1st Gen R53 Cooper S Procedure for changing car battery

You have got to be kidding. No way should you ever unhook a battery of a running car of any make.

There is serious risk of the alternator spiking the voltage and frying your electronics.

 

I am still laughing my A$$ off! :frown2: :lol: :frown2: :lol:

 

Write down your radio stations presets & when you swap the battery back in set them up again. Your radio may hold the stations for a bit before you lose them.

 

Do you know that (as in personal experience with losing codes)? Where did you hear it from? It wasn't the case with my Honda CRX in the 1990's. I don't expect that to happen with modern cars.

With my MINI, I've had the battery disconnected for a week while the car was in a shop torn apart for repairs. The only things reset were the clock and trip odometer.

 

You've got a Gen 1 version so there's no magic spells need to be cast in replacing it.
Take the car down to Pep Boys or some other outfit like that and tell them you need a new battery. They'll swap it out in the parking lot for the price of the battery and there won't be any wive's tales, experiments or wild guesses considered.

 

I'm with Friskie on this. I know how to change a battery, and have a big rolling toolbox full of more tools than I really need. But, my local O'Rielly parts store will do the replacement for free, and do a charging system test for free, too. All I have to do is pay for the battery.

Yeah, I CAN do it, but why should I when someone else will do it for me, no charge.

IIRC, I didn't lose any of my programming when I replaced my battery. That was three years and many beers ago, so I can't be 100-percent certain about that.

CD

 

Okay, I see now. I searched on Google, and here is one of the results:
Battery changing while car is running..... - 8th Generation Honda Civic Forum
The issue is the anti-theft mechanism in the radio. If the radio loses power (e.g. removed from the car), it will disable itself and a security code must be entered to reactivate it. This is not about losing presets (which are unaffected).

The older MINI OEM radios do use this same type of security (until about 2003). If you disconnect the battery, you would have to enter an unlock code into the radio. From 2004(?) onward, the OEM radio stopped using a security code. Instead security is based on detecting a BMW/MINI iBus data connection. So if you steal the radio, it won't require a code but it will only work if installed in another BMW/MINI.

But Ian Cull found a way to work around it: MINI STEREO IN PORSCHE

So if you have the older radio and lost the code, or reeaallly don't want to bother with entering a code, you could try the running engine trick. If you have the newer radio, it doesn't matter.

 

And don't fry your alternator with that trick.... $$$$$$.$$

I've disconnected my battery for a couple of hours (not running) without any sort of radio security - forgettin station issues, but mine's a 2009......

 

Disconnecting the battery while running remains a truely stupid solution to the problem.
Connect another battery in parallel if you need to deal with this issue.

 

If you are truely truely worried, you can occasionally find a odd product, forget the name, but it is a 9v battery connected to a cigarette lighter plug....harbour freight, and a few others sell them....something along the lines of "radio saver".... Will give you 15 minutes or so to do the swap...
And I strongly suggest that you NEVER disconnect the battery in a modern car with the motor running....it was unwise to do even on my old 88' and 89' civics and crx's...a holdover from the days of ZERO electronic in cars from the decades earlier....

 

My God. Call the dealer and get the code for your radio. Grow some balls! :frown2:

 

There was no security code on my R53 MINI's radio or the one in my wife's R55. Wonder where this urban legend about secret MINI radio codes originated?

 

It is real, not an urban legend. As I said, it only applies to 2003 and older OEM radios. What year is your R53?

 

I know there was no codes on the 2005 and later version's....there are some pics and guides to tell the differences from the size of the volume knob....
Think the code was eliminated when mini realized radio theft was partly a thing of the past as most cars switched to tightly integrated radio's of random sizes, and the local crack heads switched to GPS and cell phone thefts in the late 2004 era....

 

Learn somethin new everyday. Must have been lots of folks stealing those wireless boxes from them early MINIs.

This will appear on the last episode of Myth Busters.