Four problems related to water pump have been reported for the 2009 Mini Cooper Clubman. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
Replaced thermostat, heater stopped working, vehicle overheated what seems to be a faulty water pump or thermostat, car smoked intensely drove short distance- thermostat melted- motor blew. This vehicle was well maintained***.
Ive personally driven my 2009 Mini Cooper Clubman 11k miles of the 34k it has on it without any issue until on June 5th, 2016 I parked it near my work and returned to it the next morning. It started up just fine and I just let the first gear take me out of the parking garage. Then I tried to accelerate once on the road and nothing. . . No power. I put the pedal to the floor and nothing. I pulled over and it sounded like a labored, clanky, rough idle. Got it towed to a shop, diagnostic test showed main relay failure and something about valvetronic servomotor and limitation and plausible air mass sensor issue. Main relay part replaced for $20. Worked fine after that. Eighteen days later it happened again. Went home and after some research, I found scary possibilities could happen with my Mini related to the engine cooling systems, air intake, water pump and timing chain sensor worst of all. Things that could cause damage if failed while on the highway at 70mph or in an intersection or in traffic! to date, ill be returning to the shop that helped meet band aid the problem, then to my real professional to help me diagnose and treat further possible issues.
I was driving on a city highway when the smoke started pouring from under the hood and the car stalled without any warning, or signal lights appearing on the control. I was able to pull the car off to the side of the road before the engine stopped running. I stood back, water for the smoke to clear, and tried to restart but the engine was dead. I called my towing service and had it delivered to my service garage, Mini of main line, 130 montgomery avenue, bala cynwyd, PA. No warning light ever appeared, and I was completely unaware of what was happening to the car. The garage repair estimate states that the "water pump and thermostat" failed. My Mini cooper model is not listed under recall #12v008000, but the consequence of what happened to my car is exactly the same as that described in the recall notice: the electric auxiliary water pump failed causing the electronic circuit board to malfunction and overheat.
My car overheated after driving only 15 miles on the highway. The warning light came on (red- stop let the engine cool down) then went off then came back on (orange- continue on your journey; let engine cool down soon). By the time I located the symbol to see what the problem was I was at my exit. The car sputtered and stalled on the off ramp and I could see black smoke and smell burning from under the hood. I pushed the car off the road and called for help. There appeared to be no oil or water in the car and I had it towed to the dealership. I just had it serviced at the dealership 28 days before this happened as I had an incident with my key fob not releasing and was concerned this might be an indication of a bigger problem. The fob finally released after 40 minutes of sitting in a parking lot! they performed a complete inspection and changed the oil, air filers, brake fluid and gave the car a clean bill of health for $400 and 28 days later I have catastrophic engine failure and they quoted me $9000 to replace the engine! I saw several posts of similar issues on Mini blog sites and felt compelled to file a complaint. I have a base model and not an "s" which was part of a Mini recall for electrical/water pump issues. If there is a consistent electrical problem where the thermostat fails or water pump fails on the base model then Mini should address it.