Earlier this year I also lost power steering, and then it would work intermittently for the next week or so (for example I w ould have power steering up until I made a left hand turn). Turned out the harness on the PS had suffered from corrosion and they replaced the harness and PS pump under warranty. Havent had a problem since. I now have a skidplate protecting the underside of my MINI. If you got to work, turned off your car and it started up later on then your Alternator is still pumping out power and keeping the battery charged. Have you tested the output with a volt-meter yet? If so what is it reading? How hard were you running the car when this started happening? Get the codes pulled that are tripping your SES, lets see what those are and go from there. It may not be just an overboost code.

BEATNUT

 

Ok the results are in. I limped the car to my local mechanic with no steering pump, water pump or supercharger. The car made it to the mechanic before it started overheating.
I found out that the belt tensionor broke and the M7 pulley back out even though it had lock tite on it. So I think by the end of the day it should all be back together. I'm guessing the steering doesn't work becasue the battery is running low and to conserve power the steering pump turns off.
crossing my fingers.
M

 

That makes sense. And thankfully isnt to bad of a fix involved to get you bacak on the road and making that power. Did the tensioner hit the crank pulley or do you have a stop installed in case of a situation like this?

BEATNUT

 

next step would be to get a battery that you know for sure is good and test that.

or, just clean and tighten the terminals on your battery now.

Its probably fine now though.

i'm suprised the tensioner didnt destroy the pulley.

when i broke mine on the dyno all hell broke loose, it was bad....

 

The real question now is:

Who is paying for labor and parts?

Bill

 

With all of these mods and changes, it is good to do an ECU reset.

Hold in your odometer reset button and at the same time turn your key so that the radio comes on

Release the odometer button and then press it repeatedly until it shows the #19

Stop at 19 and the display will go back and forth between "test" and "off"
Push the button when it is on off and the press it repeatedly until you get to #21

It will display an option to reset. Press the button and your displays will go blank and your guages will flutter and then the displays will come back on

Turn off the key and then your done

It is good to do this because your ECU learns as you drive. If you make dramatic changes then it is trying to run the way it used too and it will have to adapt to the new changes. By resetting, you give it a clean slate and it begins learning with all of the new mods you have. I have done this numerous time to my car and on others and everybody says that they notice improved performance

 

I think if the alternator charge starts going below a certain point it shuts off the power steering. When my belt broke and my tnesioner went with it the power steering shut down because the alternator wasn't runing, after I replaced the belt adn tensioner and crank pulley pwer steering worked fine.

 

i hope your power steering pump is okay ; and didn't get damaged due to low volts. don't get bummed if it craps out. just be happy if it doesn't . glad you got it sorted.

 

Thank you, I just leaned that this morning, from Chad at Detroit Tuned. I'm grateful for the board and that there are people out there that love their cars as much as I do. The car should be ready in an hour. I'm hoping that everything is fine with the PowerSteering.
Mario
Mario

 

I believe this is only a cluster reset. The only way to truly reset the ECU is with a GT1.

 

Sorry to here about your problems. I wouldn't be surprised to here it's something small.

About the GF. I'm on my second wife. The first could never understand my passion for the things I love. Take a look in my gallery and you will see that I like toys. My current wife new I wanted a Mini. The only thing stopping me was the feeling that I had to get a family car. She told me to buy what I really wanted and not what I thought I needed. I now have the car I wanted. She also encouraged me to get the motorcycle I loved. I did! I love my wife more then anything

The first wife convinced me to get rid of my motorcycle. I did and it was the down fall of our marriage.

Good luck and forget what the GF said.

Longboard

 

I don't want to hijack the thread, but LB, you speak from experience and wisdom, Grasshopper... but there are other considerations, in my case they are named Kirsten (11) and Emily (5).

cheers,

 

Oh Master, I have Tony (7) Spencer (8) Shelly (9) and Brianna (14). I do speak from lots of experience and a little wisdom

My boys love the early morning canyon runs.

Longboard

 

I have been married twice and divorsed by age 29, and thinking about a third. I will keep this Mini for a long time no matter what. Last night was an eye opener to women and cars. I tell her often I could be clubbing, drinking or at the strip clubs, so cars isn't so bad. It has gotten to the point that I lie or keep quiet about my new mods. I wish I could tell her but it would just start a fight. I know it would be worse if we were married pulling from the same checking account. I still haven't spoken to her.
M

 

If you broke the belt tensioner...what about the water?

If the belt don't drive alternator, SC, air compresor....at the same time doesn't drive the water pump. In this case usually the temperature of the water growing and that's no OK.

Where was your gauge for the water?

bye

 

The H2O gauge was creeping up but slowly because it was 49f outside. At one point the needle started to rise quickly so I turned the car of fast and waited 5 mins. I started the car back up and was able to drive 2 miles in the city without the water temp going over half.
I drove the car tonight and the Mini pulls hard, even second gear is braking traction. The M7 2% pulley was a good mod and very noticable to me and even my passenger. After the install my buddy who owns a BMW M Coupe was like "damn, I'm nervous". Before the pulley I was one car length behind him but now it is going to be close.
M

 

I think it felt faster because the gf was not riding with you!

 

i'm feelin' that man . my wife was all over me to stop ridin'. i told her "i rode when you met me" and proceeded to buy a new bike. it's been years since and i've stopped riding (can't do another spill) but our marriage is strong due to mutual respect.

 

dude ; get a strong independent woman who hangs around cause she digs you. why would i care if my girl spent money on shopping and sh$t if it wasn't hurting us ? good luck and be true to you.
























4t

 

I didn't know it got that cold in Ca.....

Glad to see everything is fixed, but does the overboost still throw the SES Light?

 

Yeah believe it or don't SoCal has some very wacky weather right now. The weekend before thanksgivning was in the 90's. And now we are almost getting to below 40 at night. Strange...

Mario I am glad everything has been working out as far as the MINI goes. Sorry to hear about the feuding with your G/F.

 

Thank you and I'm having fun gain with the Mini. The GF is a tough thing but time will tell all. Hope to see you at the Toys for Tots in Weslake on Sunday. Should be 2000 cars plus.
Mario

 

The car is working perfect and yes when I'm spraying water on the aftercooler and it under 50f the boost needle is peged and then the SES light does go one. I spoke to Detroit Tuned and Chad said it is from something else. They have sold hudreds of BPV's and this problem hasn't happened. Next time the light comes on I will try and have it read somewhere. Even though the M7 pulley was a time waster, headache and fight starter, I love it. The car pulls harder to redline. So far it stayed on for 200 miles. So far so good.
M

 

lol... too funny

 

Whew, glad it worked out. Yet another case study demonstrating why the JCW kit is worth the $$.