Plus, it seems that the fires are happening to early (2002/2003) model cars. There probably was a change under the hood that was made in the 2004 model year. But regardless, carrying a fire extinguisher is a good idea.

 

05mcs in service 4/05, 30,000; about to trade.(for another mcs of course) Its one thing to be flamed in an internet forum; its another to be flamed in your car...

 

Are you saying that your 05 MCS was involved in a Engine Bay fire? If so, are they offering any kind of trade value?

 

There was at least one '04 that it happened to, and not all the '03s were early builds. It could be that it's just a matter of time before we see it happening in '04s and '05s. When my power steering pump was replaced, I asked my service advisor if the part number was different or if the part had been changed in any way from the original. He said it was exactly like the original, nothing had changed.

 

There are a lot of "issues" BMWNA or AG/MINI doesn't want to recognize. There is a problem with 3-series rear subframes ripping out of the floorpan. MAJOR safety issues there. Just like the fires here. You need to also bring it up to the National Transportation Highway Saftey website. Can't remember the link.....just google. BMW is not recalling these (subframe) yet in NA but they are in AG. There has been over 400 from E46 fanatics. Not to metion everyone else who doesn't know about the problem. Thanks for listening.

 

I guess we will have to stay tuned (about '05s & '06s being afflicted with spontaneous combustion/immolation).

 

I own car #4. For those interested, it was a late '04; May '04 production. I posted a thread which details the incident:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...=2004+MCS+fire

It too was 'saved' by quick action on our part (disconnect battery, fire extinguisher). We indicated to BMW/MINI USA that it would be our preference to pursue a solution involving replacement rather than repair and return of our vehicle to us. They responded with an offer to buy our car back from us at whet we deemed to be a very fair price, and a customer loyalty credit to be applied towards the purchase or lease of a new MINI.

We are satisfied that these fires are relatively isolated incidents, and have no trouble trusting a MINI again, though our new one won't be going anywhere without a fire extinguisher.

Our only complaint is the long wait for BMW MINIs response and the long wait for our car to be ordered an delivered (we're picky, and couldn't find anything in inventory that satisfied our wants). Our car burned in April, and its replacement isn't due until August. BMW/MINI has been renting a car for us to use in the interim.

Also, the fire occurred in Maine, not Massachussets.

 

Thanks for the addition, SalemMINIDriver! I've updated the list with your 'new' info and a link to your thread.

I also believe that these incidents are few and far between, but they shouldn't be happening at all. MINI needs to seriously look at the design of these two components and put out a recall. My fear is that it will only happen once someone's house burns down or someone is killed. Or both.

I'm glad MINI came through for you with a new car. Enjoy the heck out of it when you get it next month!

Jenn

 

(#10) 03 MCS (prod. date 10/01/02) CA 2004: Faulty Starter shorted and burned neighboring Wiring Harness and B+ Harness. Excessive heat on the wires caused a small fire. Fire was out immediately due to close water source. Very lucky!! "Parts replaced: starter, engine harness, and charging point to starter harness (due to being burnt)".

 

Thanks mjwong6. I've added you to the 'official' list at the top of this thread. Do you remember how many miles you had on the car at the time?

I'm glad you got your car fixed. Have you had any problems since? Do you still have your MINI? Peanut has been picture perfect since the fire damage was repaired.

Jenn

 

even if someone is killed will still take alot of pushing for them to recall...remmeber the pinto?

 

I just added 4 more (thanks to a PM from another user), bringing the tally to 14. Unfortunately I don't have all the particulars on the cars, just that they all seem to have been cause by a faulty power steering pump. If anyone has any more information, please share.

Jenn

 

My car adds another one to the list ;-(

2003 PW/B MC (Pennsylvania) 76,000 miles. Burned while parked just after finishing driving to work. Fire, thankfully, burned itself out thus not totaling the vehicle. Caused as determined by the dealership was a shorted out power steering pump. Thread with more info is here.

 

Hey Hamster, sorry to hear that you've added to the list. I'm glad your MINI was saved. You are now officially #15.

After reading your thread, I can only add one bit of information: Peanut had the Moss power steering fan shield installed when my fire happened. She'd had it for over two years at that point. When they replaced the power steering fan they used the new part that has a shield included. You might want to check under your car to see that your dealer did the same...

Oh yeah, my total bill came to over $2K too, but insurance covered all but the cost of the faulty part. That came to a hefty $495 out of my own pocket, plus my comprehensive deductible of $100. It seems that it's industry standard for insurers not to cover the cost of the faulty part replacement. Go figure...

 

Notice how most of the burned cars are Cali cars... it's because we always sitting in traffic, going nowhere, with the Power steering working it's *** off, because car either not moving, or moving slow.

 

Your's is probably the most relevant post of the bunch. I noticed the same thing, that a lot of these cars are out in California.

I think I saw in another post on NAM something about a 100amp fuse to protect (there's a laugher) the steering pump. 100 amps is a ton of current even at 12 volts. I wonder if something as simple as doubling the cable guage size would enable the fuse to function as it is supposed to without the wires catching fire when there is a ground failure in the motor. That's my guess anyway, that the motors are shorting to ground and burning up the cable harness with excessive current that that the cables are not rated for. If in fact that is the problem, I can easily see why Mini/BMW would be very reluctant to issue a recall since in all probability the harness may feed other components and be very labor intensive to replace. Especially when the failure is not catastophic 99% of the time I can see where a recall would be considered an over-reaction by the manufacturer. As for the failures happening while the engine is off that really mystifies me, that would have to include a pretty substantial flaw in the way the electronics are designed. All speculation on my part, but those are the thoughts running through my mind.

