Snow!

[MiniManiac]

Post pics of your MINI / Mini playing in the snow. Here is my R56 rocking the snow tires:

[Zack]

Haven't driven Oliver since yesterday. Poor guy got covered in snow.

photo (2).JPG (139.24 KiB) Viewed 10968 times

[CowboyCoop]

My 2012 Clubman at the bottom of the drive way.

[MiniManiac]

My 2012 Clubman at the bottom of the drive way.

Nice!!

[Minidave]

Too damn cold to go out and take a pic!

[Zack]

Too damn cold to go out and take a pic!

I agree. Which is why I took mine from the door of my house.

[nine5raptor]

Should I post a pic of mine with a dead battery? Window didn't even go up when I closed the door. Its really dead!

[Minidave]

If you leave them sit too long the battery will go dead, too many computers drawing power - add to that the extra cold weather and it can kill a battery in a week or two.

I'm assuming mine's going to start.....I may need to go clear the snow off of it to open the hood and put the charger on it just in case....school starts tomorrow!

[nine5raptor]

I actually drove it to work last week and even on saturday! Called MINI. Since I'm under warranty, Isaac gave me a 50/50 of it being covered. They can't get to it until tomorrow though. im in the envoy now. Gonna charge it up and jump the MINI.

[Zack]

I actually drove it to work last week and even on saturday! Called MINI. Since I'm under warranty, Isaac gave me a 50/50 of it being covered. They can't get to it until tomorrow though. im in the envoy now. Gonna charge it up and jump the MINI.

Don't jump the mini. I think it says in the owners manual not to do that.

[nine5raptor]

I don't see any thing in the r56 manual (at least the 2010) about not jumping it but I checked the voltage and only show 5.53v. Looks like a bank of cells is dead. Fun part is, it won't give me my key back! I think I'm going to have roadside take it to Baron and then I can get it tomorrow.

[MiniManiac]

I actually drove it to work last week and even on saturday! Called MINI. Since I'm under warranty, Isaac gave me a 50/50 of it being covered. They can't get to it until tomorrow though. im in the envoy now. Gonna charge it up and jump the MINI.

Don't jump the mini. I think it says in the owners manual not to do that.

Really? I wonder why it would say such a thing. I have jumped mine more than once

[Zack]

I actually drove it to work last week and even on saturday! Called MINI. Since I'm under warranty, Isaac gave me a 50/50 of it being covered. They can't get to it until tomorrow though. im in the envoy now. Gonna charge it up and jump the MINI.

Don't jump the mini. I think it says in the owners manual not to do that.

Really? I wonder why it would say such a thing. I have jumped mine more than once

Something about screwing up the on board computers.

[boxer]

My MINI sits a lot and the battery goes dead. Just have to jump start it. Never a problem, so far...

[nine5raptor]

Ok, more to the story!

Pg 135 of the 2010 manual gives jump starting instructions. Found them after jumping it my usual way, which matched the instructions. Interestingly, they also give instructions for tow jumping it as well.

Started her up and went for a 20 min spirited drive. Obd2 showed system voltage between 14.7-15.0 the whole time so alternator is good. After getting back and turning her off, i checked the battery and found 12.3V. Looks good so far. We shall see if it holds!

So, no new battery for now!

Edit: I don't have a lot of faith in the longevity of the battery. I may take it by baron to have them test it. Or to O'Reillys for a load test ( can they do this with it in the car?).

[Zack]

I don't have much faith in the battery either. When I took the car in for what this one shop thought was the alternator and turned out to be the harmonic balancer, they replaced the battery and upgraded the cable from the battery to the engine bay to carry more current.

[Minidave]

The problem is a 20 minute drive on a dead battery is not enough to charge it fully - the battery should read 12.6 not 12.3.....I'm sure the alternator is fine, it just didn't have enough time to do the job.

Put the battery on a slow charger over night, then run the test.

However, a 5 year old battery is probably due to be replaced.

Mine is also a 2009 and I'm thinking I may have to replace it as well.

I only drive 5 miles to work twice a week now, so especially in cold weather, about once a month I charge the battery up overnight. I have to do the same with my wife's car, and her battery is only a couple years old - same problem, the car doesn't get driven enough to recharge it fully.

Your alternator makes maximum power at about 1500 rpm, so it's not just the speed of the car that determines the charge (ie: a spirited drive) it's the amount of time.....if you'd taken a 2-3 hour highway drive, you might have gotten it there.

[nine5raptor]

Yeah, i could see where it held 15v system voltage. Would drop to 14.7 at idle. I mostly kept rpm around 3k just to warm it up. Side roads (to keep wind down) and could only get it to 210F. I may need to buy a charger as I don't have one. Never needed one in 16 years of driving. Always drive my cars plenty.

[nine5raptor]

Followed Daves advice . Called around and found a charger to borrow. On it now and sipping the good juice! Looks to be flowing about 3.8 amps to the MINI.

Edit: has to reinitialize the window as well. Glad I came across that procedure several months ago!

[MiniManiac]

During the winter months, I throw a charger/maintainer on the classic mini. Otherwise, that battery would just die.

Glad you found a charger.

[SWT CHI]

Two words for you:

Optimax

[Glasspony]

cold is a great killer of the battery. If your MINI can be kept in the garage that is preferred. When it gets really cold I would always leave a trickle charge on it during the night. or a heat lamp under the bonnet. (not too close as we don't want a fire)

[Zack]

cold is a great killer of the battery. If your MINI can be kept in the garage that is preferred. When it gets really cold I would always leave a trickle charge on it during the night. or a heat lamp under the bonnet. (not too close as we don't want a fire)

I miss my garage but I had a choice. Live alone with a garage or live with my best friend and no garage. I took the latter.

[nine5raptor]

Mine stays outside all year. I took it to Baron though and it had multiple issues. Replaced under warranty!

Also had heat shield campaign done, clicking clutch pedal (feels awesome now!), blocked rear washer motor replaced, HVAC motor replaced for a rattle, and an oil change.

[Zack]

Mine stays outside all year. I took it to Baron though and it had multiple issues. Replaced under warranty!

Also had heat shield campaign done, clicking clutch pedal (feels awesome now!), blocked rear washer motor replaced, HVAC motor replaced for a rattle, and an oil change.

Now that you mention it my HVAC motor rattles as well and over the summer I had moments where the hvac system did not turn on at all. Heating or cooling. It took five or ten minutes, or hitting the top of the dash.