My Wife is driving down the road last Sunday when all of a sudden the engine kind of stutters and then ALL of the warning lights come on. Engine still running but obviously something wrong.

She calls Mini Roadside assistance and they take it to our dealer in San Antonio.

Verdict is that the Power Steering Fan somehow ingested a plastic bag, which wrapped around the fan eventually locking it and burning the fan out.

They have denied warranty repair on this and want $300 for the fix.

My perception is that this is a design flaw if it is so easy for the Mini to ingest something and kill the engine. Especially after browsing through the Moss catalog and finding that they are selling a Cobalt fan shroud particularaly to keep this from happening.

So has this happened to anyone else? Opinions on my ability to argue out of the charges?

 

You should escalate the warranty claim to MINIUSA.

 

Opinions on my ability to argue out of the charges? NONE
thE item did not fail due it's design, it was more of an end-user problem.....the manual also says to avoid unpaved roads....!

 

On MINIs built through December 2002 the power steering cooling fan and auxiliary engine cooling fan shared a common circuit. Jamming of the power steering fan will cause the fuse to blow, leading to an inoperable engine cooling fan and overheating.

There is a service bulletin (M 32 01 04) to remedy this fault but it is only carried out if you request it.

After reading several accounts of this problem, I had the Cobalt power steering fan shroud fitted to my May 2002 build MCS, and am having my dealer put the power steering fan on a separate circuit this week.

 

Yes, it did fail due to design.

The fan was redesigned to incorporate a cover to prvent this from happening.

 

does the manual also say to avoid driving?

 

There goes my warranty

If you don't have the fans on seperate circuits I'd say you should take it to MINIUSA, as that was desgin flaw, if you have the seperate circuits then I think you'll probably be out $300, may want to add a $25 protective shroud.

 

Does this mean newer MINIs have the shroud protecting the fan, and therefore don't need the Cobalt shield?

 

Crawl out and look under your MINI, ther eis something but it would have stopped something like this.

 

There is, and it wouldn't have?

 

Next time its on jacks I'll get a photo, my 05 has basically wire supports for the plastic, if I remember correctly. So it will still suck things up but it will take more than a pebeble to break the plastic cover on it. Hmm now I'm not so sure.

errr... I want to go out here and see just how unprotected this really is. I was never too worried before cause I thought it sat up high enough that it would get hit, and I didn't think it had enough power to actually lift things

Edit I just check my photos (uploading now) plastic guard only. sorry if I mislead anyone.

 

Here is a photo of an 05 PS fan.

Not the best pic ever, but you can see that items can still get in there pretty easily.

 

Looking at a parts diagram, it doesn't look like the power steering fan was protected by a grille until October 2003 builds ...

http://www.realoem.com/bmw/showparts...32&fg=15&hl=25

 

If they want to make a problem out of it, just buy the fan from them (it shouldn't cost more than $50) and do the work yourself. We changed one in 5 minutes and the hardest part was jacking the front of the car up.

 

Good point, and the fan looks like it is likely to cost less than that if you could get the specs and purchase it else where.

 

It is an 05 Cooper.

Elprofe - My argument is that this is a design flaw. The flaw is that it is apparently so easy for this to happen that a 3rd party accessory has even gone to the trouble to build a part to protect against it.

She was driving down the highway and didn't even SEE the bag. So it's a little scary that something so simple would disable the car.

Since it was towed to the dealership they already completed the repair, so can't do it myself at this point.

 

My '02 picked up a stick or something a few weeks ago in the power steering fan and broke off a couple blades, the '02 fans had no cover/guard. Only way I knew was the strange noise from the power steering area.

Took it to Classic in Mentor, they replaced the fan with a new one with the cover/guard at no charge.

I'd challenge them on this. Worst case, buy the fan and put it in yourself. It's only two bolts. But you shouldn't have to do that. It's a design flaw IMO.

.....Les

 

If it's a 2005 the fan should have had a protective grille. The Cobalt shroud was designed for the early models which didn't have such a grille.

 

Well, the grille thats on there now is far from substantial. Seing as the dealer has already completed the repair, I don;t think you stand a chance of being refunded. What I don't get is how they could charge you so much for it. I think the fan cost $120 (i was mistaken about the $50) and there was 5 minutes of labor at most. Unless that dealer is going out of their way to screw you, it shouldn't have cost $300...

 

Sounds like they're trying to make up the towing cost from Austin to San Antonio. With the price of gas these days, you never know.

That is a huge design flaw and they should have, at least, given you a break on the labor. Here I was thinking my 06's power steering fan was safe, but now I'm thinking about replacing the cover with the aftermarket cover.

 

Interesting, my wife's '05 MCSa has a plastic duct running from under the bumper cover cover to the PS fan. My '06 has no duct, just the grill over the fan blade. Can't MINI make up their mind on how to protect this thing?

 

Right and I wonder if this duct is something on the MCSa only. My car had this till I broke it off by accident. Dealer wants like $300 installed for a new power steering fan as it was wripped out. I'll pay eventually...

 

Well lets sound the horns.....MINI OF SAN ANTONIO are a bunch deceptive creeps trying to screw people on repair bills DO NOT BUY ANY CARS from them

 

Not a design flaw? The new fans have seperate circuits and have been redesigned to incorporate a fan. It is obvious that these changes were remedial due to past problems. So how can they say it is not a design flaw? Was it a styling change?

 

Simple ... the car in question was built after the flaw was corrected