So this morning, jumped in the MINI to get to work. Everything was fine until I pulled into a driveway a few minutes down the road to go back home and grab my phone, and as I'm pulling out of the driveway doing a three point turn, power steering goes and my battery voltage light turns on. Drove her home and she wouldnt start, any reason this could happen, besides it being a dead battery or low PS fluid?
Help my poor MINI!!

 

Sounds like your alternator failed.....resulting in the electric ps failing, and then the battery died. You do need to get it diagnosed, but like I said it seems most likely from what you said IMO that the alternator has died. Good luck!! And be sure to post when you get it fixed!!

 

You think so? i know im fine on PS fluid and what not, and battery is fairly new as well.

 

Yup....fist thing to fail when the alternator dies is the ps usually...it needs lots of power.....the fact you low voltage light was on too...helps make it much more certain. It is a cheaper fix than a ps pump on a mini, so if it is what failed, you are in a sense luckey.

 

Yeah, plus it will be under warranty too. cars only got 40k on it, I also have a light bar with four lights too. So Im gonna assume that drains a ton of power as well right? so maybe bigger battery and new alternator?

 

More than likely your old battery will accept a charge and be ok....the stock battery is kinda weak, but adquate. The alternator is normaly beefy enough for all the lights you can fit on a car and still drive. Usually really big car audio amps can cause so problems though, especially when the idle is low, or the car is parked. If it is under warrenty, they will bolt in a new alternator, charge up your battery, and you will be on your way!!

 

I don't understand why the alternator would go in the first place though. But at least I know where to go from here and get fixed up like new again!

 

If your car was out of warrenty, rebuilt units are avalable, saving some $$. A few folks have swapped them themselves, but you do need a belt tensioner to do it.

 

so apparently what happened was my light wiring somehow melted the main interior harness. and my dealership wont fix it, neither will the closest BMW dealership. I don't know where I'm gonna goto get it done now seeing as how noone wants to touch it.

 

what kind of light wiring do you have?

 

4 lights, mounted on the hood. Two harness per two lights, as well as two switches. Got it as a kit from OutMotoring.com

 

Wonder why MINI didn't just go with rack & pinion? Does the car really need assist?

 

That sucks....they were wired diect?? I am very surprised to hear that the kit did not use a relay of some type. Sounds like you might need to get a new harness...out side of the warrenty, install it, or have them install it, then do a "proper" light install so you don't have a second meltdown...did they give you an estimate for doing outside of warrenty? Can you see the bad wireing? I'd hate to just splice new wires into a dammaged harness....but it is possible if the dammage is pretty isolated.....if you are not really handy with your car, I'd seriously consider getting a pro involved, or paying the dealer to fix it...just have them leave the lights dissconnected IMO untill you get a better install method so it does not happen again.

 

They do have a relay. Two actually. We brought it to our MINI dealership this morning and I should hear back tommorow.