"This is not so much about the dealership as it is about the product. My 2007 Mini Cooper lost power steering. Thankfully, I was in a parking lot and not on the highway. Had to have it towed 45 miles to the dealership. This dealership was happy to repair it for $2,700. Had to replace the whole rack.
I am very disappointed to learn that this is a recurring problem. My regular mechanic told me that there is most likely going to be a recall the Mini because of this problem."

Does anybody know is this was a serious problem?

 

Some power steering issues with the 1st gen pump and fan, but maybe that quote is about a convertible as the body style was still of the 1st gen in '07...maybe?

 

I have replaced a pump (really not too bad a job), but there have been very few discussions about having to replace the rack at the same time. That's a bit unusual.

Anyone else out there who had to replace the whole steering rack when the pump failed?

 

When did they change over to the electro-mechanical setup?

 

Is what true? That they're recalling 2007 cars for power steering failures? Haven't heard anything about that.....GM had a recall of their electric ower steering units recently for a similar issue.

It's always had electric/hydraulic power steering.

Wonder why he decided it needed a rack? Wonder if someone put the wrong fluid in it?

That's the problem with quoting a tiny part of an article like this, all sorts of information left out. This irresponsible reporting is a big problem today, everyone want's a "sound bite" and no one bothers to get the whole story.

On top of that now you have an owner who's convinced their entire car will be recalled beacuse of poor communication from their "mechanic"?

"Does anyone know if this is a serious problem?????"

Of course, losing your power steering is a serious problem, especially if you have a driver who's inexperienced or not very capable. The steering still works, but it get's very stiff, and the sudden increase in effort might convince one of these drivers that they have no steering - that's it's locked up or something.

If this happens to you the best thing you can do is exactly what the OP posted, park the car and have it towed to the dealer.

If you're mechanically capable you can probably fix it yourself, most commonly either by replacing or rebuilding the electic hydraulic pump. I can't imagine needing to replace a rack unless the wrong fluid was used or the car was in an accident, or hit a curb really hard.

 

Allow me to clear up the confusion. If the OP has an 07 convertible, it's still the older G1 electro-hydraulic steering system, one that's given so many nightmares to SA's and drivers alike. This system was a Rover holdover when they were involved in the first stages of the Gen1 car's mechanical design.

Convertibles did NOT go Gen2 until 09? I think.

All Gen2 hardtops, clubmans, etc from 07-present have all-electric steering systems, much more reliable and less problem prone (I had the steering rack replaced twice on my 05 S in a span of 20K).

this new system takes no fluids. it also has been much more reliable--at the expense of less road feel--but Ive not heard anything about recalls for this.

hope this helps. thank you very much.

 

The pumps in my 05 S were fine. The racks were S$%t.

 

About six months after I bought my '07 MCS the power steering unit went bad and had to be replaced.

 

within 4 months of owning my car it began popping while making hard lefts and they had to replace my steering rack