Power Steering Pump problems of the 2005 Mini Cooper S - part 1

Tl- the contact owns a 2005 Mini cooper. The contact stated that while driving at 30 mph, the vehicle began overheating and smoke began coming from hood of the vehicle. The contact took the vehicle to an independent mechanic where the water pump was replaced. After the repair, the power steering ceased without warning upon starting the vehicle. Upon investigation, the contact discovered NHTSA campaign number: 15v660000 (steering) which she linked to her failure. The contact then called Mini of des moines 9900 hickman rd, des moines, IA 50325 where she was informed that her vehicle was not included in any recalls. The manufacturer was also notified of the failure and gave her the same information. The vehicle had not been repaired. The failure mileage was 75,000. Jo.

I am a proud owner of a 2005 Mini Cooper S with 108k miles. Recently I experienced the infamous ehps pump failure that the pump will continue running after shutting off the car. It drains the battery completely so I hooked up my battery charger to it overnight. After performing some google researching on this subject matter, I realized Mini had issued an extended warranty on the ehps system in 2013 and later superseded by the recall 15v-660. Unfortunately my production date (August of 05) does not fall in the range of the recall. The recall covers production between September 2001 to February 2005. Further reading on this issue, many owners expressed that they have success on cleaning the dust inside the pump to solve the shorting issue within the pump. So I disconnect the battery, removed the pump from the car and start taking the pump apart. After removing the cover, I realized the short had already melted down one of the brush (the gold color piece in img_9730) and some other components inside the pump. My research showed that this pump is the exact same one that was used as the recall one, BMW part number 6769961-02 (img_9733). Later on the part number changed to 6769961-03. So I wondered why my car isn't part of the us recall. I also found that the transport canada recall #2012029 does provide extended warranty (12 years / 200k km) on the pump and pump cooling fan for all 2002-2005 cooper and Cooper S in canada. I hope someone can further investigate this potential fire hazard issue for all affected production units that is outside of the recall. It is definitely a safety concern for all Mini owners and passengers that utilize this ehps pump.

On 2/11/2016 I got home from work and I parked my 2005 Mini Cooper S (53,000 miles) on the driveway, turn off car and stayed with my kids & wife since they were waiting for me outside, my wife notice a sound & smoke coming from the car, the smoke were coming from the engine, I immediately open the hood & there was more smoke coming out, the headlights & all the lights turned on & stared flickering, also the wipers turned on, couple of seconds later the botom of the engine was engulfed in flames. My wife ran to get the water hose & I were able to put the fire out, we were lucky that I didn't walk inside the house like I always do, it could have been a horrible tragedy for me, my family and even our neighbors. The next day I had the car towed to my mechanic who after an inspection found out if was the power steering pump that got on fire and damaged all the wires around it, since he is a Mini specialist he told us about a recall for that specific part, but to our disappointment he ran our VIN # and found that our car is excluded from that recall since its a late 2005 production. That exactly same thing happend to us with the actuators, one day while my wife was shopping with my kids, they just got locked inside the vehicle with the windows rolled up, it was a summer day and luckily she was able to get out through the back trunk, we contacted Mini because there is also a recall for the actuators and they also excluded our car saying that it was a late 2005 production and were not able to get the recall. The way we see it Mini is not taking responsibility for their defective components, it is not fair since I have no way to find out if my car was build with not defective parts, obviously it was. I am terrified by the idea this could have been worst since we r always driving with our kids. U need to do something about this & make Mini liable for these safety issues.

Tl-the contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper S. The contact stated that while in park, the contact heard an abnormal noise coming from the front of the vehicle after the vehicle was turned off. The contact had to disconnect the battery cable to get the noise to stop. The vehicle was taken to a dealer who diagnosed that the power steering assist pump needed to be replaced. The vehicle was not repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 103,000. Oo.

