2005 MCS. 63,000 miles. October 22, 2009. I had just gotten home from work and parked in the garage. Going in the house I smelled something burning. After a couple minutes of investigating in the house, I decided to go back into the garage, and find that it is a little smokey. Open the garage door and back the Mini out onto the driveway. Now there is smoke streaming from under the hood. I can hear spinning/clicking noises coming from the engine compartment. Open the hood and see flames coming out of the back of the engine, below the exhaust manifold.

I emptied 3 fire extinguishers into the engine bay and it was still burning. Called 911. By the time the fire department came, the fire had burned itself out. I was extremely fortunate that I went back into the garage within minutes to investigate, otherwise it could've been a huge car fire and potentially fire damage to the garage and house as well.

Will be calling insurance and Mini tomorrow.

 

Below the exhaust manifold would probably be the infamous power steering fan. Glad you caught it early before any more damage occurred.

 

Just about what happened to me. Play the lottery, you are a lucky guy...

What is your build date. I bet it was earky in the model rin for '05 and they were using up the older model of the pump or else it was crap that blocked the airflow. Get the part number from the damaged pump if you can and post it. Not many '05 cars had fires.

 

This is just amazing! Even though I changed the PS pump, as well as the PS fan, with the newly-designed replacements, every time I see a new entry in this thread, it makes me get rid of the car the next day. Mine is a 2003 MCS with 101Kmiles. Still glad that nobody has been hurt from these fires so far...

 

Somewhere around April 2005 or so. The shop told me the new parts they put in are the same exact ones.

 

Wow. This thread has me scared to drive my MINI. Yes, I have noticed that a few times in the past month or two when I started it and drove away, the PS wasn't working properly. But upon turning the car off, and back on, it would work. Yes, I have noticed that several times in the past week when I turned the MINI off and walked away, I could hear the PS pump running. Yes, it was a pain in the butt, because it would run my battery down. BUT, I had no idea it could burn my MINI to the ground. Now, I am scared to drive it until I get the $700+ to get it fixed. Wow. Mine's an 03S with about 130k miles....
Here's a video I took the other day to send to Dan at Grassroots Garage who diagnosed it as a PS pump going bad.

 

Just had mine done. Caused a small fire. Ruined wiring harness and power steering line. Replaced pump,fan line and harness. 02 mini with 49000 miles. Very expensive fix. I`m not happy.

 

Guys I really need your help. For a while my car's power steering has been off/on and sometimes it will cut off while driving on the freeway. Today I was parallel parking the car and while turning the wheel power steering turned off. I muscled the wheel and all of a sudden, LOTS of white smoke, burning, engine smelled of electrical fire and battery went dead. Car will not jumpstart and sustain a charge.

I have a full coverage insurance policy via Progressive with a $500 deductible. Can someone please tell me if vehicle fire is covered. What should I tell my insurance company to have this covered? In the meantime I am out of a car.. and no normal mechanic that I know of can repair an electrical fire.

I love this car, but I think this issue is the straw that broke the camel's back.

 

do a search on 'spontaneous engine bay fires.'

 

For your convenience, here's a link to the main sticky on this topic over in the stock problems/issues forum:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...bay-fires.html

If you read the whole thing, I think you'll come away with the conclusion that you were a lucky dude. Could have been much worse.

 

I have State Farm and when mine caught fire I called and made a claim, they sent an adjuster and he approved repairs. He visited the shop again when repairs complete. I didn't fill out any forms; just signed and got a check that covered repairs completely.

I couldn't be more pleased with State Farm.

BTW, now tghere are no signs of any fire or problems whatsoever.

 

I just filed a claim with Progressive, I hope to God this is covered by insurance because Long Beach BMW will charge a pretty penny for this repair work! That's certain. It's interesting to see how many others have had this issue also. Why would BMW not make an exception and warranty or do a voluntary recall of this problem. Sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. I filed a complaint with the NHTSA. I'll let you guy's know how this claim is reviewed!

 

You can add me to this list,

December 6 2009,
2003 Mini Cooper S @ 64500 miles
Car caught fire, power steering failed while parallel parking
Fire extinguished itself

 

Comprehensive should cover it. My fire also damaged the main wiring harness that had to be replaced. in addition to the pump/fan and harness.

