I had my power steering pump replaced maybe a couple of weeks ago, not because the one I had was dead, but because it was extremely noisy. When I first got back home after the repair, I turned the wheel fully in either direction to see if there was any noise. I did notice a *slight* noise when turning it all the way, but it was faint enough that it didn't bother me, and I figured it was normal.

Just now after pulling into the garage, the noise was noticeably louder when turning the wheel even a little bit. It's not as loud as it was before the swap, but it's not borderline silent like it was just a couple of weeks ago, either.

The mechanic stated my replacement PS pump is not a reman but brand new and of the newer designs, which if I recall correctly were not supposed to be noisy or fail like the originals... But now I don't know.

I'll definitely be contacting the mechanic again; I paid way too much money parts/labor for the new pump mainly because of the sound, so to have it return is unacceptable.

What would cause the noise to return even with a new pump? My only guess is air is getting in the system gradually... But I don't know enough about it to know how that would happen.

 

There was nothing wrong with your original pump, the oem pump is excessively loud on every Mini.

 

That doesn't really help me going forward :(

I knowingly paid a large sum of money to kill a high pitched whining noise that could be heard a block away... The new pump started off silent and got noisier in a couple of weeks, which doesn't seem right to me for my money.

 

If it was a dealer they would have told you it wasn't an issue, even if you persisted.
If it was an independent shop, they wouldn't have known better unless they deal with mini's.

 

The work was done by a European car shop that appears to service mostly BMWs, but was recommended by local MINI owners on this forum and elsewhere as a reliable place to have work done on MINIs.

The work was not done out of necessity. I never held any such delusions. It made noise. I was told the newly-designed pumps would not, not only by the shop but also my research on the topic, so I asked for a quote. The rest is history!

Looking toward the future, I'm trying to understand better why or how a new pump might get noisier over the course of a couple weeks. Any insight into this?

 

In 2005 mini did a slight chamge to make tge pumps a bit quieter....
Now when you are in you garage, YOU WILL STILL HEAR IT....it still has a big dc electric motor...they are just more quiet than the old ones side by side....hearing it in a garage, filled with hard refelecive surfaces is very different than hearing it buzzing a "block away"....

 

You may be right about the garage acoustics; never really considered that! Great point...

So you're saying some amount of noise even with the newer pumps is normal.

Right now the noise is easily tolerable and much quieter than the last pump. It's still an unusual sound to me compared to pretty much any other car I've driven, but at least now it sounds more like an electrical part is doing work as opposed to something is going horribly wrong under the hood.

I guess I'll keep monitoring it to see if it gets louder still or if it stays where it is.

 

I have the exact same problem. Dealer replaced pump under extended warranty. They put in a remanufactured pump. It was silent when I got the car back and now a month later it's quite loud. Not half as loud as it was before I had one replaced, but still loud in my opinion. I know I have to replace the two lines so I can only assume air got into the system since the pump was done and fluid flush.

 

When I replace the lines, ill report back with my findings.

 

Mini's have an very early electric steering hybrid system....elecrohydrolic....a electric hydrolic pump...and it makes a bit of noise.period.
ps systems are selfbleeding....so if it is full, it is not due to air. Using the wrong fluid can cause many issues....so just be sure to use the right stuff!!

 

Please do!

I'll continue to monitor mine for a few more weeks and see what happens, but I'm still suspicious that air is getting into the system, and I was thinking that might indicate that the lines were bad. Also it might indicate the old pump could have been just as quiet if airtight, but who knows. Could have saved a lot of money in that case, but I also figured replacing the pump would remove any kind of guesswork in this domain, but that may have been wrong.

I got a year warranty on the pump, but what happens if I go back to the mechanic and it's not the pump that caused the noise? Not a huge amount of faith it would be a free fix, but I feel that I'd have a better chance complaining about it while the repair is still kind of fresh.

You have a point, I guess the system can never be totally silent. The problem in describing noise in words is loudness is all relative. It's supposed to make noise, but how much? I can't imagine that the first owner of this R50 drove it off the lot with its power steering as loud as it was when I had the pump replaced, it was way past the "normal-sounding" threshold in my opinion.

I still remember the pump being basically silent the day after I picked it up from the mechanic, but memory is a strange thing; mostly I can imagine myself not being satisfied if I heard it the way it sounds now. But perception can't always be trusted and I'm not measuring actual decibels... So I have to be wary of my own paranoia.

 

Since pumps DO tend to fail with higher miles, And NOW you have a new pump...I would not stress it for a bit!!
It might have been a bit aggressive to replace a working PS pump, but you said it suddenly seemed louder...and a sudden change sometimes indicates a change in condition... so perhaps its days were numbered. With a New one installed, you should be fine for a long time. To be safe, just check the fluid level sometime soon...this will check to ensure that none of the newly made connections with the new pump are leaking!!
PS pump systems are self bleeding....they are NOT sealed..and fluid circulates..unlike brakes....so "bleeding" is needed..... If air were to get in (like when a competent is replaced) simply truing the steering wheel lock to lock a couple times will bleed it, by pumping fluid through the system, flushing it out.

