# R53 S no crank condition



## bE34ST (Feb 14, 2009)

Hi MINI board! 

I recently picked up a new to me, significantly neglected MINI. A 2004 S Model with a supposed “blown supercharger”. Upon my initial viewing of the car it started right up idled at normal temp just find for about 15 minutes or so as I poked around the car. It didn’t seem like to rough of an undertaking to bring the MINI back up to snuff so I negotiated a deal with the owner and came back the next day to pick it up. 

The first 5 minutes of the 15 minute drive home was blissful. Until I looked down at the center gauge and saw the temp gauge illuminated. I pulled over immediately. Being that I was so close to home I let the car cool down a bit drove it until it got hot shut I’d down, and repeated this process to get home. 

Fast forward a couple weeks having replaced the thermostat, and coolant reservoir and properly bleeding the cooling system the overheating problem has improved, but has not been eliminated. 

And yet a new issue altogether has emerged. The car has developed a nonstart condition. Initially I thought it was just a dead battery. I ran to Walmart and grabbed brand new battery, installed it and to my surprise...still nothing. 

I replaced the starter. And it fired right up, problem solved right? Nope. I’ve started the car maybe 5 times and now the no start condition has returned. I proceed to replace the ignition switch, still nothing. Having owned an e39 and an L322 Range Rover I have PASoft which is also compatible with the MINI I checked the EWS and all is good. Key is good, starter is enabled. No red flags..

I’m stumped. When I turn the key I get a single click but no crank. What am I not thinking of here? Is there a relay or something that I’m overlooking? Did I get a bad starter? 

I’m ready to dig in and replace the rest of the cooling system on this car but the no crank issue is plaguing me.


----------



## CoolShirtDude (Jan 13, 2018)

Have you checked the ground cables? I know these are an issue on BMW’s. Try using a pair of jumper cables and run from the engine block to the frame and see if that changes anything.


----------



## FellowsheepTech (Jun 6, 2015)

Bad ground is the most common source for that symptom. You can move the front ground off the motor mount to a super charger mounting bolt real easy. Connect a long wire (15' worked for me) from battery to engine to bypass ground points.

I had same symptom after changing motor & after LOTS of trouble-shooting realized I had indeed missed a starter cable. There are two large cables & one small (solenoid). With only one of the large cables attached to the starter, you get this. In my case the other was hiding under the harness on the bell housing. 

Chris


----------



## MikeNola (Jan 7, 2017)

*Overheating and pto box*

RE: the overheating issues- are you aware of the PTO box built into the supercharger that drives the water Pump, and the issues that can arise once the seal on that pto fails and the oil is sucked out? Google it, sounds like your problem, probably what was meant by ***8220;blown supercharger***8221;.


----------

