Steve thank you. I am getting a rebuilt pump sent out once again. BBA Remanufacturing did suggest that something is causing these pumps to short out one 8 hrs the other 10 days. Last night when I got home after shutting the car off and the pump still running I turned the wheel and my driving lights came on as I turned it left and right they were dim but did come on not sure if this has anything to do with the pumps failing or not. My driving lights are aftermarket halo's with the blinker bulb in the middle, have had them in for 2 yrs now.

 

Just be careful, as there's a slight possibility BBA may stop giving you replacements until the possibility of the car's electrical short source is resolved.

It's like buying a starter (or anything electrical) for a car but something keeps blowing it out, the first few times they will feel obligated, but if it's a regular thing, they may put their foot down. Their options is to give you your money back and either tell you sorry but you're going to have to go with a brand new one or try to find another seller.

It's nothing against you or your car, it's just now another business decision on their part.

G/L

 

I know will get everything looked @ starting another thread for namer's who may know what my symptoms will reveal

 

I just registered my complaint at the above number....your right. it opnly thakes 10-15 minutes to answer a few questions.

This is a safety issue that should concern all MINI owners.

 

Great deal I keep pushing this issue and we should have over 1000 complaints filed, but most people think it takes forever it takes about as long a reading this post. I spoke to MINI USA yesterday and now wait for a paper pusher to call me back, will let all of you know what happpens but Prestige mini in NJ has dissapointed me and I will take my business elsewhere. Also no countryman for the wife @ least not at that dealership I made MINI USA aware of this.

 

Well I added my complaint to NHTSA list and called MINI and filed a complaint that way. I have no choice but to get it fixed. I am going to do it at the dealer so I have a little more leverage to get it covered by MINI corporate.

I had both the power steering cutting out issue (almost crashed into the overpass) and when I limped it home the pump stay on and drained my battery. Pretty ridiculous that they haven't recalled this

 

I stickied this thread and edited the first post. Hopefully we can have our NAM community give the complaints one big push so MINI will finally acknowledge the problem.

 

Thank you Mr CooperS , I finaly bought a pump from BMW of Westchester they are real cool people to deal with and gave me a fair price as the pump cost has gone down to about $400.00 think BMW is telling us something
Anyway it will be put on the car maniana by a mini tech and friend the pump has a 2 yr unlimited miles warranty and should it fail they will replace and cover the cost of the labor for install. If you live close to White Plains NY I recommend you call them. Also had a diagnostic done on my car @ Prestige Mini no problems found fair labor rate of $80.00 hour for 2005 and below yrs. BBA is refunding me my money as I did not want to go through more pumps sure no fault of their's it's a tricky electronic device. Let's push this for a recall.

 

Big question for a recall is if BMW actually has a steering pump that won't fail. If all they have is the same type pump then the best we could hope for would be an extended warranty to cover the replacement costs when the pump wears out and stops working. I'm very tempted to pull my pump with 57k miles on it for a cleaning and inspection to see if there is something I can do to prevent future failure.

Eric

 

Not that it really matters anymore, My 04MCS had been to the local dealer 2 times for steering issues ( if memory serves me correctly ) we have had 7 MINIS so the problems all seem to run to geather at times...

Anyway, back in 06 after being told " no problem found " each time, the problem was found.. I was on my way back from AMVIV. Heading down the extreamly twisty fun road to the Hoover Dam, going around one of the 180deg plus turns to the left... 1/2 way in the turn, out went the power steering.. came with in inches of doing a header into a retaining wall.. It was all I could do to keep contol of the car.. only the fact that I am a fairly strong guy, I was able to turn the car... If it had been " most girls, or strength challanged guys " ( please, no offence to either group-just for point sake here ) the car would have been in the wall..

Drove the rest of the way home with no problem, and now power steering. Which isnt a problem at speed, just like driving my old 57 Chevy back in the day... and the dealer this time said, gee there was a problem.. Thanks barney, now put back your bullet.

I know longer have the car, but my neighbor does...

 

awesome!

Just purchased the car last Friday and start hearing a loud whining today :-/

Check things out and blamo!




the P/S reservoir is currently full and power steering continues to work, but i'm not sure for how much longer.


edit: should post that the car is at 78k miles on it currently

 

2006s are not immune. Add mine to the list of pump failures...

2006 R53
61,245 miles
09/19/2006 In-Service Date

The pump had been growing increasingly louder over the last few months and I brought it to the attention of the dealer on my last few service appointments (all but the last trip was while I was still under warranty). I was driving home from work (a 34 mile commute) and was getting off of the interstate. Complete power steering failure as I was coming to a stop at the top of the exit ramp (35 mph > 0). No issues controlling the car, though it was a bit unsettling especially since the road was snow covered. I'm old enough to have owned cars without power steering, so I immediately knew what was going on.

