(Editing to show that on Post 20, this issue was resolved) On a trip and could use some help.... 08 Clubman with 1300 miles and my EPAS (electric power assist steering) has gone out 4 times now. Where is the power module? Is there anyway that I can check the wires? When I called my home dealership in LA, I was told by the service manager to check the brake fluid reservoir that it doubled as power steering fluid. The service manager was sure that the fluid was just a little low and it triggered the sensor when I hit the curve.... said that this had happened before on other Clubmen.

Something told me this couldn't be correct and sure enough, I now know that the steering assist is all electric. This was confirmed by Crown Mini in Richmond who will be closest to us on this trip and Classic Mini who I called when I couldn't get Crown on the phone at first. BTW am I wrong to assume that Roadside Assistance is only towing and not really "advice"? BUT no one will tell me where the power module is and if I can look for loose wires.... actually both Crown and Classic said I couldn't (exact words..."I'm sorry there's nothing you can do" and "No, you really can't check the wires" .... now surely there must be a way to at least see if everything is snugly in place? But where is the thing???

Details:
Episode one: Several days before this roadtrip, the "power" steering went out for a brief second and I thought I was imagining the blip of stiffness in the steering wheel when I went to make a turn.

Episode two: 150 miles into our roadtrip, steering "froze" up and wheel wouldn't budge when making a left turn, slowing from about 65 mph to turn onto another road. Chimes went off, warning symbol (power steering failure) appeared in the center screen, just as panic was about to set in, and adrenaline was flowing, it came back on and I could easily turn the wheel again. Total time about 5 VERY long seconds.

(BTW... NO dealerships in MS, none in Alabama, none in East Tennessee, none in Southern VA.... we are driving through the wasteland for Mini dealerships and wondering if we need to plan trips to coincide with repair help!)

Episode three: 500 miles and 1 day later, brief "freeze" up on a narrow 2 lane mountain road which resulted in my overcorrecting as it came back on just as I began to wrench it over to avoid the ditch. Lasted about 2 seconds and not enough time to trigger the warning chimes/symbol.

Episode four: 300 miles, 1 day later at our destination in VA. About a ten second shutdown, going straight down the road about 35 mph, not turning or braking. Chimes, warning symbol displayed. All fine now.

We are now the closest we will be to a dealership this entire trip (about 2.5 hours away) , but of course it is the weekend now and we are headed back to Louisiana on Sunday. Which also means back to the dealership who will be apparently looking for the pump and fluid in an all electric system.... sigh! Any help locating the wiring or module for the steering system would be greatly appreciated. I've searched the boards and seen no one else with this problem. I'd like to at least wiggle wires and look for possible loose connections if possible.

 

I thought that the electric power steering is just an electric motor running a hydraulic pump. You still have fluid but instead of the pump being driven by a belt attached to the engine crankshaft, you have an electric pump running the pump... Am I wrong on this?

 

Everything I've read online tonight (all of the reviews etc) of the Clubman concur with what Classic and Crown Mini told me. That the Clubman is all electric and no hydraulic steering.
But I still can't find out any other details on it.... like where it is!

 

Actually I'm wrong, our Minis do have Electric Power-Assisted Steering which actually uses an electric motor to move the wheels thus no hydraulics...

gbsim, you should have that steering problem looked at, sounds like an accident waiting to happen. Those guys as Mini will figure out it doesn't use hydraulics and get'r fixed!

 

I'd be having my car towed to the nearest dealer really early tomorrow so they can fix it. I'm sure you checked the brake fluid like the person recommended so that can't be it. From what you describe driving that car at highway speeds (or any speed for that matter) could result in a very bad accident/injury. If they have to keep the car beyond your scheduled departure they can give you a car to drive home and you can have them come to your location and swap them back. Just my .02.

 

The brake fluid is apparently just that brake fluid. The service manager at my home dealership was wrong when he recommended that I check it. The system is electric.

Yep, it sounds crazy that we are still trying to drive it. But we also can't stay here another week. We're 950 miles from home.... I can't see Mini giving us a car to drive home and then getting our car back to us..... am I wrong?

 

I wouldn't be driving that car after all those episodes, are you nuts?! Have them come pick it up and get a loner car, better safe than sorry!

 

Haven't driven it since the last episode... the long one.

BUT will Mini Roadside actually give you a loaner to take 950 miles and then bring back your old car?

 

Every dealer is different, you'll have to ask them. You might have to rent a car and then have them reimburse you but it's between the dealer and you to negotiate.

