OK, so my power steering went out yesterday morning. It was fine, I stopped to get gas and then it was gone. I drove to work and parked it. When I got off I drove it 20 minutes home and it was fine. I was home for about 5 minutes and had to run to the store, no power steering. I got in this morning, drove to work and everything was fine. I parked it, killed the engine and started it back up, no power steering. I'm sure that when I leave tonight it will be fine until I stop. Is that indicative of a failing PS pump? Oddly enough I called the dealership yesterday and even though the car is 13 years old and has 145k on it the pump is under warranty for another month or so at least. My delima is this. I can replace the pump with a working used one for about $100 or I could drive it to the dealership an hour away and have them replace the pump with a new one and then probably tell me that the hoses are bad and charge me $600 to replace them. Advice gladly accepted!

 

Dealership replaced, means dealership warranty. If the hoses are not bad, then they won't need to be replaced. Just my thought...
You didn't mention the year or model, R50/52/53 had PS pump recalls from years 2002-05 I believe.

 

It's a 2003 r50. Yea, I just know how the dealership is. Not to stereotype but my experience with stealerships is the reason I always try to work on my own stuff! When I called yesterday the service department mentioned the hoses. That kind of let me know that they were probably already thinking about a way to bend me over.

 

You could put new hoses on yourself and then bring it to the dealer.

 

I just had mine done, it went super smooth. I would suggest having the dealer handle it (and I do 90% of my own work). If you don't have any leaks now the hoses are probably fine.

 

All R50/53 PS pumps were subject to manufacture recall. You should get a new one for free if it hasn't already been done.

 

That's exactly what my pump started doing before it went out completely (this was pre warranty/recall) I'd call the dealership and see what they would do if your lines are leaky. I don't see why they couldn't do the warranty work and then just say if it fails due to the bad lines, it's not their fault.

Otherwise I'd change the lines and then get the dealership to do the work.

 

The 2006/R53/R50 PS pump was not covered under the recall. I'm guessing they had that fixed for 2006. On a side note, looking at my 2006 history report, the PS pumped was replaced, but not by recall.

 

First thing to do is to call the dealership back to find out if the warranty is through their program or if it's a part of the federally mandated factory recall.
I agree, if it's under their warranty, you have to watch them carefully, insist on a diagnosis first with the option of walking away simply paying the diagnosis fee.
If it's under the recall, I would worry much less about it, they will simply bill all of that time back to Mini under the recall program.
99% of the time, Mini P/S failures are pump related, not line related, and that sounds exactly like your problem.
Also, if you can, get under the car and verify that there are no line leaks, but if you've not added fluid, the chance of it being a line are slim to none, they are routed well and unless one of the brackets have come lose, they should not be able to wear against anything, and the don't often crack.

 

It seems pretty standard that dealers will claim your hose is leaking & if you don't replace it - $350++ & not covered by the recall - there will be no guarantee on the new pump - they claim.
$350 for 30 mins work & a hose seems a bit steep to me.
In reality it seems that the 'O' rings can weep, causing the outside of the hose to be 'damp'. If there are no drops of fluid on the floor or loss of fluid from the reservoir I'd decline the new hose.

 

Yes is was up to early 2005 production for the replacement, double check with the dealer first, if you are beyond that time period or already had it replaced(like mine) it might be out of the replacement warranty extension. It's just the pump and fan. No lines are covered unless the dealership does a good will.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-recall-2.html

 

Power steering fan could be gummed up and not spinning, causing the pump to finally overheat once the car is parked and not being cooled by airflow.