Hello!

I own a 2004 Mini Cooper S R53 <3. Great car. Love it.

When I bought it, I had some issues with the power steering pump (or at least that's what the service told me), so I replaced it. I can't say for sure if the pump they replaced was new or second-hand. This happened about 4 years ago.

Recently, I've been having problems with the steering again.
It's acting very strange. Here’s a quick timeline:

• On Thursday, the steering didn’t work at all (i had to use both of my hands to steer the wheel), so I scheduled an appointment at a nearby service shop.
• On Friday, when I started the car, the steering was working perfectly. I got to the service shop, we all just looked at each other, and they sent me home with some extra oil (?).
• On Saturday and Sunday, the steering stopped working again.
• On Monday, I went to a specialized power steering repair shop. They told me that the power steering pump was dead and needed to be replaced.
• On my way home, it got a bit warm, so I turned on the air conditioning. The power steering pump started working perfectly again.

Could this be an electrical issue? Fewer and fewer service shops seem to know how to handle problems with these older cars. Maybe someone here has some advice?

Thanks!

 

Could be electrical. The pump receives a wake-up signal from the alternator when the engine is running.
Next time it acts up, grab a volt meter and see if the pump is getting the signal (it's the small wire on the harness connecting to the pump).