Mini won't start :(

[Woolley]

Hey guys, just wondering if any of you have had the same problem as me.. 54 plate mini.

Jumped in the car, went to fire it up. But nothing stone dead! Got my pals van and connected jump leads over to it, tried to fire it up but nothing again. Lights all come on, on the dash as normal. Left it connect probably for 4-5 mins and smoke started coming from under the car and a burning kind of smell so just removed the leads and left it at that. Being the weekend will only get it to a garage the morn. Thanks for your time to read this. Any ideas?

Cheers!

[jdl_1967]

Hi Woolley, I had symptoms like this when my live feed from my alternator was shorting on the exhaust manifold. It fried loads of circuits in the car as it happened when I was driving.

You shouldn't be getting smoke from the car, were the jump leads hot? Cheap or wrongly specced jump leads can overheat if you try to push too much current though them.

Battery voltage should be about 12.5v when not running and about 14v when running. Does the battery have the correct fluid level in it? It may well be sealed, but if low and not sealed, top up with de-ionised water.

[Woolley]

Thanks.
Yeah smoke coming from underneath., and the car no even wanting to turn over. And yeah the leads were getting pretty warm. Fluid level I could t tell you just now., as cars no near by but will have a check the morn.

[Eddie_JCW]

Where under the car was the smoke coming from?

[Gismo]

No idea about the smoke, but, it sounds like a classic case of a totally dead battery to begin with.

Poor jump leads will do nothing for you and will simply overheat

[EcosseGP]

Yeah that's a battery fault for sure. It only smokes if there's too much currant going to it so I would suggest that you maybe try another battery to start with.
Can you get the battery tested first and see what power if any is left in it ?

[Woolley]

Just thought I would let you know what's happened. Turned out to be a problem with the electrics at the power steering, I had the pump replace 3 years ago but since then it has never given bother with the power steering failing like it did last time. Recommendations as to where to get a new one, or safe enough with good old ebay?