I motor in a 2003 MINI Cooper. It's a CVT but that doesn't matter here -- the part I'm going to talk about is the same in all MINIs, 5-speed, MCS, and CVT.

This afternoon was the first "warm" weekend since early December here in Jersey. So I decided to give my MINI a much needed cleaning and detailing. I even detailed the engine compartment, and while I was at it, I discovered something that is very disconcerting.

Open the bonnet and look at the power steering "bottle", it's located to the right of the Coolant reservoir. There is an aluminum heatshield right below the Coolant reservoir. Now look at the right-most edge of the heatshield. Notice how it butts right up against TWO tubes that come down out of the bottom of the power steering bottle. You will notice that BOTH of these hoses are wrapped with an outer sheath of ridged aluminum. Now look at the spot where the heatshield rubs up against the two aluminum-wrapped rubber hoses. I don't know about your MINI, but on mine, the aluminum sheeth was completely cut through due to rubbing on the heatshield. I felt the rubber hose beneath the part where the aluminum sheeth had been cut through, and there is a slight indent, or wear mark, also caused by rubbing against the heatshield.

Now, this is disconcerting because over time, with all the vibration under the bonnet, who knows how far the heatshield will dig into the power steering hoses? Imagine if eventually, two, three, four, five or even ten years from now, you lose power steering because of this? Not good. Not good.

I think MINI should look into this, maybe redesign the heatshield so that it has little indents (or cut-outs) where it butts up against the power steering hoses.

Will someone else who has owned their MINI for at least as long as I have (May 2003) take a look and see if you find something similar under the bonnet? (Of course never fiddle around under the bonnet with your engine running. That's an accident waiting to happen!)

Hope this isn't a widespread issue.

Rock On,

-Mighty Boognish

 

I'll look at my 02/02 MINI Cooper 5-speed in the morning and
let you know what I find.

Thanks for the heads-up!

 

Yea, I gotta 8/02 MCS that needs a good under the bonnet cleaning, so I will look at mine tomorrow as well. Very interesting, thanks for keeping a heads up.

 

Thanks for the heads up! Please call 1-866-ASK-MINI to forward your concerns to them, and make your knowledge known "officially"!

 

Morn'n Mighty1 :smile:

I just woke up.
I will take a look at my MCS this AM ....as you definately got my attention :smile:.

I've mentioned in an earlier thread.....
We all seem to be replacing these cars..."piece by piece"

Peace,
D

 

Well, that was intriguing...so I just went down to the garage to look at my car (July 2002-build MCS). On mine, there's clearly about an 1/8th to a 1/4 inch gap between the heat shield edge and both of the power steering pump hoses. The corrugated aluminum insulation on both hoses is fully intact and doesn't appear to have been rubbed. I took a picture, but it doesn't show the gap all that well.

So, mine is fine. It's possible that it was adjusted by my service dept on the two separate occasions when they replaced the coolant overflow tank...but I'm guessing that this is just another example of the variability in MINI build quality, attention on the manufacturing line, quality control, and the on-going "experimentation" and testing that we MINI owners are apparently a part of. :smile:

 

Thanks for the tip - I'll be checking mine this morning. BTW, what was your build date?

 

I believe the build date on my MINI is May 16, 2003. Which happens to be ....a Friday. The dreaded Friday build! :smile:

For now i'll just try to slightly bend back the aluminum heat shield where it contacts the power steering tubes.

 

Thanks, will check this out later on today. :smile:

 

Thanks, will check this out later on today. :smile:

 

>>
>>I believe the build date on my MINI is May 16, 2003. Which happens to be ....a Friday. The dreaded Friday build! :smile:
>

^ To ease your mind somewhat, there's only a 1-in-6 (7?) chance that your car was actually built on a Friday. The MINIUSA OwnersLounge computer shows ALL build dates as Fridays. You car was most probably built on one of the 6 other days of the week.

 

As per the mighty1....
<<You will notice that BOTH of these hoses are wrapped with an outer sheath of ridged aluminum. Now look at the spot where the heatshield rubs up against the two aluminum-wrapped rubber hoses. I don't know about your MINI, but on mine, the aluminum sheeth was completely cut through due to rubbing on the heatshield>>

Here's my report....!!!!
Both hoses & wraps are intact....but the rear hose has a "kink" in it.... most probably from the heat shield.
The one facing... the front of the car is approx 1/2 " away from the heat shield. No problems @ all w/ this one.
The one facing the rear of the car has a..." kink" but the wrapping is not cut and there is no damage to the underlying hose.

I simply.. re- bent the heat shield...so the rear hose ..is now.... about 1/4 inch away from the heat shield and did my best to ...straighten out the " kink".

Looks like no real issues here.

Peace,
D


_________________
PM d-mini-ero

 

April 2003 Build MCS. No rubbing issues with hoses. Clearance fine at heat shield.

See ya,
JS

 

Seems like no one else is having the problem. Guess it's just mine... there is absolutely no clearance between heat shield and power steering pump hoses...most people here report 1/8" to 1/2" clearance...on my MINI there's zero clearance, it's rubbing together. Oi. Gotta have that fixed at my FIRST dealer visit for 10K service, due in just 875 miles according to the computer.

-MB

 

explain your concern to your service advisor. I am sure they will order you a new
set of P/S lines.

 

Jan 2003 build, mine looks fine...

By the way, your production date, is approximately when the car was completed and the production date isn't 100% accurate either. I had a Jan 9 2003 production date, but in reality the car was completed before then because on the 9th the car was in the W&W system as at the W&W pier on the 9th in Southampton waiting to be loaded on the ship.