Hi.. well.. my mini wasn't starting at first. It was parked and when i got in and tried to start it, nothing happened.. no ding ding ding.. that tells you the car senses power. I tried it 3 times, and replaced the battery a year ago. My co-worker told me to take it out of park, put it into drive, back to park and then start it again. This time, it worked after waiting like, 30 seconds. I was so nervous, because I didn't know what to do. Then, as I was driving off, I noticed that my clock was set to 0:00 and the mileage was set to 0. miles. Not, the main one.. it has like 54000 miles on it. What just happened here? I am a little nervous because I hope it's nothing serious. I just don't want to be stranded anywhere.
Anyhow, I look forward to your responses!
~Lauren

 

I had something similar to this happen about 2 months ago...same issue with the clock and tripometer reset. Turned out there was a crossthreaded bolt in my main fuse box (under the hood). The fuse box had to be replaced. My car finally lost all power when I was driving, and I was none too pleased.

What really upset me was that Global Imports in Atlanta tried to blame the installation of a CAI for the issue. I did the CAI install myself and know with certainty that I did not crossthread the bolt (since I never touched the bolt!). My suspicion is that the dealership was responsible when they installed my rally lights (which DOES connect to the fuse box at the exact location of the crossthread) about two years before. We finally came to some understanding, but I will not be visiting Global again.

So, to turn away from my own problems, you might want to check any major electrical connections.

 

Are you're brake lights working?, with automatics there's this brakelight switch that could get stuck at times.

 

I had a jeep cherokee with automatic that did the same thing. There was a switch that sensed if the car was in park before you could start it. When the switch went bad, everytime I tried to start the car it was like the battery was totally dead, radio memory gone, clock reset. Rock the shifter back and forth, and it would start normally.