Wiring problems of the 2003 Mini Cooper S

Driving highway speeds, steering got really heavy hard to turn, then the battery light came on, starting smelling something electrical burning, pulled over off the road shut car off, smoke coming from the hood, open it, smoke was coming from the back of engine. Smoke subsided in a few minutes, called tow truck, tow back to work, over the next couple of days found that the power steering pump locked up and fried it, it also draw a lot of amperage that it blow 100 amp main fuse under fuse block, burnt main power wire to power steering pump. Replaced pump, wiring and fuse.

2003 Mini Cooper S with 67,000k miles, power steering pump failed and caused a short circuit resulting in a complete meltdown. The pump, hydraulic lines, cooling fan and wiring harness were all burned or melted. There was no symptom or indication of a failure. Car drove and acted "normal" prior to parking it for the day. When I got back in the car, 8 hours later, no power steering. If it had been in my garage when the short/meltdown occurred, it may have caused fire. Miniusa basically said I was on my own due to expiration of my warranty. (60,000).

2003 Mini Cooper S with power steering failure. Power steering goes in and out. Car radio turns on when car is off and no key is in the engine, causing battery to drain. Once my power steering went out when I was leaving a parking area causing me to hit the car in front of me. I have not repaired damages. I have however replaced the engine due to faulty wiring in aprox 2009. A fuse that runs everything for cooling blew and gave me no warning the engine was overheating.

2003 Mini Cooper S I drove to work as on any other day and pulled into my usual parking spot. About 10 minutes later my car alarm went off. When I went outside to check, all the electrical systems were going nuts - door locks, lights, the alarm, etc. I saw a little bit of smoke coming from under the hood. I popped the hood and boot, pulled out my fire extinguisher, but didn't see flames. I smelled electrical fire, and saw a whisp of smoke but that was it. I emptied the boot and tried to disconnect the battery (I heard something 'whirring' and realized that the electrical system was obviously malfunctioning. ) I couldn't disconnect it manually so I left it and checked the engine bay again. Still no flame, but more smoke. I ran inside and asked a CO-worker to call the fire department. Then grabbed my phone and ran back out. Another CO-worker came out with me and helped me get the fire extinguisher working; now we could see some small flames coming from below the airbox. I used up the extinguisher but there was still a little fire. Fortunately it worked itself out. . . Then the fire department showed up. They disconnected my battery and had a look. They said that using the extinguisher definitely kept it from spreading. They filed a report but to my knowledge there was no police report. The damage started with the power steering pump igniting. The pump was replaced along with some wiring harnesses and a few other assorted parts. The engine bay was detailed to get all the fire extinguisher 'goo' out of it. The car has been functioning normally for almost a year now with the new parts. . Read more...