Assist with Power Steering Diagnosis
 

2006 R53 JCW with 90K miles.

A couple of months ago, i pull out of the garage and my power steering is dead. Pick up my daughter from school and manhandle the car back home.
I had a known leak from the power steering hoses but wasn't out of fluid.

Started diagnosis:
1) disconnect the battery
2) Remove the airbag to get the Lower Fuse panel FL1-6. The fuse is good

Well crap, I figure the pump just finally gave up.
Car sits for almost 2 months while I save up some money.
Order a rebuilt pump, hoses, and reservoir from Way Motor Works, which arrive this week.

3) take the old pump and hoses out, put everything back together.
4) Hook up the battery and start the car.
5) Battery Warning light is on on the dash - I figure this is because I haven't driven the car in 2 months.
6) back out the garage, and no power steering, well great. manhandle the car 3/4 mile to school to pick up the child and come back home. On the way back home I notice that although the A/C fan is blowing air, I"m not getting cool air? (not sure if this is coincidence or not)

emailed Way to ask if there is any chance the pump could be DOA. He says he's never had one DOA, so that's probably not the issue. Recommends checking EVERY fuse to make sure something else isn't associated and causing the problem.

7) I'm getting 11.5 volts out of the battery, so hook it up to the charger and leave it there overnight.
8) I just finished removing the air box so i could get to the lower fuses again (jeez that's annoying). Went through every fuse in the engine and interior compartment. Nothing is visually blown. I checked continuity on the Power Steering pump fuses, and they are all good.

Will the low battery voltage alone cause this? (In the past when my battery went bad, i did not lose my steering so I was disinclined to think this was the problem). Unless I did indeed have a bad pump, and now the battery is causing all of these issues? I though while Driving, the alternator would give me good voltage for the pump.

So.... what now? (and if any of you live in Vegas and have a computer to read the advanced engine diagnosis I'd be happy to tip you to come by the house)

Low voltage on a Mini is problematic and causes all sorts of gremlins to appear. If your battery won't charge to an acceptable level (12.5-13.5v), replace it and try again. It just might fix your problems.

Are you sure you bled the system well and got all the air out? The power steering can I believe is tied somehow to the low speed fan circuit on the radiator/ac. I wouldn’t think that the PS fan not working would affect the hydraulic system of the power steering at least not while it’s still cold. It’s possible that the rack is bad. I’m no expert on this topic though. Hopefully someone else can contribute.

Bad alternator.