any links or how tos on replaceing the power hydro steering rack on an 06 cooper s

 

I'm not sure if this applies to you, but Mini will replace the pump for free most times if you are under 130k miles. I just got my 05 Cooper S done in Bedford, NH Mini.

 

Study this Subframe-Lowering How-To by the Great Maestro, K-huevo:
http://personal.stevens.edu/~jdunn/F...l%20How-To.pdf

 

It can be done without dropping the subframe. I've done it yesterday on mine as the rack was leaking from both ends. I was working on a lift tho, which is a big plus, no idea how a pita it can be if you do it on jack stands.

It's a pretty straight forward job:

- Park car with the wheels straight and remove the key so the steering is locked and won't risk moving around while you work on the rack.

- Empty steering fluid reservoir.

- Remove wheels

- Unbolt both link kits and lift swaybar up so you gain some space.

- Unbolt banjos fittings on the rack and try not to make a mess with the fluid remaining in the lines. (22mm and 19mm??? Don't quote me on this, I don't remember exactly)

- Remove the eccentric bolt and nut from the steering joint and pull the joint away and off the rack. (13mm)

- Remove the heat shield on the rack (One 10mm bolt and a nut)

- Remove the bracket for the lines that's bolted on the rack (One 10mm nut)

- Remove both tie-rod ends bolt (15mm). A simple blow with a hammer should be enough to get them loose and out.

- Remove the four bolts that hold the steering rack and remove the bushing on the passenger side, it's a bushing sandwiched between two metal brackets. (On mine, three of those hex bolts were seized and they required heating with a set of acetylene torch, so you might want to have this around).

- Lift the rack a bit and slide it to the left, then you'll have turn it so that the shaft points down toward the back of the car and you should be able to wiggle it out.

- Once out, use a tape measure and check the length from the little groove on the inner tie-rods to the locking nut, write it down (it should be about the same on both sides, but check them anyway).

- Unbolt the locking nut and the sleeve away from the tie-rod ends.

- Unbolt the tie-rod ends from the inner tie-rods. (Again, most of the time those are seized up and require heating/cooling to get them loose).

- Check that your new rack is centered (mine wasn't).

- Transfer the tie-rod ends with the locking nuts and the sleeves on the new rack and make sure that when you check your measurements, that you take the tightening of the locking nut into consideration. Otherwise you'll be off a bit.

- Slide the new rack in the same way you got it out, bolt it down, re-install the steering joint first so that it won't be able to move around when re-installing the tie-rod ends into the carrier. You might want to bolt the link kits back before the tie-rods, otherwise it will be a tight fit with your allen key/box or whatever you use. I also suggest to use a tap/thread chaser in the holes for the rack, 10x1.5 threads (They are threaded all the way in the subframe).

That's all I can think on top of my head. It took me around 5 hours, mainly because I had to heat the rack bolts and one of them ended up breaking... Otherwise, I reckon that on a lift, 4 hours like I've seen is reasonable.

 

its sucks! i did it myself too and the mounting bolts was so rusted that i spent like an hour trying to get it out... it was a fun task tho.

 

If dropping subframe w/c I would prefer, check your LCA, swaybar bushes, inner & outer ball joints altogether.

 

I did this today on my 2004 r53 without dropping the subframe. There are a few things I would add that may be helpful, and one that will definitely be helpful.

The banjo fittings, are indeed the sizes listed above. But, you pretty much have to take the 22mm off first, because the 19 is recessed a bit, and the other fitting gets in the way of getting a socket seated on there as well it should be.

Also, I found it very helpful to have a universal joint for the 19mm, and a longer wobble extension for the 22mm. Though the 22mm looks higher up and harder to get to, iirc the sway bar was in the way of the lower 19mm head, and this is why I used the universal joint.

The four “hex” bolts mentioned above, that hold the rack to the subframe, were what I can only refer to as “inverted torx” bolts. Iirc, they are size e12. I had not seen this before and neither had my buddy, so we ran to harbor freight and bought them all.

Dueing reinstallation, I got excited and reconnected the hoses with the banjo fittings before putting in the inverted torx bolts. This was a bit of a mistake the hoses are over the top of the bolts, and it just didn’t leave tons of room for the wrench. So, install the inverted torx bolts first, then the banjo fittings.

Also, if you are removing the rack and pinion, it is also a really great time to replace your power steering pump as well. We were doing both, and it seemed like without the rack in place, some of the pump bolts, and connectors were much easier to access.


I can’t remember if it’s in the original post, but the bleeding procedure (as according to a pelican parts article) is too fill up the reservoir and turn the wheel all the way left and all the way right ten times while the power steering pump is on.

(I got a power steering pump, and rack and pinion from a salvage yard for less than 250, and it even had both inner and outer tie rods. I had new replacements anyway so the tie rods didn’t really matter, but still it was so much cheaper than new.)

The car may not have been worth the price of parts new, especially if I had to pay for labor.


We were on jack stands in a small garage with a propane heater. The car was covered in snow, ice, water, and power steering fluid. It was gross. took us from 12:30p-8p with a 45min trip to the store. No hiccups, we just went slow and took our time. This write up with the pelican parts one about the pump were very helpful.


Sorry this is so long, hope it helps someone!

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Great post, thanks for writing it. Could you describe a bit more what tool you used for these inverted torx bolts? Do you have a pic of the wrenches you used?

 

You will want one of these: or something similar (search for "E12 socket").

It's an "External torx, aka. "E Torx", used in a few places on our Minis.

 

After replacing the rack, the TPMS light and the yellow light w/ “!” Stay on constants. Might be traction control light? DPS? Anyway, both remain on. Any ideas?

 

My bet would be you damaged a wheel speed sensor, some scanners can tell you which one. when I had one fail autozone couldn't tell me which one, but the garage down the street with the factory scanner could.

 

Get the Schwaben scan tool , it will tell you which one.
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...d-q-and-a.html