Failure to powersteering started acting up in January of 2014 after I got my O2 senor replaced. Was told to continued to drive car because the O2 sensor needed to recabrilate itself. So now in April 9th 2014, while getting ready to take off for work,I could not steer the car, called aaa to have car towed to dealership. This is when I was informed it was in fact the power steering pump, and that it would cost me 1700 to replace, im outraged.

The power steering pump stopped working the first time when I stopped to get a sandwich. When I restarted the car to drive off the steering was very heavy. I shut the engine off once again so I could look under the hood to check things out but everything looked fine so I restarted the engine to try to drive off again and the steering still was very heavy. No power assist. This has happened four times since, one time while I was driving.

The power steering pump on my 2005 Mini Cooper S failed, making it extremely difficult to maneuver the car safely in traffic. I was able to get the car to a service shop and later discovered that this is a very common problem. I called Mini, and they told me that the VIN number for my car was not one covered by the extended warranty for this problem, even though my car is a model year 2005. They offered no financial assistance whatsoever to help me replace the part. A new part was quoted as 1300 dollars, and that was aside from the labor. For cost reasons, it looks like I will have to install a refurbished part instead, which gives me concerns about future failures.

The power steering pump on my 2005 Mini Cooper S failed, making it extremely difficult to drive the car. A service shop indicated this is a common problem for the Mini's. My is out of the warantee, howvere it only has 45k miles. When I called BMW/ Mini north America to discuss a remedy but they told me the VIN number for my car was not one covered by the extended warranty for this problem, while my car is a 2005 with very low milage they will not offer any assistance whatsoever to help me replace the part as my cars production date is June 2005, which is past the production date for cars getting the extended warantee on p/s pumps. It seams unscroplous to hide from responsability of faulty parts, also potential safty issue. While my car may be produced a few monhs after the production date from the cars they are willing to warantee, it apperars I am suffering from same issues as the otheres they are waranteeing. Verry discuraging BMW/Mini.

The Mini cooper was sitting in the garage. My family noticed a distinct burning smell. We did not know where is was coming from. The burning smell was traced to the garage, but still did not identify the source. The next day when the vehicle was driven, there was no power steering. Upon inspection and removal of the power steering pump, all the electrical connections to the unit were melted. The power steering unit and the wiring harness leading to the unit are damaged and must be replaced. In conclusion the unit drew power while the car was off and fried the electrical connections.

Was driving along the road and came up on a turn when the steering locked up. Put all of my weight into the steering wheel to keep from jumping the median. Scared the life out of me. Immediately pulled over to figure out what happened. Turned the car off, then back on and it seemed fine. Then getting on the freeway, I was on the clover-leaf and it locked up again so I put all of my weight into it again, then it suddenly released. With the sudden jerk/movement (and it has done this a few times) someday I know it will cause the car to flip. The power steering seems to work in phases: it will be fine for a couple days, then its intermittent/gone for a week or 2. The past few days, it has sounded like the engine fan was engaged even though I had not been for a strenuous drive. I think it was actually the pump not turning off when the car was turned off. This morning I got to my car to find the battery completely drained. . . An apparent short in the power steering pump (and/or fan) killed it.

I was exiting the interestate and the ramp curved to the right, as I began to negotiate the curve I noticed I had no power steering at all. I reached my destination about 15 minutes later and had no power steering assitance at all the entire time. I parked the vehichle and did not use it again until 9/3/12 and the steering appeared to be working properly again. In reading the investigative study I noted that it may be due to an error in the internal electronics and may also result in a continuous running of the power steering pump. Last year altmost to the day, the electrical system went haywire and the car would not steer and had what seemed like power surge and after shutting the car off and removing the key the car continued to make a clicking sound and the windows rolled down by themselves. I could not get the car to restart and had it towed to the dealer and was told to replace the battery,which I did, I now wonder if that was a related incident.

