Self inflicted: Starter died on my 12 year old baby, so after much fuss I removed it from the bottom because I did not trust the header bolts holding up. First rebuild starter was a giant pain, wrong one (I'm working with a bad back) New rebuild starter fit fine, all good, everything back together. Then I noticed the starter cover on a side workbench. In bending it around from the top I got a pretty good spark as I has the battery hooked back up. After a test drive with all fine, noticed window going up real slow, checked the alternator at the battery, no charge. Took front bumper apart, took the alternator to be tested, it was bad and now have a new voltage regulator, with it tested by NAPA as a good alternator. Still not charging. How much damage did I do? any ideas what to check next. Thanks Bob
Is the battery currently dead? How many volts does it make on a voltmeter? If it was run down by the lack of alternator, I'd put it on a charger and get it up to full charge before I tried anything else. These cars do really weird things with low voltage.
I can second BlimeyCabrio's comment...Just yesterday my ASC light started glowing, could not turn it off with the switch...Also noticed sluggish starting on startup. Knowing the Mini is prone to issues from a weak battery, that is the first thing I checked...turned out one of my cells had gone bad (4 1/2 year old battery)...a quick trip to the store, new battery, and both starting and ASC light immediately fixed! Always check strength of the battery first, even if it was good a few months ago. Keeping a weak battery can lead to far more difficult repairs in the electrical system...
Do you have a battery light illuminated? Does the car have power steering? If the car isn't charging you won't have power steering, but if the PS works the alternator is working. A jolt from shorting the system out can hurt the BCM and ECM, but I don't think you've got computer issues. Are you trying to roll the windows up with the car off? If so, the window motors are a large draw on the battery, and therefore are slower when the car is not running and the alternator isn't charging.
Minis do very odd stuff when the battery is going bad. Make very sure you have a good battery before you do anything. their not like normal cars, well of course there MINIs!
Ok, thanks all for the ideas, and just joined to support this great site Battery tested good at Advanced Auto I never had the warning light for the battery PS appeared to be working, drove fine (I would have known if I didn't have PS, correct? Big difference?) All Fuses appear good, tested the specific one for Alternator #39 Tested 2 of the 4 lines to the alternator (1 to Fuse 39, 1 to DME, the 3rd one goes to the Dash Board Light (to hard for now) Have not checked the main line back to the battery. (but did check the big fuse in the back by the battery) Hopefully I am not overreacting (Volt Reg was bad) Using the volt meter, I read a bit more than 14 volts while the car was running after I replaced the bad alternator the first time. Currently, before I took everything apart, was only reading 12. All ideas and help is greatly appreciated.
No luck. Swapped out another "good" battery from my other car. Bought a new digital multimeter to replace the 20 year old Sears one, both batteries were fully charged, read 12+ when the car was not running, then under 12 when running. 3 options left, local shop in town @ 5 miles, better shop @15 miles away and the MINI dealer in 35 miles away With a 12 year old car, repair will probably end up more than it worth. Will update when I know more.
You check the ground wires? Maybe a bit of corrosion....and I would double check the fuses.... If I recall, the alternator uses a 5 amp fuse to feed the voltage regulator to make the power it amplifies...remember an alternator needs an input to amplify, while a old style generator (classic car) does not, but only makes full input at high rpms. I'd look at the battery cables...they have long runs...and could chafe corrode or otherwise fail.
"Good News" My fault, wired wrong. Two large wires go to the solenoid, smaller third wire goes to the positive side on the starter motor. (slightly in my defense, I had to take it out the bottom with a bad back and had a 3 week delay when I was given the wrong starter to begin with) Lesson learned, back is healing. Local shop in Saratoga Springs was great, as I took the car in half assembled with the front bumper off. Will include a picture when I can find one. (should have done this in the beginning) I think I saw another thread that also mentioned being wired wrong, I post the picture there too. I am very leery about those 12 year old header bolts, reason why I did not take it out from the top as shown in manuals. (soaking them in PB Blaster as they will have to come out soon anyway for future work) Thank you all for the advice.