 

You might be on to something, but you might not... 6 of the 15 posted so far are Cali cars. That's just over a third of them. That could easily be attributed to California having that many more cars, and especially MINIs, than other places. I'm not yet willing to speculate that cars in California are more likely to develop this problem than cars in other locations.

Jenn

 

I recently purchased a 2003 Mini Cooper it had 60500 miles on it, on Saturday 10/07/2006 I had an engine fire while I was driving the car. It was due to the Power Steering. They estimated the damages to be between $2000.00-$4000.00. Luckily I had a powertrain warranty so the company I bought it from will be paying for everything. They are trying to get BMW to pay for the damages.

 

Thanks for the info ValAnn. You have the dubious honor of being #16. I hope your MINI is okay now.

One question: Is your car a Cooper or an S?

 

It's a Cooper

 

Thanks!

 

I found another fire report on MINI2:

http://www.mini2.com/forum/faults-fi...-bay-fire.html

 

SCop - I may be able to shed a little light on this and by the way, I think I almost was able to have you add me to the list!!!!!!!!

'04 MCS - I got off work today, and long story short the battery was dead. When the auto club came out (parking lot slops up and down too much to push start) they hooked up and immediatly I heard the power steering motor turn on - while my keys were IN MY HANDS!!!!

I drove home knowing that there was a motor running, poped the hood, and that's when I confirmed which motor it was. I then disconnected the battery and will be taking it to the shop in the AM. I am wondering if maybe that is what happened in the cases where the car was parked and caught fire - not a faulty motor, but rather what controls it - possibly a relay stuck in the on position, so the motor stayed running for an extended period of time. Also does the power steering and ABS pumps only turn on when needed or run continously. If I remember right the power steering pump only come on when needed - if that's true then it could be the same problem - they are not turning off.

 

I have been following this thread for a while now. I have an 04 MC with no problem (except the door sill rust issue that MINIUSA ignores), but this fire issue is worrying me.
I know that a lot of folk have pointed out that the number of incidents are very small, but the fact remains is that we are all driving time bombs. If these fires are caused by "faulty" pumps, ABS units, etc- and we cannot diagnose that they'll go bad before they do- that can be pretty scary.

Has anyone heard officially from MINIUSA regarding this? Is there any preventative measures we can take? There doesn't seem to be because we don't know if the faulty parts have been redesigned. Why can't we get MINI/BMW on respond to this thread? It used to be, they were all ove r NAM, responding to threads (windscreen cracks come to mind).
I challenge a MINIUSA rep who is trolling the forum to respond, and tell us that there is a TSB coming out soon where we can get these faulty parts checked and/or replaced -gratis (that would be nice )

The odds are not to my liking, since I can find no way to determine if my MINI is predisposed to a fire- the first time I find out could be when my garage is in flames. That's not good. Maybe I'll go back to my boring Honda, at least they are safe(er).

 

Well here is the latest I have come up with on this. And RaiderZA - here is my suggestion to your worries - keep your ears open. Read below for an explanation, but pay attention, especially when you park the car to the sound of the power steering pump or ABS pump running after the key has been turned off. Note, however the the PS pump does have a cooling fan - I'm not sure if that is supposed to stay on or not with the ignition off, but we all know how whiney the PS pump itself is.

I PM'd SCop with the following link:

http://www.bmwproblems.co.uk/index.php

This was an engine fire that I thought at first was related to this, but as it turns out the cause was never determined because of the extent of the damage and resulting lack of evidence to point to any one cause.

Two things here - First I am VERY certain that the problem is not with the pumps themselves, but rather the relays that control them. Mine is in the shop right now because the power steering pump won't turn off. I will let you all know what the cause is. However - how is it possible for a parked MINI to have a pump motor (PS or ABS) short out, when there is not supposed to be power to either one? The only way is if there WAS power, which with the key out of the ignition is not supposed to be. This tells me that a relay is stuck in the on position. My theory is that this means the motor on the pump is on continuously instead of only when needed, and therefor is overheating the motor leading to a fire. I think that the fact that some were parked and some were being driven at the time of the fire is irrelevant - I think that in all cases the pump was running continuously and overheated the wiring.

As for that link I just posted here - although the fire in this case cannot be positively proven to be related to this one thing is for certain - BMW is trying to skirt the issue. They have flat denied there is a problem. In fact they even tried to suggest the that cause was something from a discarded cigarette (ashes??) from another car that happened to fly into the air intake and ignited the air filter. Also this site does have a forum for people with MINI engine fires (and I would encourage anyone who has had one to post there) however the site admin has stated on the forums that they had several trashing posts (described as obscene), and when the IP addresses were traced, they ALL went back to various BMW offices.

Bottom line is this - BMW is not going to do anything about this anytime soon. I guess they are going to just wait until someone dies or someone's house burns down first. Again, I will post on here what the problem in my case turns out to be. I don't know if I almost had a fire, but my PS pump was running with the keys in my hands. How? Probably the bad relay. If that is the case, I'm still not sure what to do since a replacement relay would probably be the same part. I don't know how much the relays cost, but assuming they are only a few dollars each, maybe it wouldn't hurt to change them regularly? Maybe with each oil change? Or keep a spare or two on hand so that if the motor does start to run when it shouldn't it can be changed right then.