 

gbsim - wow, I agree with the above poster. I would NOT drive that car given the multiple wheel lock ups that has already occurred. I know you'd love to get home asap and deal with it there, but the situation you describe is really dangerous. You need to get the car towed to the nearest dealership - I would think that if you call mini roadside assistance and describe the multiple times this has already happened on this road trip that they would immediately insist to arrange for a tow rather than risk the liability of an accident due to mechanical/electrical failure!! I'm really sorry to hear that this happened to you and am especially concerned since I too, have an '08 Clubman. Good luck and please let us know how it goes. Stay safe!!

 

If the problem is that serious then Mini should allow for you to have it fixed and return home at their expense (ie pay for a one way rental). They have to do what's fair when something like that fails.

 

MINI has a "reunite" program where if you live more than 100 miles from the dealer they will help to reunite you with you mini once it is fixed. You might want to ask them about that option.

 

You have roadside assistance as part of the new car waranty, and that may include the cost of renting a car and also any associated extra travel costs (aka "trip interruption" costs). Call them and have them explain all the benefits to you. You may be covered. Good luck!

 

I believe road side assistance will also tow up to 800 miles. Although they do say "tow to the nearest Mini Dealer up to 800 miles". So I'm unsure if you get to choose which dealer.

 

I don't know if they will look at it but are there any BMW dealers closer to where you are? After all, MINI is owned by BMW. Just a thought.

 

My SA always told me that Mini Techs were dedicated to Minis and BMW Techs were dedicated to BMWs. So..........

 

We've sort of devolved into a roadside assistance thread! Which is fine because Bernard has now been towed a couple hundred miles across the Blue Ridge Mtns to Richmond.
But back to my first post, I STILL would love to know where the EPAS (power steering) control module is in the Clubman?!!! Surely somebody knows?!! I know that it's all electric, but couldn't locate the thing at all and it would have been nice just to be sure that all wires were firmly seated before wasting what will probably be a thousand dollars and a week of our lives in the long run.

As far as the roadside assistance, towing was of course paid for and there is a $750 trip interrupution allowance (not to exceed five days). Used to be $1,000 and that's what it says on the internet. But my manual and the operator say $750.

No a BMW shop won't touch it. In fact the BMW "side" of Crown Mini was actually open on Saturday, but they couldn't answer any questions about the Assistance or trip interruption.... totally separate, but at least they were open so the Clubman didn't have to spend the weekend at the tow facility.

Roadside Assistance can't tell me anything about the reunite aspect and says this is up to the dealership to coordinate with them and it all depends on what the dealership wants to do.

So since the car was towed away on Saturday and won't even be looked at until Monday which was the day we were supposed to be back in Louisiana, we're pretty stuck without knowing how far away we can go for the "reunite". We've bought an airline ticket for my husband to fly home on Tuesday so that he can get back to work and a vital doctor's appt. I'm staying here in the hotel and will drive home (hopefully).
On Monday when the dealership opens, things will be clearer as far as my options, but the five day limit on the trip interruption will already be at day three by then.

 

We're just a few miles from Crown MINI. If you'll send me a PM, I'll PM you back with our phone number and you can let us know if there's anything we can do to help.

 

Lesson learned... When you first see a hint of a problem, take the car in before you get stranded or find yourself in an unsafe situation.

 

Drove 16 hours and made it home last night! Issue resolved!! Kudos to Richmond Crown Mini and Clay in the service department!

When the driving lights were installed (at the VDC), a ground wire was left off to the power steering. Clubman PS is ALL electric and apparently was grounded enough to work most of the time, but need for a lot of current, bumps etc could set it off. It only went off five times in 2K miles that we could verify, but more than likely was doing it often but for so short a time that we couldn't tell. Anyway the steering is MUCH better in general and I'm thankful it was such a simple problem.

We had the Clubman towed to Richmond (Crown) Mini in Richmond VA from Lexington (about 2.5 hours) on Saturday.

Fixed and ready to go on Monday at 1pm! Unfortunately, Mini "Reunite" wouldn't get us back together until Tuesday, so we borrowed a car and drove over to pick up the Clubman ourselves instead of waiting for the flatbed. We'll be turning in receipts and will see what Roadside Assistance will hopefully be reimbursed with the trip interruption policy.

 

Wow, thank goodness you were not in an accident - and that you were able to use your Roadside Assistance and the rest of it. That is one heckuva scary story, gbsim.

I don't often hang out in this forum, thankfully. Since I just posted about an issue myself....I started reading and only have caught up to you right now. So glad everything came together for you and please let us know the outcome with the reimbursement, as well.

 

Good news!