So I'm in quite a dilemma. My Mini Cooper won't start. The battery is in good condition (recently purchased last year), and it was checked on Wednesday.
Gas tank is full. And the mechanics put oil in my car. The fuse looks good too. I don't drive my car a lot. It's a 2011 Mini with 25,000 miles on it.

Unfortunately, we do not have any certified BMW mechanics on island, making this issue (simple or not) difficult to resolve.

Here's what happened:

My car drove smoothly to my place of destination. However, when it was time to leave and I turned on the car, I was only able to turn the car slightly when it came to a full stop. I was trying to get out of my parking spot when this happened. When I put the key in and press the Start button, the car makes a clicking noise. That's pretty much all it does, and now my car is just wasting away as I try my best to find someone who is knowledgeable about these cars to help me.

Hoping for some good guesses. Thanks!

 

What did the battery check out at (what voltage did it read)? Not that this sounds like your issue. Do you have accessibility to diagnostic tools? You may want to have someone plug into your OBDII port and see if any codes are present. So, the vehicle started and as you started to move it just died on you? Did it just turn off or did it chug or struggle at all and then die?

 

I am unsure of what voltage it read. At the car shop, all they told me was that the battery is in really good condition. It's a tire & battery shop, and the only option I could think of at the time (since I thought it might be the battery).

The mechanics plugged in a machine to scan the car for issues. I lost confidence when they told me that they could not read the codes, and requested time to figure out what the codes meant. Days later and they still don't have a clue. Today I removed my car from the facility, since I fear that they might do more harm than good.

My car struggled for all of two seconds and died. The slight turn I tried to make took only a few seconds before it died. That was the end of it.

However, tomorrow I have someone coming to check my car. Just found him but he no longer fixes cars since he's busy with his business. He informed that he doesn't believe the guys know what they're doing and that he has a computer he can use to diagnose the problem. So hopefully, he will help resolve it. I think he felt badly for me since he fit me in his schedule.

 

Just to make sure I understand here, the scanner they had wasn't able to pull any codes or they were able to pull codes, but didn't know what they meant? If they did pull codes do you know what codes they were by chance? Most generic scan tools sometimes wont be able to pull codes so you may need to find someone with BMW/MINI scan tool. I know there is the carly app (http://www.mycarly.com/product/bmw-app/) that you may be able to use, if you don't want to invest in a proper BMW/MINI scan tool. Seeing if any faults are present will possibly help point to what the issue could be. It could be a number of things... I'm sort of leaning towards fueling related. Let us know what your friend finds out when he comes to help.

 

First guess would be the battery. Is it a manual transmission by chance? Check the clutch cancel switch on the clutch peddle? I've seen those shift slightly and then only the "acc" mode of the ignition works. (lights, radio etc...)

Good luck,

Nik

 

I will let you know tomorrow what this new guy says.

The scanner pulled codes; I saw it lists some faults since I was standing next to the mechanic. All I recall seeing as one of the faults was something with the junction box; as for the rest of the faults I saw listed, I can't remember and didn't pay much attention since I wasn't quite sure if I was interpreting it correctly anyways. They told me they would contact me to let me know what the codes meant, but after calling them several times, they kept telling me that they didn't know the issue. Unfortunately, I didn't think of asking them for the specific codes; that would have been the smart thing to do, but it never crossed my mind...I simply didn't feel comfortable with them (especially after they waited for me to google responses to their own inquiries about my car). Thank you for directing me to the Carly App; I will definitely check it out and share it with the individual tomorrow as well.

I forgot to mention that the guys at the shop mentioned it might be the fuel pump, but that they weren't sure. They were calling in someone to check it, but I decided to remove my car instead because I know the person they called in and he messed up my mom's car (BMW) in the past, haha.

Thank you for responding so promptly, and I will keep you posted!

 

 

Hi, it was the fuel pump. Once it was changed, all was good to go. Good luck!

 

Sure i got the same problem with your car , how was your car ? Your car solve or not yet ? Thank you

 

Hi, it was the fuel pump. Was a simple fix. Haven't had any issues since.

 

The fuel pump. Good luck!

 

Hi just reading your post so did your battery died because of the fuel pump because I think I have the same problem I've used my car today just got out of it in 10 minutes later the battery is dead hear this clicking noise every so often coming from the underneath the engine please advise thank you
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