Need Help.

I went out of town this weekend and got to my destination safely. One problem though, When I turned my MCS off i heard a whining noise coming from the underneath the bonnet. Thinking it was the fan i just let it be. A few hours later I went to get something out of my car and it was dead. Nothing was working. I had no electricity.

The next morning I jump started it and it worked fine. But as before there was that whining sound again. It started whining as soon as the terminals were connected for jumping.

I opened the bonnet to see if I could locate the noise. All I could figure is that it was coming from around the power steering fluid reservoir (black canister/housing next to the coolant). It sounds like a vacuum or a pump trying to work. Not knowing what to do I called and left a message with my MINI SA and i left it alone. A few hours later the car was once again dead.

I have to drive home from my vacation now. I hope it can hold a charge. I'm not stopping for anything, I know that much.

Any clues to what this problem might be?

golden_child

 

Got Sparky back yesterday.

Conclusion: Broken power steering pump.

 

Add me to the list. This EXACT scenario happened to me. I went into work last night (I work 7p -7a) got out of my car and I heard the whining. I made the same assumption. "Its just the fan cooling of the Power Steering unit," I thought. Came out in the morning and my remote wouldn't unlock the doors. Ok no biggie. My key battery is dead, right??? Put the key in the door and unlock and I imediately noticed that when I unlocked that I did not hear the passenger door unlock... That is when I knew my battery was toast.

I got a jump and drove home. When I garaged my car...same whining. This time I knew it wouldn't stop until I disconnected the battery. So I did. I have an appointment scheduled for next Tuesday.

Thanks Golden-child for your post. At least I know what the problem is now. I can stop worrying about worse problems.

BTW my car is a July build 2002 MCS.

Sean

 

Glad I could help.

 

Well..... this is a strange one.... got my wife's car home (via tow truck) after the fan stayed on all night and ran the battery down. Started messing around with things... jumper cables on it so I have power, I removed both relays that have a fan pictures (R3 & R4) and removed the 30 amp fuse that has the picture of the fan... the dang thing continues to run anyway...... Unplugged the main power to the fan and of course it stops, but plug the power back in and it starts up again...

All of this with no key in the ignition, let alone running or hot. There is obviously another path for power besides the path through the relay and the fuse. New Country Mini service department in Hartford called me back and says it sounds like the controller on the fan, but of course no real advice from them unless I bring it in for full diagnostic service... 50 miles away and not under warranty anymore at 65,000 miles.

Anyone have any advice for how to narrow and identify the real cause so I can consider replacing parts myself?

Thanks,
Lloyd

 

Best I can do is see if I have the price of the power steeering pump. It might say on my service reciept unless it was zero'd out for warranty purposes.

 

The same noise (whirring, liquid being moved) is coming out of my '06 convertible. I tore the car apart and was able to remove the Power Steering Pump fuse. I figured I could take out the Power Steering Pump fuse and drive it the ol' rack & pinion way, but I decided not to rig it, since I have to eventually put the fuse back on to diagnose the problem anyways. That stupid fuse is on the bottom side of the engine fuse box, btw, so you have to remove the ECM and Battery Compartment to be able to flip over the fuse box. Pain to get to it, even more of a pain to put it back together.

Next step is to get to the actual switch. Apparently, the EHPS (electrohydraulic power steering) fan relay is behind the driver's left kick fuse panel. I think I'm going to be forced to remove the inside cover to get at it.