Try this for me and tell me what you feel/hear:

At a very low speed or complete stop, turn the steering wheel about 1/2-inch of center... just enough to get the power steering to kick in. Hear or feel anything?

I'm feeling a slight pulsation from the power steering and hearing a gear-like grinding noise. Particularly in reverse... but then again, that's the only time I really drive that slowly.

It doesn't feel like a suspention creek, or anything like that... particularly with the associated grinding.

Any thoughts? Obviously it's going in somtime this next week... but I was just curious if anyone else has heard or felt somthing similar.

 

I hear a small whistling or squeaking noise on complete stop or near complete stop.. but no pulsation or grinding.. is that what you are referring to ?

 

Same here, just like an electrical whir, nothing more than that.

 

A motor whirring sound is normal. It does not change with engine speed, but does increase in speed and intensity when a load is put on it. That's normal. If you stall the engine by letting out the clutch while stopped in gear, the electric steering continues to work. You can hear it working much easier this way.

If you hear and feel a pulsation, double-check the fluid level in the reservoir. SOme cars have a hidden leak in the steering rack that leaks fluid into the dust boots on the end of the rack housing. You will not see a visible leak, and when the fluid gets low, the pump starts pulling air. The reservoir is the round black cylinder next to the coolant surge tank. If it's low, investigate for leaks. You must use the Pentosin CHF 11S fluid in the system, not a standard PS fluid.

 

My 07 (bought in Oct 07) MCS which now has 20k miles has had this problem since around 6K miles, I've been taking back to the dealer ever since. Between this and the squeaky clutch (since 8K), and the new burning smell (since 19K-which by the way was confirmed by one of the sales guys as a known clutch issue) I've been in and out of the service department as often as every 10 to 12 business days.

Everytime I'm told, "we have a record of all of this and if anything fails it will be replaced for free for as long as you own the car." Uh huh... In fact, I'm going to request a detailed statement to that effect in writing when I go back in there next week, authorized by Mini USA.

Oh, my car also does a great imitation of a 1969 Mercedes 220D. I have a new timing chain tensioner that's supposed to arrive tomorrow.

Oh yeah! Two months ago both sunroof panes jumped the track on the drivers side. Got that fixed and in the process acquired a nice dent in the rear passenger side quarter panel. They tried to claim it was they when I brought Sharon in. Gave 'em my best stone cold London gangster stare then smile and they fixed fixed it for free. Looks like new. LOL!

Within two weeks the rear sunroof pane, started rattling. I would drive to meet with clients, and get out of the car in a REALLY bad mood. LOL. That was fixed last week.

I'd flat out told the dealer that were it not for the fact that I love driving the thing, I'd have been screaming bloody blue murder over a year ago, pointing out that all these trips to them are taking away from the time I should be putting into building and running my business.

Having spent the last hour or so reading various posts on this site, I've decided to contact Mini USA tomorrow morning to grill them about my situation and their warranty replacement/repair policies.

I just don't understand why they would tie the dealerships hand like this. I mean the guys in both sales and service (Mini of Universal City) are trying to do everything they can, within "policy." Whenever they've had them available they've given me a loaner, and if not they've given me a lift to wherever I needed to go, but the policies are completely ridiculous.

 

mine started to doing this about 3 weeks ago...probably once or twice every week since. daytime & nitetime.

if i'm parking or reversing out of a spot (going less that 3 mph), as i turn the wheel, it sounds like something is crunching/creaking/cracking. almost as if there were branches in the engine bay.

the sound disappears after i started driving off about 5-8 seconds later.
REALLY annoying... another thing to add to my shitlist for my 1st maintenance service this friday. w00t!

 

do you guys lock the wheel when you are turning tightly? if you lock the wheel all the way left/right and hold it there while turning, it will kill your power steering (and cause this noise you speak of when pwr steering is being used at any point in the turning of the wheel)

 

i'm not "locking the wheel" like that.
i don't see any reason that i would turn the wheel all the way to the left or the right unless i was taking a sharp turn at a dangerous speed.

it just sounds odd that the power steering would be damaged if you were to move the car slowly while having the wheel completely rotated to the other side. sounds like a problem that's not my fault.

 

when you are parking in a space a lot of people will lock their wheels to the left or right...
you may think it sounds odd- but you're straining the system.. if you leave it locked for ~15+ seconds it can kill the power steering completely-
heres a test- lock the wheel to one side while watching your rpms (at a stop/idle)... you'll notice the rpms dip down when you lock the wheel (just to show that it actually has an effect on the car)- i know from experience of people killing their power steering pumps due to this- not specifically to a mini, but cars in general. I could be wrong, but this is to the best of my knowledge