Vehicle fire 5/2/2012. Car parked for 4 hrs. Returned to car & drove it <50 yards for ~2 minutes (moved it from street to parking lot). Turned it off and went in store. Returned ~4 minutes later, noticed smoke/exhaust smell; presumed it was adjacent car. Unlocked car. Car would't start (no lights/electrical at all). I then noticed white smoke coming from hood. Opened hood then noticed flame/fire inside engine compartment. Went in store, got fire extinguisher and put fire out. Invoice was >$3500 from Mini dealer. The dealer's assessment: "verified power steering pump has overheated to the point where it has burned up internally as well as externally (melting all three connectors and the wiring leading to them). Inspected power steering cooling fan and verified cooling fan is seizing up which very likely led to the overheating and eventual failure of the power steering pump. Removed engine compartment fuse box to examine megafuse powering the power steering pump, fuse is intact and did not burn up. Inspected power steering pressure hose and it appears the rubber section of the power steering pressure line was subjected to the heat/melting of the main power connector (it's in very close proximity to the connector) and it appears the hose has taken a level of damage from the heat. Recommend replacement of power steering pump, the wiring section/connector pigtail from the fuse box (this is the main power connector), the engine wiring harness (contains two other electrical connectors to the pump which received extensive damage), the power steering fan (likely cause of failure), power steering pressure line (high pressure hydraulic line which has been exposed to the main connector melting and subsequent heat), and other miscellaneous items associated with those components (o-rings, crush rings, hose clamps ect. . . )".

The car had been performing normally and when I attempted to turn into a parking space it was suddenly extremely difficult to turn. After coming out of the store the car resumed steering correctly. Then a few days later the same thing happened-it was terribly difficult to turn the vehicle. I called my mechanic who suggested checking the power steering fluid level. I was unable to find in my owners manual where the power steering reservoir was located. The mechanic checked the fluid the following week and found the level to be normal. He investigated and found that there had been problems with power steering in other cars of my type. I ended up having to have everything replaced-pump, fan and reservoir at a cost for parts alone at $1033. I feel that if this problem was known to the manufacturing company that this should have been a recalled item for safety sake. The recall extended only to vehicles manufactured as of December 31, 2004. My vehicle was made in February 2005.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper S. While the contact was driving approximately 40 mph, there was a complete loss in the power steering without any prior warning. The contact was able to continue driving with caution at a reduced speed. The vehicle was taken to an independent mechanic, who stated that the power steering pump would need to be replaced. The contact planned to have the vehicle repaired. The manufacturer was not notified of the failure. There was currently there an open investigation associated with NHTSA action number ea11005 (steering: hydraulic power assist: pump). The approximate failure mileage was 60,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Power steering pump had to be replaced at 62,000 miles due to failure.

My power steering pump on my 2005 Mini Cooper S failed at 45 mph in downtown los angeles. I have taken my vehicle in for a diagnoses in which they informed me the repair would be over $1k. I declined the repair as I have located a number of complaints regarding this issue, and am now taking it up with Mini hq.

Parked the vehicle after a short trip of approx. 10 miles. Left car for approx 5 to 7 minutes. Returned to find smoke billowing from under the hood. Immediately started to unhook the battery cable. Got the battery unhooked and smoke diminished. Tried restarting car, restarted fine, but no power steering. Assuming that the power steering pump went up in smoke. Fortunately, damage seems to be limited to ps pump. . . Not sure yet if smoldering/smoke indicates any other damage under the hood or not.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper S. The contact stated that the power steering pump would continue to run even when the vehicle was turned off, causing the vehicle to loose power steering while driving. Neither the dealer nor the manufacturer were notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 73,000 and the current mileage was 74,000.

