I got the complete run around. pretty much your 5year old car is too old with too many miles. When you purchased the car second owner you entered an agreement to pay for repairs......etc
Not even a blink of sympathy for sliding towards a curb on a 90 degree turn doing 20 with snows in rainy weather. Can understand its out of warranty....etc
And that I need to die or maim myself bf anyone will care. That was made entirely clear to me by Mini USA. Not a federal recall yet...so we won't even consider your case

GoThingNC,
BBA reman has fluctuated on price in the last few months. currnetly at lowest I have seen for ripping yours out and send for repair.

Your symptoms of Blown 15 amp (assumedly) vs the 2nd 5 amp fuse was what I had go on a few months ago.

I also had some rocks blocking my fan, then she was gold for a few months

Luckily enough I learned to drive on an 82 Jett's with no power steering, so it wasn't a huge shock when it went south during a 90 degree turn in rainy weather.

I just stayed up late last night and got her ripped out and sent to BBA reman
$275 to send mine in to rebuild with lifetime warranty

 

Slowjetta,

It was the 5 amp fuse that was blown, the one that shares the circuit with the back up sensor.

I am going to take out the fan this weekend and see if I can free it up; probably filled with crud.

Other than that, steering has been fine.(knock on wood)

I have BBA on my list if I need to rebuild the pump.


http://www.bba-reman.com/catalogue/D...ledProduct=920



Thanks !

 

Took out the fan today, sprayed a bunch of WD-40 and now spins freely.

Hooked it back up and replaced the fuse and it works fine, even sounds like a "normal" fan

 

My 2005 S just turned over 100K last month. I've had issues with the power steering pump fan for a couple of years, but my local shop was able to top of the power steering fluid and it's been fine.
Had it in for some work last month and the whining sound I originally heard when the fluid was low had returned.
Not only were the hoses shot, but the pump fan needed to be replaced AND the power steering pump.

I have filed a complaint with the NHTSA

http://www.nhtsa.gov/

and I urge anyone with this problem to do the same. THis repair cost me over $1000! Since when do power steering pumps ever go out?

 

Could I get that number from you? Just had to replace power steering pump, pump fan and hoses.

 

Just got my rebuilt back form BBA Reman and installed pump. I may have poured the power steering fluid in too quickly, but curious for ideas here. The steering is definately better but not 100%. Finding that its probably only about 40% when taking a turn, slight curves or small turns it appears to be operating properly. Would air do this?, whats the best way to bleed air out of the system. If i were to drive with the cap a bit loose for a few days, would it sort itself out? I only had myself last night so i couldnt have someone turn wheel while filling.
Thanks in advance for ideas.

Neither fuse is blown as one would imagine, because it is working somewhat.

 

Had to seriously put the beat down on my car In a parking lot doing doughnuts and super hard turns with reservoir cap off and I'm back to probably 90% full power.

Confucius say when excited about having repair done and pouring in power steering fluid,....Go Slow!!!

Guess it was just air, was getting concerned I toasted my steering shaft

Has anyone damaged their steering shaft after a pump failure?
Mini mania doesn't even stock them and said they haven't heard of it going with the pump

 

I have an '05 R5 with just over 100,000 miles.

I have felt the power steering weaken a bit at times but not actually stop working entirely. Did anyone with a failed pump notice this prior to failure?

Just before going in for a 100K oil change, I noticed a fluid smell from my car. When I went in for the oil change, I asked the tech to look for any leaks. Sure enough he found the power steering pump was leaking a bit.

Did anyone with PS pump failure also have a leak?

I am trying to determine if my car has the same PS pump issue as others are having and see if there is any hope for recall or extended warrantee support.

Thoughts?

 

File the complaint, but Mini was unbelievably un-receptive to my car with 100K being a warranty issue. The created a complaint for me, wouldnt tell me a complaint number, anyone to follow up with. To boot the woman I was escalated to was as cold and rude. I eventually said to her I have to say I don't like how complacent you are regarding how I could have totaled my car or have been killed with this. Regardless of whether something is a recall from mini their people could be a bit more compassionate to someone nearly having an accident.

Be ready to contact BBA reman in Taunton MA as you will probably never see any money. Mini wanted me to get a diag at a dealer....at least an hour away. Not paying for that with no recompension when I blatantly knew the issue.

Install it yourself if you have the means. There is a good walkthru kicking around (google is your buddy)

 

In it's response to NHTSA, BMW characterizes the steering performance without power assist as follows:

Steering Effort Without Power Assist Satisfies European Regulations
European regulations require that vehicles be subject to specific requirements under conditions in which there is a failure of the power assisted steering system. The steering effort required, when the vehicle is tested without power assisted steering, is far below the maximum steering effort permitted pursuant to the European type approval regulations. Therefore, even in a situation involving complete loss of power assisted steering, the operator may only experience a minor increase in effort in steering the vehicle. This was documented in response to Question 8 on CD No. 2.

Does that sound right to those of you who have experience a power steering shutdown?

 

340 complaints and counting.

I will be taking my mini to the dealer for "fault diagnosis" this week. Hopefully Mini USA decides to play nice


I specifically stated in my complaint that the increase in steering force was significant, as it is quite a measurable increase over stock!

