I sorry to here about your MINI, I too lost mine on Apr 25 and have USAA too. I'm still waiting for the car value to come back, very surprising for USAA to have taken this long and I still don't have an answer yet. We ahve turned in everything and the determination is that MINI is a total loss but the value of the car seems to be taking in inordinate amount of time to come back so I can finalize what I need to and get another new MINI ordered.

Goo luck on getting everything resolved for your MINI.

 

Sorry to see your MINI up in flames. I am glad you are OK.

I have always carried a fire extinguisher in my cars. Ya never know when it will come in handy. I recommend that MINI owners invest a few $$$ and get one too.

 

wow.... that's just nuts. And it was so nice too! well, Im sure you will come out ahead in the end, and perhaps a settlement is in store as well. good luck!

 

I'm also very disturbed and sorry for you. You will be happy in a new one, tho I know that's not much consolation now. We should all watch out for this, and make something positive happen by getting some fire extinguishers. I know I will, but most likely NOT this one:http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/CHROM...spagenameZWDVW

Not to make light of what's happened, but if you read the descriptiion, you might get a laugh. If I DO get this, I'll be sure to get some replica smoke detectors also.

Ken

 

I think I have to second this one! I would probably just let it burn and then get it replaced. Dents and scratches can be fixed but a burnt up car wouldn't be nice to fix. Bad smell me think.

 

Sorry to hear about your MINI. I hope you get your new MINI soon.

 

My Peanut burned this morning... how many more will burn before MINI / BMW does something about this?

Here's the story as I wrote it just after it happened:

well, the almost-worse happened to Peanut this morning
- a small engine bay fire. I believe it was the same
thing that happened to Mike & Donna's Scooter about a
year ago. I won't have any more info until the
insurance adjuster has a look at it and then Brecht.
(She's at Brecht now with the battery disconnected).

I got to work this morning just fine. Pulled into my
parking spot and locked the car. Got to my desk, put
my bags down and heard what sounded like a BMW alarm.
I thought I should go check to make sure it wasn't
mine... just then my phone rang and the woman who's
office is right next to my spot told me my alarm was
going off.

I ran outside with keys in hand and saw a little bit
of smoke coming from under the hood. I popped the hood
and boot, pulled out my fire extinguisher, but didn't
see flame. I smelled electrical fire, and saw a whisp
of smoke but that was it. I emptied the boot and tried
to disconnect the battery (I heard something
'whirring' and realized that the electrical system was
obviously malfunctioning.) I couldn't disconnect it
manually so I left it and checked the engine bay
again. Still no flame, but more smoke.

I ran inside and asked a co-worker to call the fire
department. Then grabbed my phone and ran back out.
Anothe co-worker came out with me and helped me get
the fire extinguisher working; now we could see some
small flames coming from below the airbox. I used up
the extinguisher but there was still a little fire.
Fortunately it worked itself out... then the fire
department showed up.

They disconnected my battery and had a look. They said
that using the extinguisher definitely kept it from
spreading. Then I got the usual questions about the
car: was it fun? how do I like it? etc. <grin>

Anyway, long story short: she's at Brecht waiting for
insurance to have a look. I can't see any damage so
hopefully it's contained and not too terrible to fix.
It's covered under comprehensive and I have a low
deductible, so that's a blessing. Also, it could have
been a LOT worse! It could have happened at night
while she was parked in my garage with almost
everything I own stored in there, with apartments
above... or on an enclosed auto transport on their way
across the country... or while I was driving!

Keep your fingers crossed that she's either easily
fixable or totaled.

Jenn

 

When it comes to carrying a fire extinguisher, I can agree that it is a good idea, but I would not risk my life to try to extinguish anything but a tiny car fire.

I'd rather it be totaled than have to drive around in a fixed but previously burned car.

 

I completely agree Yucca.

When I first got out to my car, there were no flames to be seen. It wasn't until I saw the first small flame that I used the extinguisher. If it had been any bigger, I wouldn't have bothered.

As it is I'm worried that they will 'fix' her and she won't be right. I don't know yet what I'll do if there's any questionable damage...

Jenn

 

What year is Peanut Jenn??

 

So I checked my ABS fuse yesterday, its a 30 amp, my build date is Sept of 02. Would someone check there 04 or 05 to see if it truely has been changed to a 20 amp. (I believe you Donna, just double checking ) If so I think I'll be changing mine out this afternoon.

Nik

 

02 I believe.

 

Jayde, she's an '03. Build date January 24th, 2003 I think. She's got just over 61,000 miles on her.

After reading some more about all the various crispy MINIs, I've realized that mine doesn't appear to be the ABS control module. Peanut's fire was low in the engine bay, down near the driver's side suspension, almost under the airbox. I saw the flames by looking down past the airbox and behind the supercharger. I don't know what's under there, but that's where it started. I can't see any physical damage at all - whatever's damaged is underneath and out of sight.

 

With all of these fires being reported, I'm sure the insurance companies are asking BMW some uncomfortable questions. They will be looking to subrogate their losses. Be glad these cars were'nt parked in an attached garage. I've seen it happen many times.

 

I know the 05's are 20 amp - but I've yet to see an 04' that is 20 amp - but the again - there are a lot of them out there with very different build dates...

And interesting to me - all of our MINIs that burned, had very similar mileage...

Donna

 

So am I past the danger zone Just kidding, still makes me nervious.

Nik

 

Donna, that IS interesting, and I thought maybe it was a clue, until Toni said that his had 90,000 miles on it. That's 30,000 more than Peanut or Scooter...

 

SCoop:
Sorry to hear about your fire - very lucky you caught it before it really got going. Good luck with the insurance and getting all of the repairs done. Hope they come up with a good explaination of what caused the fire.

 

Thanks rhawth.

I just got off the phone with the adjuster from USAA. They said it was a faulty power steering unit that shorted. It's all fixable - that part will be replaced along with all other cables, wires, etc. that need to be replaced. Unfortunately the part that went bad isn't covered by my insurance for some reason, and it's a pricey one - $400+!! Good thing I've got a small deductible for comprehensive; it'll help take the sting out a bit.

Here's a link to what I've been told is the bad part (I don't have the paperwork in front of me so I'm going by memory):

realoem.com

They didn't say why the part shorted. They also said it should take about 5 days to fix (but this is Brecht we are talking about. I'll be lucky to get it back in 10!)

Now I'm VERY glad that I had that fire extinguisher! Without it, I'm sure Peanut would have been totalled...

Jenn

 

Perhaps the pump was dammaged by road debris? Thus the failure and short... Perhaps a sheild would have helped?

 

Good question DrDiff, but I'd had a shield installed for over 2 years...

I saw Peanut yesterday at the dealer and looked at the damage myself. She was up on a lift so I could see clearly where the ps pump had caught fire. The ps fan was intact, with sheild still installed. It looked like the fire started inside the housing of the pump and when it got too hot it breached through the top.

 

Here are some pics of the damage. As you can see, there isn't that much!

If you look closely you can see part of the wire has been damaged by the fire. Also note that the shield is still attached (you're looking at the back of the fan; the shield is on the front).



A close-up of where the fire erupted.



You can't see any damage from above; the white stuff is from the fire extinguisher.



A wider view of the damage from underneath.



A little more detail.

 

This Stinks! I hope that everything works out for you.