2005 Mini Cooper S - engine fire a few days ago (7/27/2011) my 2005 Mini Cooper S caught fire in the lower rear engine compartment while parked in a business parking lot. It had been driven a short distance (about 6 miles) three hours prior with no indication of a problem. The car ignition was off and there was no key present in or near the vehicle. Fortunately, a CO-worker spotted the car billowing smoke from beneath the hood and we were able to quickly extinguish the fire before any significant damage was done to the vehicle or surrounding property. According to the mechanic who diagnosed the car and subsequent electrical fire - the incident was caused by an overheating and eventual ignition of an electrical harness caused by a sudden failure of the power steering pump. I must emphasize that prior to the fire, there was no indication in the vehicle (warning system) or by the vehicles performance that there was any problem with the pump or handling. It failed completely without warning! while parked and unattended! thankfully, the car was not parked in my garage at night where the fire would have certainly gotten a lot worse before being discovered and could have potentially been devastating to my property and family. As it stands the car is scheduled to be repaired at a cost of nearly 1000. 00, possibly more as we do not yet know if there was any damage caused to additional components within the vehicle by the pumps failure. I am the original owner and only driver of this vehicle. This car has been regularly maintained and was recently mechanically inspected last March. No issues were found with the vehicle at the time of it's last maintenance and inspection.

Power steering pump failed while driving on the freeway, resulting in loss of steering control.

Power steering appears to not be working. Power in the vehicle is interrupted at low speeds after driving the vehicle for a brief period of time. Symptoms of this began occurring over three months ago with the battery of the car being drained after sitting for a period of 4 days or more. All relays and fuses have been checked. The power steering pump cooling fan was found to have been inoperative and was removed, cleaned and reinstalled approximately 2 weeks ago.

I have an 05 Mini Cooper S and the power steering pump is defective along with 80,000+ others. I am roughly around 90,000 miles and the pump has just recently stared going out due to what the dealership called a "defective leak on the actually body of the pump". I asked them what I should do and they wanted to charge me $1100 to "fix it" but said that it could go out and fail at anytime while I am driving. This is a serious issue because my wife would not be able to control the car if it could go out at anytime? they also said that this was a very common problem in 04/05 Mini coopers. I really wish somebody would make them recall this potential life threatening problem without charging us $1100 for their mistake in designing/installing the power steering pumps???.

Power steering pump was making a loud whining noise as soon as the car was started, and would "wind down" a few seconds after the car was turned off. The pump and fan were both replaced thankfully before the system failed.

Intermittent power steering loss resulting in several complaints to dealer. Dealer provided no working resolution. Power steering loss in this vehicle made steering very difficult and resulted in excessively dangerous driving conditions. Power pump finally failed and needed to be replaced.

The power steering suddenly went out on my 2005 Mini Cooper S as I was about to turn right onto a highway on ramp. I felt the lack of power and continued straight so I could pull into a service station up ahead. The power steering was intermittent for a bit then totally out, leaving me with a 45 minute drive down the mountains to home without power steering. I have had multiple incidents of the power steering fan running after the car was off. Now it looks as if the fan is no longer cooling the pump causing it to overheat which could start a fire. I am planning to try to replace the fan soon but I am just a broke college student so I really hope this recall goes through.

I was driving my 2005 Mini cooper and took a sweeping right turn onto a freeway on ramp. During the turn the power steering stopped working and it took an extreme amount of force on the wheel for me to avoid hitting the side of the overpass as the car wanted to continue going straight. . It proceeded to cut out again as I tried to get it home. Luckily I was able to control it and park it. When I turned the car off the pump continued to run and drained the battery overnight. The car would not start in the morning.

Power steering pump and cooling fan failure. Unsafe to drive and safety hazard. Poor engineering design with regards to placement of pump / fan and electrical load. Defective (rebuilt and not new) parts from Mini dealership repaired under warranty one time. Mini does not stand by its products or engineering. Replacement and repairs occurred 3 times in less than 5 years and less than 65,000. Updated 07/26/11 updated 2/29/12.

My power steering in my 2005 Mini cooper failed while driving. This is a common issue for all 01-07 Mini coopers and before someone dies or is seriously injured BMW Mini needs to issue a recall and replace this faulty part. I was driving home from work and the steering started to lockup on the highway, I then pulled over and turned off the car then restarted and the steering worked just fine. Two days later I was pulling off of the highway again and the steering started to lock up once more. I barely made it to a nearby parking lot strong-arming the car with each turn. I pulled into a parking spot and turned off the car once again. After restarting the car the steering still would not work, I even let it cool down for a few minutes to try once more. Still unable to steer. Had to get my car towed and had to replace power steering pump and fan on car. This car is less than 5 years old and the power steering should last the life of the car.