 

I just replaced my power steering pump after 140,000 (2003 MCS). I first noticed it was having problems when I went to turn. OMG was the steering hard, but I did make the corner. It continued on and off again for the next day, than went all together. I am glad my wife dose not drive it. She would not have made the corner. Any way, tonight I put in a new one and all seems to be fine now. In looking on line for "mini cooper power steering rebuilders" I found "ModuleMasters.com. In looking through their information I found the following: Most of these power steering pumps fail around 70k miles due to either burned out controllers or bad bearings. Another limitation of this motor is the commutator which lasts only about 140k miles. Therefore, depending upon how many miles you have on your car, a rebuild may or may not be a cost-effective option. I thought it might be of interest in deciding whether to get new or rebuilt.

 

Are you sure about that website? Doesn't get me to a pump rebuilder. Try 'www.modulemaster.com'

 

Sign me up. *sigh*

Last week my MINI (2003 justa, 66,000+ miles) would not start one morning. No engine turn over, no click, no nothing. I was somewhat puzzled because there had been no indication that the battery was on its way out, but not overly concerned because the battery had some serious miles on it. So I bought a new battery and put it in. The second we connected the second cable to the battery, smoke started pouring out from somewhere under the engine. Tried the engine - it worked just fine, but the smoke got worse. I'm not a do-it-yourselfer when it comes to anything under the hood, so I got the car towed to a repair shop other than the dealership.

The shop determined that the problem was with the power steering pump, and replaced both the pump and the pump cooling fan - total cost $1,200 including parts and labor. They spent a lot of time trying to rule out other electrical problems that could cause problems later. I wish I'd found this thread earlier so we could have ruled that out earlier.

I see the NHTSB is focusing on 2004 and later model years, but I filed a complaint anyway. I'll be calling MINI tomorrow to do the same - hopefully I'll be able to recover some of the repair costs.

I had the car at the dealership November. They found about $7,000 worth of "recommended repairs," but didn't mention the power steering pump.

 

JAB67 try here
http://www.modulemaster.com/en/services/mini_motors.php

 

I wonder if a local machine shop that repairs starters and alternators can rebuild the electrical portion of the PS pump?

 

Filed a complaint/claim with MINI and with NHTSA. Not expecting anything, but... will let you know.

 

I posted a new thread with this info and link to a video I created of my 05 MCS but haven't had anybody respond. Surely with as many people as there has been experiencing power steering fan and/or pump issues, someone else has heard this and can tell me if it is signs of the fan failing.

I have only heard this noise at idle and I'm pretty sure it is the power steering fan. In order to test it out, I started my car and recorded the sound coming from the fan after turning on the A/C (about midway through this short video).

I posted the video on YouTube so take a look and see what you think please.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTl6DSlSJo4&sns=em

 

KC it's on it's way out get a new fan and a cover to keep out debris I think I got mine from ALTA

 

No buy a new pump from BMW with a 2 yr warranty all others are crap went your route and replaced 4 pumps one lasted a day.

 

Everyone needs to file a complaint was going to buy an R58 JCW but the newer mini's seem to have there own issues and engine wise are not as bullet proof as the Tritec. Keep recipts who knows BMW is no Toyota when it comes to recalls and treats us as 2nd class citizens even though labor and parts costs are pretty much even.

 

Well I went ahead and pulled my PS fan off and as others have mentioned, mine sounded crusty/gritty and didn't spin freely. I took about 10 minutes and cleaned it up and the bracket, then shot some wd40 inside of it as best I could, and got it to spin freely and quietly. After reinstalling, I started my MCS and turned on the A/C and the fan noise was completely gone!
This might be a good 1st step for folks, but I don't know how long it will last, but for now I'm good I think...knock on wood!

 

Add me to the list, lost power steering during overtaking on a two lane road while in the oncoming traffic lane. Barely made it back into the proper lane before getting dangerously close to oncoming traffic. Had to shut the car off and turn it on again to get power steering back. Now when I shut the car off, the power steering pump runs continuously. I can even turn the wheels and hear the whine increase as it gets closer to lock, just like when the engine runs. That's without the key even in the ignition. I have to pull the negative terminal on the battery. Afraid the damn thing will catch on fire. Maybe I should take a video of this and post it on youtube?

 

New power steering pump ordered from Way Motorworks. He has a new (NOT remanufactured) pump for $600. The pump he has seems to be part number 32416778424. Realoem.com shows it as a JCW C-Cup Coupe pump. Part Cross ref I'm happy that Wayland was able to find a source for new pumps, as I would prefer to not use re-manufactured. Mini is currently charging ~$725 for a reman pump. That's outrageous, is it gold plated and running on unicorn blood? I plan on keeping my old pump and troubleshooting it and forfitting the core refund. I'm actually an electrical engineer by trade, so this is right up my alley. I will be starting a new thread and linking to it here with any information I find out. The electronics are not totally dead, as I can still talk to the EHPS power steering pump in INPA. I'm sure I can restore it myself to keep as a spare. More information to come.

 

Thanks fro the info about the part from Way !

Hopefully they are still availble if my PS pump starts acting up.