Ok so long story semi-shortened: Thanks to the Firestone my mother had my car refreshed at for me, I've broken multiple tools attempting to remove my oil filter cap to replace the filter. Finally, on Sunday I decided to remove the filter housing to try to get a better angle at taking the cap off. Took some maneuvering, but I got it out, and shattered the cap trying to put some force on it to remove it Called around, had to wait until today for a new cap to come in.

Got the rest of the cap off, thanks to a dremel, several bits/cutting wheel, and a hammer and chisel. I now have some rather unique looking threads on the housing, but I digress. Got it all cleaned out, and put the housing back on the car. Had to do a little iffy work with the drainback valve (stupid little pegs snapped, so it's sitting in there without the spring). Got the cap screwed on as best I could, still has about 1/8" of room before it would be fully seated, but it doesn't leak one side effect of this though, I no longer have power steering. Like at all.

The pump and cooling fan do not run at all. I find this odd, being the closest I got to the system was fishing one of the oil filter housing bolts out of the P/S cooling fan. Anyone have any ideas where to look? Only other thing I can think of is maybe I snagged a wire with one of the heat shields, but it didn't seem like it was stuck on any of those when I was fenagling them back into place.

Also, it seems to be running fine (although I am paranoid and swear I hear a bit of a ticking noise when it comes back down to idle from a low rev), but I feel like my fix for the drainback valve shouldn't have anything to do with that, as in theory it would actually prevent oil from draining back at all, even once the filter is loosened? (for those of you that know what the stupid little plastic valve I'm talking about is, I took the large spring out that goes into the housing and keeps it pressed against the oil filter when installed in the housing. Bring on the messy oil changes!)

Anyway, just wondering if anyone can think of something that would explain my newfound need for strong forearms Thanks in advance!


TL;DR: Shattered oil filter cap, had to take filter housing off to replace, everything is back together and now I have no power steering, and no idea why not.

 

Woa. On the oil filter cap, do you have the special socket made for that purpose? It is a MUST. Sounds like a gorilla may have put yours on though.

Can't comment on your drainback valve mod.

As for the power steering...it's awfully coincidental that it died while you were working down in the same general vicinity. Your heat shield theory is plausible. Did you trace all the wires carefully from the pump and fan? Check fuses? That being said, the electric PS pump is a common failure item. In fact, MINI issues an extended warranty on it and ours was replaced for free!

Jeremy

 

Thanks for the response! Yah I have the socket, but it's a 3/8" drive and I sheared 4 1/2"-->3/8" drive adaptors on it lol. I did figure out my power steering issue though, turns out I just managed to pull the power cable out of the pump. Took some creative contortionism with my hands due to space, but I got it plugged back in and it works 100% again!

 

Great!