Hi all,
I have 2013 Clubman S manual that seems to be having a battery issue.
Yes we have had a cold snap here. I'm in MD.

Battery is only 2 years and 20k miles old. Last replaced a MINI Dealer and is a BMW battery. Work order states it was replaced and reset. That is the first and only Battery it has taken as we ordered the car new.

MINI Dealer is NOT convenient for me. an hour plus away. I may have to go back to the dealer in case there is any warranty left on the battery even if prorated... Probably still expensive, 2 hour plus round trip and time sitting around the dealer waiting. never a good time.

The only reason I went to the dealer is the whole battery reset thing. I cant get really clear info on that. Some say must be reset and others say no- get your battery at autozone or where ever...forget about the reset.

Well I have a Zurich code reader that I use on an older car.

I plugged it into the MINI for the first time to see if there were any codes and low and behold it has a battery/ alternator test and a battery reset function. Is this the same reset as the dealer would do?

If the dealer tells me no warranty, I will buy a new battery at the Battery One dealer 5 minutes from my house and I Will do the reset with my code reader.

thoughts???

Thanks in advance!

 

Do you see a sensor on the batter negative terminal cable? If no, you don't need to reset. If yes, it's recommended to reset.

My take on this whole thing is that the sensor is called IBS for Intelligent Battery System or Sensor. It should be smart enough to recognize a healthy battery from a dying without the need to mess with a reset!

 

I recommend getting a battery that matches what came with the car from factory, probably AGM. I bought a Decca for mine, wasn't cheap, but I value reliability.

Not sure if your code reader can 'register' the battery. That really needs to be done. ECM (site sponsor) sells a BWM / MINI specific one for a reasonable price. It will pay for itself.

 

Yes it does have what I believe to be the sensor on the neg battery terminal.

thank you both for the replies. I charged it and so far so good. But this is the second time I have had to charge it in recent months. It is loosely possible that something had been left on. The first time I believe I may have left the ignition on while the car sat in the driveway while I did some other things. 30 minutes or so. I dont expect a healthy battery to go dead from things like that but maybe... as usual these stories are never cut and dried. A third scenario happened this weekend. My wife was waiting for me in a parking lot. left the key in the ignition and listened to the radio for about 20-30 minutes. Then when it was time to move the car it was slow turning over. So it doesn't seem to like sitting and running accessories right now. It did start and we moved the car then drove it home later and it was fine. I seem to have a weakened battery .

I am just trying to buy time at this point. And understand how exactly these things work. And try to work with what I have. My code reader also had an alternator and battery check which I ran after I charged the battery and it came up good.

As I have thought about it, the code reader has the feature. It probably is what I need. I was just looking for some definitive answers. I dont want to make any expensive mistakes.

Follow up question- do these systems sometimes need the battery reset done mid battery life just to be sure it is charging appropriately for the current condition of the battery?

 

I second the recommendation for an AGM battery, whether required or not:

The AGM battery in my 2010 Mini is still the one from the factory. This morning the car had been sitting idle for almost 4 weeks and the battery voltage had dropped to 11.3 Volts (measured prior to cranking). Yet the engine fired up as usual. Ambient temperature was 39 degrees F.

 

thank you. what is in the car is MINI spec. from the dealer. It has a BMW label on it. It is only 2 years and 20k miles old. First one lasted some 5+ years and when it went it was clear complete with a battery warning message in the display. This time it is just loosing it seemingly randomly. No lights in the display no messages no codes stored.

 

If you have the proper scanner to code a battery then you can just run to closest auto part store on pick one up. Typically the higher priced batteries are the AGMs. O’Reilly’s for example you spend 200 for the AGM, with a 3 yr warranty, I just picked one up a few months ago. I have an older model without the IBS.