Hello all,

I drive a 2003 MC and about 2 weeks ago I went out one morning, started up the car and noticed it was nearly impossible to steer. Realizing that the power steering was not working, I drove to work anyway. I worked the whole day and when I came out that afternoon and started the car up, my power steering was working again.

Everyday since then, my power steering has been working fine. When I turn the steering wheel at low speeds I do not hear any creaking/cracking sounds as some have described as indicative of a rack and pinion failure.

I was just wondering if anyone else had experienced a power steering failure and then revival... and if it was intermittent, what were the intervals? Did it ever fail completely? I would think that if the power steering pump failed, it would fail outright and that would be that. Also, I would think that if it was on it's way to failure, it would be acting up a lot more frequently.

I live in Los Angeles and the weather's been crappy every few days, is it possible for a power steering pump to have a temporary failure due to water/electrical short, or is that just wishful thinking?

Any advice or help would be appreciated, I checked our Owner's Manual and found no helpful info on Power Steering.

Thanks!

orb.

 

Since the Mini's PS consists of an electrically driven hydraulic pump, I'd suspect an intermittent bad power connection to its motor. The first thing to do would be to check all the electrical connectors in the PS motor circuit.

The other possibility is foreign object ingestion of the PS motor's cooling fan, a common problem.

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3

 

Great, thanks Neil I'll check the connections and see what I can come up with.

 

I have an '05 and my power steering stated to go and was intermittant for a few days, before it finally went out altogether. New power steering pump fixed it.

 

Mine was the same as carletta's, but it took it a few weeks to die. It would never do it at the dealer so I had to wait for it to die to bring it in. It was off and on just as you describe, usally when it sat for more than an hour it would come back. The dealer put in a new one, and we have been good since...

-Andy

 

Well, hopefully it's just a loose connection or something that was caught in the fan and fell out on it's own... But I'm getting quotes for a replacement pump + service... between $500 - $600.

Oh what fun!

I guess that's not too bad for 60K miles on it though

Thanks again for the input!

orb.

 

Yeah, that's the option we all hoped wouldn't have to be mentioned!

Neil
05 MCS
96 M3

 

I had the same problem. The seals in the pump went then a few months later the motor failed,thankfully all under warranty.

 

When the power steering failed on my 2003 MC (with about 35,000 on the odometer) one of the symptoms was that all the guages on the dash lit up and the coolant temp guage was pegged to the overheat (although the car DID NOT overheat at all...my car had the dealer recall "fix" where the PS fan and the radiator fan were put onto separate circuits) but the electric PS motor would NOT STOP RUNNING, even when the car was off and key was out. After about 2 hours, it stopped on its own. Next day, towed to the dealer, and oddly, this is all they wrote on the service slip: "Power steering motor very loud; replaced under warranty."

Whatever... as long as it fixed it, and it seemed to, since I've put on about 10,000 more miles since then without a problem.

Good luck,

-boognish

 

I have 63K on my 03 Dooper and my power steering fluid is leaking, I am thinking it is just a seal or something because i have yet to loose my power steering

 

I had the same problem and they replaced my steering pump

 

heh heh...........i said i drive a Dooper...........sorry, a COOPER is what i meant............no offense

 

thanks for the info Rick-Anderson. I will definately consider replacing it if i do not find any leaks

 

the exact same thing happened to me until the PS died completly and I had to replace it. the old one was leaking oil from the top I posted some pics on another tread in case your interested

 

UnMini,

Could you post the link to the thread you mentioned, thx for the info

 

I should have said that there were no leaks or anything. The dealer told me that they found the problem with computer.

 

I took my car mudding a bit on Friday, and everything was fine all weekend. However, last night as I pulled into my neighborhood the steering started to intermittently fail.

I have the cooling fan off the car now, it did have some mud caked in it. Classic quoted me $700 for a new pump, so I'm going to try and sort it out myself. It works occasionally, then dies.

 

Might I also say that it is making absolutely no odd sounds. The electric motor just isn't always running when you turn the wheel.

 

My PS was intermittent for a few days before I got to the dealer to have the pump replaced. I had a few hundred miles left on my warranty, so I was lucky. It didn’t look that hard to replace, if you wanted to go that route. Don’t know how much just the pump would cost.

Good luck!

 

I've learned the hard way that I have no right to work on my own car, hehe.

 

Exact same issue with my 04 MCS at about 30,000 miles and a new power steering pump fixed it.

-Spence

 

My problem turns out to be a $1200 one. The wiring clip that attaches the pump to the harness broke sometime back, and water/salt/goo has gotten in there, corroded everything, and shorted out the harness and the pump. JOY!
I need a drink. Or two. Or 50. And a hot chick to soothe my pains.

 

Before I spent $1200 I'd have a go at cleaning things up myself. If it doesn't work, then well heck what are you out an afternoon? If it does you've saved big $$$$.

 

Yup. The seals inside the rack assembly tend to blow out, causing the boot to fill up with fluid (that's where it's going.) Had the exact same problem with my 05 S. Dealer fixed it and gave me a 4 wheel chassis alignment under warranty. This is huge problem with the 02-06 Coopers, and one reason why they're going to an all-electric steering system in 07.

 

It happened to me too, on the freeway. I had the car towed to the dealer, but it was functioning OK, so they didn't do anything. Then it happened again. I went back and they replaced it without questioning, saying they should've done it when I sent the car for the first time.