Stop/start not working

[watchnut]

Help....before I take it to Mini

I have a baker street Mini 1 diesel 2012 (122k) original battery.

The stop / start feature has only worked a couple of times over the last 3 weeks or so

Why has it stopped working?.....this car is used for teaching driving and is often running for 6-8-10 hours a day, so I assume the battery would be well charged up with me running it for so many hours a day, averaging about 500+ miles a week (most of it's miles are around a town)

Could it be the battery not getting enough charge now it is coming on 6 years old in July?

Could it be the cold weather? (on South coast so not that cold)

It starts first time

cheers

[eybic]

There are a lot of parameters that need to be met for stop/ start to work, 1 of these (I believe) is that the outside temp needs to be above a certain temp.

[steve-5snwi]

The stop start on my mini has only worked a handful of times in the 4 years I have owned it, I wouldn’t worry about it unless you really need it. Chances are you would have an agm battery so would be looking at £180-£250 for a replacement

[mon the fish]

First thing I do when starting our R56 is turn the damn thing off

[blueg33]

mon the fish said:

First thing I do when starting our R56 is turn the damn thing off

Me too in our Octavia - its just annoying

[twokcc]

Mine not worked either since mid December apart from one day when outside temp. got upto 8 degrees and 15 miles into journey
Leave it until weather gets warmer then check it out..

[watchnut]

Thanks for the reassuring replies.....I am hoping it will be fine, but I am aware that my battery takes a battering considering the work i do. I think it has done well so far as it will be 6 in July, and I have had it for all but 14 months

I think the start/stop is great and saves me about £5-£10 a week in fuel as Southampton has many traffic lights......which always go red when I approach!

It feels odd, and wasting fuel when the engine does not cut out now that I am used to it

[Gunk]

Non functioning stop/start is often a sign that the battery is coming to the end of its life, as the battery holds less charge the car disables the stop/start. Just changed mine and the stop\start has now starting working again.

[watchnut]

Cheers...as much as I suspect, along with the cold weather recently, it may be on it;s way out. My battery's normally last about 6 years, and with start/stop I expect they work harder than normal non start/stop car batteries

It is booked in for a service at the end of month....best I drink less red wine to help pay for one I have heard they are not the cheapest.....and looks like someone other than me will have to do it as I understand they need a professional change owing to the cars computer, and dismantling the car to get it out!

[steve-5snwi]

Just check with BMW first, they are getting cheaper these days, they are around £100 for a service with cabin filter and may quote a fully fitted price on the service page, I think we charge around £190 for an agm Varta fitted.

[Gunk]

steve-5snwi said:

Just check with BMW first, they are getting cheaper these days, they are around £100 for a service with cabin filter and may quote a fully fitted price on the service page, I think we charge around £190 for an agm Varta fitted.

That’s a good price, my indie charged about that to fit a genuine battery.

[watchnut]

chers will ask around...including BMW

[tvrfan007]

I expect the answer to be yes, but check if you have the intelligent battery system (which decays charging rates using an algorithm compensating for a battery's age and condition). If you have a plain looking negative terminal you don't, if it looks like this (https://i.ebayimg.com/images/g/CmkAAOSwgY9XflII/s-l1600.jpg) you do. I expect it's an 096 battery, same as our 2009 Cooper D with IBS which I exchanged last week after 9 years duty. Stop start has never made many appearances outside the warmest 3 months of the year since we bought the car in '13, and with the new battery it's infinitely more keen - including below the temperature the manual criteria dictates it would initiate at.

The AGM batteries in stop-start are expensive, yes, but can be had from Halfords for £125 (for the 096) on trade so see if you know anyone with a trade card. A trained chimpanzee could change it, since it's only the rubber seal at the rear of the bay that needs pulling up, one bolt and one screw to take off the right hand side scuttle panel, then one battery clamp and two terminals to change the battery. It took me 15 minutes, including opening and closing the bonnet ad cleaning all the sminge off the windscreen which lurked beneath the scuttle panel.

It needs 'coding' to the car, which took my mate all of 30 seconds using the BMW software. Halfords offer this service for £25 on AGM batteries, so you can still save money if you can get the battery on trade. There may even be someone advertising on Gumtree or ebay locally to you offering this service using 'versions' of the BMW dealer software - my friend offers this service. Alternatively, it would take 10 minutes of an Indy's time, who may be convinced to do so for a similar fee to Halfords.

HTH.

[watchnut]

Update at what happened in the service, the BMW garage said the charge on the battery was at about 80%, which should have facilitated the Start stop to work ok, but it was not working. They said that they would charge it up over night to 100%, then it should work as normal......

Because the car is used for work and some times running for 8/9 hours a day I decided that the best way was just to change the battery, as I did not want to have to loose another days work and have to take it back a few days later.

The cost was £178, that included them having it over night so that it could be charged up, go into "sleep" mode and be married to the car. Since then all has been ok

Thanks for the replies, cheers....