I drive a 2005 Mini Cooper S, with approximately 49,000 miles driven. On October 22, 2010, the power steering on the car completely failed while driving on the highway, leaving barely enough control over the car to drive very cautiously. The car was diagnosed by two mechanics, one a reputable new england chain and the other an expert Mini cooper facility, and both determined that the power steering pump, rack and fan had all failed on the car. Even using refurbished parts, the repair is costing $1,100; with new parts, my understanding is that the repair would have been upwards of $2,000. My understanding is that NHTSA is already investigating frequent power steering issues for Minis in this date range. The Mini shop doing the work for me certainly confirms the stories I've read about other shops around the country - the manager told me that they're doing about 6-7 power steering jobs per month on these cars. Hopefully the addition of my situation to the database can help justify a recall - it certainly seems warranted based on the volume of problems that Mini owners have had.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper S. The contact was driving approximately 5 mph when the steering wheel became extremely stiff. The vehicle was taken to an independent repair shop where the contact was informed that the power steering pump would need to be replaced, but it was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 104,304. Updated 01/20/11 the power steering pump was replaced on October 15, 2010. Updated 03/28/11 updated 03/28/11.

I have a 2005 Mini Cooper S. Last year the power steering pump randomly stopped working on my way to school. I did not crash or anything but it was very hard to steer my car. I have not replaced the pump because honestly I do not know how to and I believe the pump costs nearly $1000. The pump on my car still works fine most of the time. Now every once in a while on sharp corners the pump will give out and if I pull over, shut the car off, and turn the car back on the pump will work again. This is obviously either a defect with the pump itself or the electronics which run the pump. The fact that shutting my car off and turning it back on makes me think it is mostly an electrical problem, possibly inside the pump itself.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper S. The contact stated that the power steering failed suddenly with no prior warning. A local mechanic stated that the electronic power steering pump failed which caused the failure. The VIN was unavailable. The current and failure mileages were approximately 51,000.

On September 12th I was making my commute home from work in my 2005 Mini Cooper S. Upon my return home, my battery indicator light went on. I parked and turned off the car and the next morning when I went to run errands the power steering was non-existent. I had he car towed to the BMW/Mini dealership where they gave me a diagnosis of a failing power steering pump and a bad alternator. Updated 09/08/11.

Electric power steering pump & fan failure during left turn. Several thousands of Mini coppers in the uk have had similar recalls. In fact I did find a recall for the power steering pump fan for faulty wires. I could fall under the same recall, but BMW Mini dealers are stating that it will cost me just for diagnostics (roughly $90), they also states they knew about a filed complaint but said they couldn't even look at the fan without charging me. I did find after days and days of internet searches that their was a recall # issued for the fan but could not locate it again. Website citing bbc article. . Read more...

Power steering intermittently turned on and off during the normal operation of the car three times since purchase ten months ago. The actual failure of the power steering pump occurred on 8/16/2010 when the relay within the unit failed and would not turn the pump off even when the cars engine was off. The result was a drained battery and the car was unable to be jump started because the power steering pump turned on and continued to drain power as soon as it was connected to power even with the engine off and the key out of the ignition. This is very dangerous as the steering wheel is nearly impossible to turn when the pump shuts down and all three occurrences were when traveling at highway speeds in excess of 55 mph. Also when the car is off the cooling fan is also off and the pump heats up to the point where there is a very real risk of engine fire. The car was towed to a mechanic to have the power steering pump and the cooling fan replaced. The work is not yet completed but the estimated cost is 1,700 usd. This appears to be a recurring problem with Mini coopers as the number of forums devoted to and persons reporting this issue on the forums are astounding.