Peter, I would love to know the details if you can supply.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/watchdog/..._failures.html

 

Excellent, thank you!

 

Great find. Thank you, thank you, thank you......

 

Good article! Thanks for posting. I have a 2008 MC and even though everyone here has talked about these problems being in the earlier models, this article does put my mind at ease a little more.

 

fellow mini drivers,

i have a story not unlike those that i have read (and i've read all 15 thread pages ... and have been horrified.) lucky for me (and for my 17 year-old son who was supposed to have taken the car on the highway this very fateful day but instead his mom reneged. wow)

i was driving my usual granny speed of about 25 mph. suddenly, as the road bends sharply to the left, i realize i can barely turn the wheel. i veer off the road, immediately begin to smell something very noxious like burning fish, and within seconds the car is pouring out gray smoke from under the hood. a 911 call to the fire station, fire extinguished, car towed to the dealer... two weeks later i'm told to pick up the car, it's "all set" except no one can tell me why the car caught on fire in the first place. nor can they tell me it won't happen again.

i have a 2003 MC. around 45k miles. i DO know that car has been running hot for about 9 months. even my kids noticed. hot, really hot, air coming out from the front foot heating vents. i had it looked at; no problems found.

after reading (for hours) yesterday all of your stories, there's not a chance i want that car back. except, like many of you, i loved my mini.

i'm thinking about getting a newer version, as it appears that the ABS system and the PS fan have been upgraded. i didn't read about any minis 2006 or newer having any problems. any suggestions anyone? while i'm not at all happy about the fact that mini/bmw seems to be turning a blind eye on those who have suffered greatly due to the lack of safety demonstrated over and over in these earlier models, i did love that car.

i will add my event (number 40, i believe) on to the NHTSA site, and keep me in mind if this ever evolves into a class action suit.

thank you for any and all input.
safe driving,

leslie

 

Leslie,

There is nothing to fear now--the parts that cause the fire have all been replaced. Likely the problems centered in on the power steering pump/fan.

My car also had the same situation (you can find the refereneces by clicking on my name and looking up past posts).

My car is also an '03 (May production date) and had one of the early PS units. It was replaced by the same unit as in the '06, as yours was (the old PS pumps are no longer manufactured.

When the car was repaired it worked like new and I would not think of trading it in at this time.

Sell/trade your MINI if you wish, but don't do it because of the repair.

 

I think we all three have near-identical stories to tell. Mine was a March '03 build with 60k miles, but it did exactly what Leslie's did, only mine was parked and locked at the time.

The (well-known) culprit parts have been replaced in your car, Leslie, so the same issue cannot recur (although it sounds like the dealer did a shameful job of disclosure and reassurance).

The questions in my mind with these cars, though, are twofold. One: what else is waiting to happen in there? Two: how can MINI USA look all these dozens of car-be-que owners in the eye and say, blithely: gee, we never heard of this before. Weird fluke. We're not responsible.

It sure pokes a stick in that warm-and-fuzzy brand voice they've used to popularize a fun but poorly built, generally troublesome vehicle. I was genuinely shocked when a MINI USA corporate representative listened to my whole story, then told me, in essence: take a hike.

I'm not going to support a company like that. I did trade my MINI the week after it came back from the smoke-odor-removal treatment. There's no way I would buy another, or encourage anyone else to. Fun, yes; good, no.

 

MSC puked power steering fluid, crawled under, fan would not turn. Pulled fan off and noticed a huge "charcol chunk" where the wire harness plugs into the PS pump. Wires melted, fluid everywhere, really pissed, but glad it didn't burst into flames!! I was lucky. Still pissed!

 

thanks to this 15-page thread, i elected not to reclaim my 2003 cooper after the repairs were completed at herb chambers/boston. they provided me with a rental for about 2 weeks during repairs and my deliberations, after which point i purchased a 2009 cooper S; they bought my cooper back at book value. my understanding is that the mini now is a totally different engine, so i'm hoping we won't go up in flames. still i regret that the mini company higher-ups don't take responsibility for this dangerous and recurrent problem from the earlier models. maybe we'll be hearing about a class-action suit that someone instigates some day.
drive safely....

 

I have an 03 MCS with almost 95K miles on the clock. I had the PS pump fan replaced with the newly designed version about 10K miles ago. My PS pump failed recently and was also replaced with a rebuilt "newer design" pump. Is it safe to assume that with the new parts, the chance of my MINI catching on fire is slimmer than before now?

Thanks.

 

Volki, you should be safe--it was the old design that was the problem.

lovethemini, I heard when I was geeting my tune last week that they are replacing the French-built engine for next year.

 

cigarman - my understanding was that the current engine is all BMW.
is that due to change also?

 

Replacing it with what?

 

The current engine(2nd gen) is made by Peugeot and assembled in the UK. It's the same engine in the Peugeot 207's.

 

Correct, the engine is the Prince series, developed for BMW by France PSA Peugot-Citroen.

As for what comes next, all of the articles I have read keep the current engine through 2010, but as I said, when I was getting my tune there was discussion that there would be changes. I don't know any more than that.

 

Thanks for the extensive thread. My 02 cooper's psp just failed, actually intermittent at the moment. My fan failed with in the first year and I haven't replaced it, apparently the dealer didn't see it as a problem since all repairs were performed there. Six years later my pump is failing. Is the new version worth it or should I save $300 and have the existing one rebuilt?

 

oct 3, 2009, mini cooper s convertible. mini caught fire a few hours after being driven. I awoke to the car engulfed in flames. Complete total. It was not arson and this is now known because an arson specialist came to the scene. Cause unknown. Insurance company taking car tomorrow and investigating the cause of the fire.

 

Show this thread to them: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...re-danger.html

My experience!!

 

i say, if it's one of the earlier models as was the case with so many of ours on this site, you might save the investigator the time and pass along a hint about the power steering fan.
i'm so sorry to hear about your car and hope no one was injured.

 

Sorry to hear. Glad you didn't have it parked in a garage.

 

???
Doesn't say it was a Second gen, unless I'm missing something.

"oct 3, 2009, mini cooper s convertible."

 

Thanks for the clarification. Sometimes multi-tasking gets the better of me.

 

I just had a engine fire in my 05/04 mini. PSU failed, no warning, except for the smoke fm the compartment and the fire when I opened the hood. A fire extinguisher merely knocked the fire down for a moment. As soon as the fluid hit the hot manifold the fire flared again. Enough to do a hot dog, not enough to do a hamburger. Only water can cool the manifold enough for the fluid to stop igniting.
Insurance insists I pay for the unit, they'll pay for the damage and new wiring, implying that it was preventable because it was a "maintainable item". The adjuster couldn't understand why the unit failed.

 

Hi everybody. I had been very interested in getting a new 2009 Mini Cooper S, until I read about many of the engine bay/power steering pump fires. Does this happen on only the first generation (2003-2006) of Mini Cooper S, or does the problem still persist with the latest generation as well?

Thanks so much for all of your input!