I called MINI and they will not do anything until the car is at a dealer. I asked them point blank if I would be wasting my time, but they lead me to believe that there might be some possible relief for me since I have documented concerns and my car is only recently out of warranty. I also filed a report on the NHTSA website to get it on record.

The car goes into Classic MINI tomorrow morning, though I'm not holding my breath...

 

I smell a great class action suit on the horizon

 

I'm interested in learning the outcome of your situation. I'm about to purchase an 03 Cooper S and while backing it out for a test drive, I THOUGHT I heard the power steering whining sound for a split second. It has 85k miles, so I guess I should plan and put the $$$ away to pay for a new p/s pump and cooling fan installation. Does anyone know what makes them fail???

 

My '03 R50 has had a whiny PS pump since before I got it, but still works reliably. I've had the car since June (about 5 1/2 months) and have put a little over 15,000 miles on it (It's at 60,000 miles now)

All this to say, it could/will continue to operate fine for a long time after it starts whining.

When I commented to my Mini mechanic that I thought after 100 years, we'd know how to build a car, he said that "everything is cheap now-a-days" (low quality components)

 

Low speed goes out on the radiator cooling fan. It is a wiring/resistor thing from what I understand. Mine went out right after my warranty ran out this summer (of course). The dealer quoted me $730 + tax to fix. I sourced an aftermarket part for $78 shipped and fixed it in a few hours

Power steering fans either get gummed up and die or take a hit and get damaged, both because of poor design and location. They are about $180 for the part and the install is very easy.

I was quoted $980 + tax to replace the power steering pump when it was just noisy. If MINI works with me on the cost, then fine it's all good. If they do not give me any relief, I am going to buy a ZF unit on ebay for $445 and install it myself - then I am go to get rid of the damn car immediately!

 

Thanks for the reply, Mynewt. I've wanted a Mini for a long time, and I figured that this was the time to jump in on a pre-owned. I should have found this site BEFORE I signed the papers. Oh well, every car needs some kind of repairs, even if it sits in a museum... Thanks.

 

Thanks Lumpy. Sorry to hear about the service bills AFTER the warranty. My previous vehicle (I won't further tarnish their bad name) suffered from shifting piston cylinder sleeves in the block. In fact they were KNOWN to fail and shift, causing coolant and oil to mix. My first engine started consuming coolant at 44k miles, luckily it was covered by the 50k mile warranty. I got rid of the 4x4 once it reached 90k miles. The 2nd engine hadn't shown any signs of failure, but it was out of warranty, and I felt I was pushing my luck! Those engines still fail after 40k miles or so. Even the dealer knows the engines were crap. The sales department practically begged me to trade mine in right after the engine replacement, but I was too stupid to realize.

A replacement engine for that particular brand of SUV costs $7800, and it will fail again. I'm hoping that if I maintain and care for my "new" Mini, I won't see any service bills or design flaws like that anymore. Geeeez......

 

I looked at the list of Stock Problems / Issues. Other than the power steering, are there any other BIG failures or "gotchas" I should look for? The winter season is here in the Northeast. I'd really like to turn the key and cruise (with 2.5k mile stops for service of course.....)

I have a 6 speed manual, so I guess the CVT and 5 speed transmission flaws won't affect me.

The door locks were failed when I test drove the car (had them repaired by selling dealer already).

Anything else???

Thanks!

 

ordered a new pump from waymotorworks just now :-(

my fan is working fine on the car, so for now, it stays. plan on replacing it and adding the fan ducting in a month or so

 

I just had my pump replaced today. It ended up being right at $660 to replace with labor, new hoses, and new fluid @ Rasmussen MINI. Plus I got to drive a 2010 Cooper S for a couple of days. Could have been worse I guess.

 

My 05 MCS has been sitting in my garage few weeks already with the battery disconnected to prevent drain out the battery again. Got exactly the same problem same the owner of this thread, found battery drained with load noise after engine turned off. Tried pulled every fuse to see if give any hint and found nothing. Now mostly due to the PS pump looks like.

So have it replaced by dealer will cost ~ $660? Not sure if I should bring the car in now to have it checked and fixed, since was waiting for the recall, but friend told me may take like year to finalize their investigation.

Any suggestion to me? should I bring to dealer now? Thx.

 

my local dealer quoted me $1050 to replace the pump and fan.

 

I don't foresee them recalling this anytime soon. You might as well get it fixed and keep your receipt in your records in case they do.

 

Wow...thats insane. I think the fan is much much cheaper than the pump. I paid $660 today for the pump/fluid/hoses. You should get another quote. Rasmussen MINI has a very very nicely appointed dealership building so its not like they are cutting their own wrists. The pump/parts/fluid was around $480 and the labor $180. I honestly wouldn't have saved much money doing it myself thats a new one