 

Same here, the original pump was extremely loud and I was expecting it to fail sooner or later. It did actually die once and the steering was heavy for a minute before catching on again. I decided to replace it with a brand new unit because the independent shop I went did find one at a reasonable price. It was the same OEM brand not a Bosch unit.

At first it seemed totally quiet but I now understand it was due to being used to hear all that noise before. Soon enough I started to hear the hiss but of course much lower than before.

Actually this is not uncommon. Many Opels and Peugeots do have loud power steering pumps. Still, I would prefer it was totally quiet. (Like my 14 year old BMW318)

 

My mechanic said he'd look at it if I brought it in, but I never bothered. Maybe next time I bring it in for a real problem, I'll mention it.

It's not loud enough to really be upset about it. I can hear it in the garage with the windows down, but I can't really hear it outside with the windows down and the engine on. Previously only the stereo could drown out the noise.

I was concerned that the noise indicated that it might end up as loud as the last one. As long as it stays at this current volume, and it doesn't draw the attention of passersby, I don't really care.

When you dump $1000+ into a problem (which was largely aesthetic at the time) you expect perfection, but if this is the normal noise for the PS pump then I guess it is perfect, or at least as perfect as it can be. No reason fighting past that point. Besides, I've moved on to newer projects/problems

 

My PS pump went out and I too replaced it and the fan. When mine went out I had just come off the interstate for some food and heard what sounded like the combination of a bearing going our/dragging a piece of plastic flashing if that makes sense. I opened the hood up and checked everything out but obviously couldn't see anything since the pa pump is behind an dinner the engine. I drove 30 miles on the highway like this to get home and 1 mile from the house it died and had very heavy steering. That was my experience. I can't tell you one way or the other if you have another bad pump. Could it be your steering rack? Also like zippy said, it takes a special fluid CHF 11S that Napa and Oriley carry, expensive stuff. You may want to double check that and do a flush if they used the wrong fluid.

 

My original PS pump made that whining noise especially when wheels were fully extended from about 40K miles on up to about 80K when it finally crapped out.....

New one installed at the dealer three years ago, I cant hear it at all and have 90K miles on this one.....

 

Yeah my remanufactured pump doesn't make any noise. I've had it on two months.

 

/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K36DpCUM2_k


Did it sound like this? Mine just got louder all of a sudden. It has always had that high pitch whine but now it got a little deeper...

 

Check your fluid and make sure your P/S lines don't have a leak, its you hear a sudden change in the whine. Takes the CHF 11s .

Newer factory reman units from MINI are pretty quiet, compared to before the updated units , they do have a loud whine. Newer ones are more quite , but I could still hear the little whine.

The above link sounded a little quite to me, but it might be the audio.

Thanks

 

I checked all my lines and fluid. Seems to be in good shape. I just noticed a random change of whine. It is now a little lower sounding, rather than the typical high pitch whine.

Steering feels fine, no noticeable leaks, fluid is topped up... Weird

 

It sounds about normal to me. I've listened to a few MINIs and I can say that the power steering pump simply makes noise. If you're in an enclosed space like a garage, it will echo against the walls and sound louder than it really is.

Seriously I felt like I've been where you are before. Wait at least a few weeks and see if you notice it getting any louder. Unless the noise is loud enough that people notice it/mention it/ask about it, or when it starts to compete with the noise of your engine, then it's probably just your ears with the OCD setting turned on.

 

Eleo,

Thanks for the reassurance. I appreciate it. Just recently I started hearing it from inside the car with the windows up. I never heard it before. I've owned the car for 9 months so maybe it's just me! Thanks again. I'll keep my eye on it...

 

ESCTuning,

Here's another video of my problem. This one is a bit better. Any thoughts?

 

Yeah that's maybe a little louder than normal but it doesn't sound bad to me. Just sounds like the pump is doing work. I'd still ignore it unless it gets/got worse. I guess the question is, if your lines are good, the fluid level is on point, and the pump is operational, then you don't really have a course of action besides to replace the pump...Which I don't think the noise level you have begins to justify. That's just my two cents.

(This is coming from someone who's sunk a lot of money chasing after niggling issues.)

My noise was also higher pitched prior to the replacement. I can hear the higher frequencies in your recording but it's not as pronounced as the deeper noise I can hear. Your pump seems to growl more than it whines, which is weird. I don't have an explanation for that. But I would argue it sounds less "wrong" than the high pitched whine I am familiar with.

 

Thanks a lot. I took the pump apart, cleaned it, and put it back in. Still sounds the same. (Droning sound). I put brand new oem fluid in too. It's soo loud! Ahh! Really embarrassing when I pull up so someone's house, stop light, etc... Power steering seems fine, I guess these pumps are just really loud. I miss the high pitch sound.

PS: this just started too. Bad tensioner? Belt looks fine. I think I'm just being picky. I like my stuff to be in perfect working order. Plus I'm getting ready for a 2300mile road trip.