Hmm, if the aux coolant pump connector is right below the oil filter I wonder if leaking oil or spilled oil from an oil change bridges the connections and causes an electrical short.

Approximately 10 years ago Ford had issues with spontaneous engine fires from a failing cruise control units which led to a massive recall.

He means conVERTibleS and vets is a typo

 

"vets" is a typo, "verts" is the plural of "vert" which is short for convertible.

 

We went thru a similar issue with the r-53's . In that case it was usually , but not always , that the power steering pump would stay on after the car was parked and over heat causing a fire. We actually had one club member's car have that happen while in her garage and a neighbor saw smoke and they were able to push the car outside so at least the house didn't burn down with the car .

Randy
M7 Tuning

 

Interesting hypothesis. The coolant expansion tank is affixed right above this area too. Coolant would be more corrosive but oil would be more persistent and more likely to be slopped on the aux pump by an uncaring grease monkey.

 

If you read through the complaints from the owners of the cars that caught fire, several mentioned servicing shortly before the incident.

 

Years ago I had a pickup truck with an enclosed 7-pin trailer wiring connector. I put grease on the pins to keep them from corroding. I know now that I shoulda used dielectric grease, but in my ignorance at the time I used wheel bearing grease or something similar. Shortly after I did this I heard a sizzling sound and noticed smoke coming up from beneath the connector cap. I opened the cap and saw a few of the pins glowing bright red - being shorted with the grease. I grabbed a wire cutter and cut the wires and separated them. The plastic block around the pins was toast.

When I change the oil in my 2007 MCS I use a small scrap piece of aluminum flashing bent in a shallow "V" to create a trough. I place this under the oil filter to direct the oil into the catch pan rather than allowing it to spill onto the engine and other components. I never liked the idea of removing the "upside down" oil filter cover and letting oil spill all over. In addition to neatness, now perhaps the chance to avoid a flaming water pump is another good reason to do this.

 

In my case the service was performed in June and it was a brake service according to my records, the car burst into flames in October.

 

This was on the news today 11/2/11. I bet our MINI has the same circuit board.

Would your rather have your Toyota uncontrollably accelerate or your BMW set on fire? It’s a choice you could have unknowingly made in the past few years. The NY Times is reporting that BMW plans to recall 32,000 vehicles because of a fire hazard. BMW has informed the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration that a number of its cars have a faulty electronic circuit board that could fail, leading to a “smoldering of the water pump,” which is needed to help cool the engine’s turbocharger. In other words: your car could set on fire.
The affected models are from 2008-2011:

• 5 Series
• 5 Series Gran Turismo
• 7 Series
• X5 equipped with turbocharged 8- or 12-cylinder engines
• X6 equipped with turbocharged 8- or 12-cylinder engines

According to BMW, the driver would be, in most cases, warned on the dashboard of the car, but there have been two cases of fires in the engine compartment reported of the 102 known cases of pump failure. The recall is currently voluntary.

 

Does anyone have access to the BMW bulletin and/or related circuit board part number?

 

Good catch Clutch. I suspect you are exactly correct. It will be interesting to see how long it takes for this to flow thru the MINI management chain.

 

Here is more information. It appears they claim the water pump fails then it causes the circuit board to overheat. Also due to the major differences in these engines from the MINI, I bet there are some differences in the boards and certainly in the water pumps. However it would be worth someone to research part numbers at realoem.com

 

Well, ain't this a coincidence! Rolls Royce is facing a similar recall:

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/02/auto...call/index.htm

Whether the same exact circuit board is in play or not, it seems like the general technology and approach is at fault. Hopefully the NTSB will link the MINI problem together with the RR and BMW issues.

 

(emphasis mine)
Disgraceful how slowly the company moved on this.

 

Sounds like they're significantly more functional than my current employer and I work for a small/medium sized business! The fact that they setup a task force after two customer complaints is a good indication they took this seriously. I can't blame them for holding off with the test vehicles, my company would certainly wait for a lot more complaints than two!

I won't say I'm impressed by the speed, but I wouldn't go so far as saying it is disgraceful. That's just my opinion on the matter and my reasoning. I'm sure others will vary greatly on theirs!

 

So we just standby until they add our Minis to this recall....

 

Interestingly enough, my 2007 MCS had a bad coolant leak and turned out to be the water pump. It was replaced last week within days of the car being out of warranty. I have roughly 44,000 miles on it. I still don't feel any safer with them replacing the part. If the problem is the same on the MINIs (bad circuit board), then unless they've come up with a solution to the overheating issue, then the replacement part could conceivably have the same problem down the road. Now if the problem is because the pump itself fails and a coolant leak initiates the problem on the circuit board (from coolant leakage), then I might be okay. But in any case, unless they have done some sort of fix or redesign, just replacing a faulty part with another faulty part doesn't make me feel very good about it for the long term. Of course, this is all under the assumption that the cause of the fires in the MINIs is the pump circuit board.

Kathy

 

Did you replace the primary water pump, or the auxiliary water pump?

The former seems much more prone to leakage and there are several reports of folks needing to get this swapped out. The latter, which only serves the turbo (and is the suspect part in this thread) doesn't appear to be as prone to leakage based on the prevalence of complaints.

 

Hmm, I guess I don't know the answer to that. They only said The Water Pump is leaking and I didn't think the car had two of them, like the larger BMW engines. Seems I should find that out then.

Kathy

 

I checked and found out it was the primary water pump that was replaced, not the auxiliary.

 

A friend drove his to work went in 2 min. later someone came in said his car was on fire. happen in July think it was a 09, he went out and bought a VW. what if you drove it home and put in garage and went away??

 

My 2009 R57 turbo oil tube let go

The oil tube on top of the turbo
my water pump started leaking, while under the hood I saw a little oil by the fitting on the turbo
I grabbed hold of the tube and it has movement from the fitting, now it really leaks
Will re post with photos when I know more

 

So, Chevy steps up to the plate with a buyback program for the Volt due to battery fires in hypothetical test situations. See http://money.cnn.com/2011/12/06/auto..._volt_buyback/

BMW issued a recall for BMW and Rolls Royce vehicles because of engine fires in 2 cars due to the aux water pump circuit board.

With at least 12 NTSB - documented MINI engine compartment fires, when is BMW going to do the right thing with a recall for affected MINIs?!?!?!?

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/acms/do...11036-3222.pdf

 

My Clubbie caught fire last night. It was the connector directly beneath the oil filter housing. The BMW roadside tech had no clue what that connector goes to, but after two hours of shopping with the wife while my car sat in a warm parking structure, I am curious to find out.... Waiting for a phone call from BMW AG to hear what the issue and resolution exactly is.

 

man i'm so sorry to hear you lost the clubbie. Hope everything works out for you!

 

I appreciate it. All I am worried about is a relapse when I am not by it with a bottle of water. There were small flames from right under the oil filter housing. Not fun...