the car would not start. She could turn on the accessories like the radio and the wipers, etc... but the car would not crank when she pushed the button.
It is a 2007 Mini Cooper Non-S. It also had a leaky sunroof drain a month ago which caused like 3-4 inches of rain to stand on the passenger side floor. After that happened the electronics were doing weird things but it seems like it went away after we dried it up. Could this be an electronic gremlin too?
Should she try disconnecting the battery and reconnecting it? Should she have someone try to jump it?
Is it possible the the steering lock is actually engaged and she is just not turning it hard enough to release it? She put the key in and tried to turn the wheel but was unable to move it. What should we do?
I'd say this thread HERE would work, but sounds like the ELV may not be working. Just to rule it out of the equation, check the condition of the battery. Electrical gremlins can happen with a bad or failing battery. I'd also plug into the OBDII port and read what faults are being thrown. There could be a fault for the steering wheel lock (ELV). Have her check the steering wheel lock box under the steering column to make sure it's connected properly. Can see it's location on the diagram for the part HERE. There is some useful information you can read HERE and HERE.
When its locked the only way to unlock it is to unbolt the unit undernoeth or see if you can disconnected and reconnect the plug. My 07' had this and in the 08's+ they changed the lock.
The lower lock box I would check first , then unbolt it if its still does not work from the replug on the connection. The only trouble is the break away bolt will need tapped out.
Hello, to revive old thread. I did the reset with Tool32. After both the "steuern elvcounter cas loeschen" and "steuern lvcounter elv loeschen", the job result is "OK" but the red icon, steering wheel with padlock, stayed on. I concluded that the steering lock (ELV) must be defective. The customer said, she had this issue for a while. I found a service on eBay that deleted the ELV permanently and that fixed my issue. Here is the link if anyone has similar issue. BMW MINI - ELV (Electrical Steering Lock) Delete / RPM Motorsport
Are all Mini's such nightmares like this?
