4 replies to this topic

[Tumbleweed-Connection]

Hi All,

 

Well, what a day I have had. Drove to my mate's place and parked up outside his house, locked the car up and went to get him. Came back, I flicked the alarm off, got in, turned the key to go and....nothing at all. All I got was was a single click.

 

Turning the ignition key to the first position does not cause any of the gauges to kick into life, nor anything on the main dashboard binnacle - not even the immobiliser light. I checked the battery and it was fully charged and kicking out 12v. Connecting a starter pack up to the battery, which I have used to jump the car from a completely flat battery before, made no difference. Even checked the fuel cutoff and that was fine. Checked the engine compartment fuses (in particular the very rightmost one as I understand that's the important one) and all was fine. It is as if the car doesn't even have a battery connected. All the Earths and connections to the battery are faultless because I checked them all over recently and cleaned contacts etc - I even added a second engine Earth as a precaution.

 

Called a Green flag chap out because I didn't have so much as a screwdriver on me at the time - ultimately he said that electrics weren't really his thing and that was that. They're certainly not mine.

 

The only way we could get everything to kick into life was to connect a jumper up directly to the starter motor, which allowed me to then nervously drive home (it was getting dark and I only dare use my sidelights).

 

Does anyone have an ideas? Could it possibly be the immobiliser doing something funny here? The only thing I can think is that when I went back to the car I clicked the fob for the alarm a few times as I was just opening the boot and wasn't sure if it had disconnected. Then, when I turned the key I heard a single click and then haven't heard anything further since.

 

I can get readings with a multimeter at some point as I know they're the basics - the guy did take some but he was all over the place with it so I can't remember what he said he was getting from where. I think he did check the positive going onto the starter from the battery though and there was voltage there, I believe. It's a bit late for me to be messing around down in the garage now.

 

I've left the battery disconnected in the hope that if it is the immobiliser it'll drain itself and reset. I don't think it will be though as I've just been down after about 20 mins of it being off and still the same situation.

 

Off for a beer and some pizza now at this late hour; pretty sick of the car right now :-(

 

Mine is an MPI 2000 Cooper.

 

Thanks

 

Jacob

Edited by Tumbleweed-Connection, 14 June 2015 - 09:45 PM.

[Lsurt95]

It could possibly be the live power feed to the starter motor. Check to see if there is any power getting to the starter motor with a multi meter with the ignition on. If no power is getting there check and clean the connectors and re try.

 

Hope this helps 

[Tumbleweed-Connection]

It could possibly be the live power feed to the starter motor. Check to see if there is any power getting to the starter motor with a multi meter with the ignition on. If no power is getting there check and clean the connectors and re try.

 

Hope this helps 

 

Hi - thanks for your reply. I'll try and get down to take my own readings with a multi-meter on Tuesday evening, as I know that is what is required for a proper diagnosis. I did clean all those contacts to the starter purposefully about a month ago when I was having some charging problems, so it shouldn't be that. That's not to say it's not, of course, but when everything is completely dead it is more than a big strange. Especially as I drove all the way there and the car started on the button both from my home and a couple of times when I stopped for fuel.

[peter-b]

Ha ha, had to laugh with what you mentioned about the road service guy. Maybe he should get a different job if he can't diagnose a mini.
Sounds like the main battery lead has fatigued or corroded through. I've seen this before, usually around the engine end. Look for burnt section or bit that feels 'limp' I.e broken wire inside. As Lsurt95 said, trace it from battery end till you get no power. Check where cable is crimped into connectors too.

[Tumbleweed-Connection]

Well, turns out it was the wiring loom behind the dash which had worn through and was then shorting against the body. All sorted now and all for the princely sum of 150 smackers