The bill was over 4K.

 

Hey Cigar, sounds like your mini was smoking - literally! lol :P After the repairs are you ever worried about this problem reoccurring?

 

A lawsuit is exactly what BMW/MINI is waiting for before they admit anything.

Sorry to hear about your trouble. Good luck with the claim.

 

No problems or concerns whatsoever.

State Farm's Litigation department reviewed it and decided not to pursue it although I filed on the federal website and gave them the URL to the thread here and to the gov't site.

 

Now did Sparky fall asleep with that cigar in his grill?

 

Hey SCoop,

If you're out there, please update the first post. I would like to have my local BMW dealership repair this 'mechanical failure' at their cost. This is a very very dangerous problem, I'm sure they would like to avoid any kind of multi-million dollar litigation. I just ask that they repair their faulty engineering so I can drive my car again, soon!!

 

Well I am shocked to find out about this. Someone from Mini2 pointed me over to this thread, I can't believe so many others have this same problem and nothing is done about. Fortunately I got "lucky" and things didn't get too bad but my car is currently at the dealer. Here is the story:

The car i have is a 2005 Mini Cooper S.

First of all I got the car new in 05 and have about 85,000 miles in it. The car has been pretty good to me, no major problems. The only other maintenance type thing I had was the MFST wheel controls went out on me and the harness in there had to be replaced.

Cut to a few days ago

10 mins after I get home safely my neighbor tells me my lights are on and the Car is smoking from the hood. I run outside and sure enough the brake lights are lit, there is smoke coming from the hood and I can smell burning. I try to turn the car on to at least get the lights to turn on, but the car won't turn over. The burning smell was really bad at this point. When I turn the key all the lights start flashing, and nothing happens. So in order to get the lights to shut off, I disconnect the battery.

The next day I was towed to the nearest MINI Dealer. I spoke with them on the phone and they seemed quite confused with what I was telling them, sounds like they hadn't heard of a car catching fire when it isn't even on before.

So when they finally call me they tell me there are problems with the "Power Control, Harness, and Pump". The service rep described all these parts as "quite crispy".

They still can't figure out what caused it, and they are now going to have the car well into next week. This is because someone from MINI HQ has to come down to the dealer and check things out. The service rep says when something major like this happens they need the MINI HQ guys to check it out. My guess is they have to make sure it's not some sort of manufacturing fault or whatnot.

At least MINI has been nice about it and they are paying for a rental car for me tomorrow. I'll see how things go, I figured some people would be interested in it since they are sending someone down from MINI to check things out. Does anyone know if that is a normal occurence?

 

another one bites the dust

 

Those who read the washingtonpost.com might have seen this article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...020404750.html

It refers to the ongoing Toyota fiasco, but it really struck a chord with me since I remembered having the exact same reaction when I initially read the NHTSB Report (<-- link) on the MINI EHPS Pump electrical harness failures back in late 2008. The investigators seemed way too eager to simply buy BMW AG's explanation lock, stock, and barrel at face value.

One wonders if just a couple of fatalities had been directly linked to this issue (which, sadly, could still happen since there's never been a recall) if BMW would discover themselves in the same kettle of fish -- answering questions about their lack of action despite knowledge of the issue and the associated danger for many years.

 

I've been searching for a good 'product liability' lawyer. If anyone knows of a good legal team, I would like to file a class action lawsuit against MINI. Besides the grief it's caused me, now my vehicle has a tarnished VIN# which will substantially decrease my resale value. And $2500 (personally spent) in repairs, 2 weeks of having to drive and switch rental cars and piles of paperwork filed with Progressive insurance company. I think we need to get the ball rolling. Now is the perfect time with Toyota getting hammered.

 

It is very sad that those fatalities occurred. What really got the ball rolling was the media & their constant news reports on Toyota's problems. Maybe if we had a friend in the media they could get BMW to do the right thing with these power steering failures & fires.

 

A lot of our cell phones these days record video. IF ANYONE EXPERIENCES THIS ISSUE, VIDEO RECORD OR TAKE PICTURES OF WHAT IS HAPPENING IMMEDIATELY.