I just bought a 2005 Mini Cooper s that needed a clutch job. Well my boyfriend and I did the clutch jobs and while we had the car up on the jack stands we started the car right up with no problems and finished the car which took about an hour to do. Once the car was on the ground we decided to take the car out for a test drive. Well I turned the key and nothing happened. All the lights interior and exterior worked but when I turned the key nothing happened. Well we looked up what could possibly be wrong and someone said we might have to pop the clutch the first time and then it will be fine. So we popped the clutch and the mini started up. We drove one time around the block and went to shut the garage so we could take our new car around for a spin. Well my boyfriend wanted to see if we could start the car with the key now so he turned it off again and tried to start it again but still nothing when he turned the key. So again we popped the clutch because I really just wanted to drive around a little bit and have a little fun. I pulled up to the light at the end of our street which is about 200 ft away. Well everything electric in the car started going crazy the radio started flashing, the gas gauges and temp gauge fell to the bottom and some warning lights started popping up. Well I went to go around the block again so we could figure out what went wrong. Well around the next turn the power steering went out, and speedometer gauges fell to zero and the tachometer stayed locked at 1000. The next morning we decided to check the battery. In the off position the battery ready 11.6v after popping the clutch is dropped to 6.3v. My boyfriend wanted to make sure it was just the battery so we switched his battery into my mini. Went to turn the key and still nothing happened so we knew it was more then just the battery. My boyfriend thinks he possibly wired the starter wrong. Is there any way that it could have worked for the 3 times we started it on the jack stands then once it was off it just stopped working? If anyone has any other ideas to what the problem could be that would great.
One thing to check is the big ground wire near the passenger side motor mount. Make sure the connection is clean and tight.
Ok you have a power issue. Make sure your test your battery or replace it with a "known" good one before buying a new one. I saw your test above and it looks like you covered that. The power steering will shut down if the system is not getting the correct voltage. This happened to me last August and it was Alternator that need to be replaced.
Did I understand you correctly? You did the clutch in one hour? That is fast! The starter has 3 wires, make sure you reattached all three the small one on top is easy to miss, it goes to the starter solenoid. Here is some links that may help. The first two are pictures of the wires going to the starter. http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/MINI/25-TRANS-Clutch_Replacement/images_small/Pic21.JPG http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/MINI/25-TRANS-Clutch_Replacement/images_small/Pic20.JPG http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/MINI/25-TRANS-Clutch_Replacement/25-TRANS-Clutch_Replacement.htm Let us know what you find. Welcome to MA!