I have a 2006 mini cooper s with the JCW aero kit. Last year when driving, I hit a bump and the power steering went. This was done in part because of the casing on the alternator had a cracked housing (no big deal). After fixing it, the mini ran fine for a day and then the PS went again and the battery would lose its charge. I took the fan out and it appears the bearing is bad, should I also change the pump or wait until I instal the new PS cooling fan to see if this fixes the problem? Could it be a fuse issue or wiring or actually the pump?

 

There are a collection of issues with the power steering systems on the R53, do some research.