general problems of the 2005 Mini Cooper S - part 2

Bought my dream car, an '05 Mini Cooper S Monday, labor day, and immediately started having problems with the steering randomly cutting in and out. Not awesome! each time, turning the car off and then back on has resolved the issue, however it would seem that it shouldn't be happening, like, at all, let along having to 'cycle' the engine each time.

Temporary loss of power steering. After driving for about 2 hours, I stopped to fill up at a gas station. I then started the car and began to drive out of the gas station. I soon noticed the power steering was not working. I pulled into a parking space, opened the hood, and proceeded to check the power steering fluid. The power steering fluid reservoir was full. I restarted the car after about 5 minutes and the power steering was working again. This temporary power steering loss has occurred 3 more times over the last month since the initial incident described above. During the last occurrence, I drove a short distance back to my home with no power steering. I'd like to point out steering was very difficult, nearly undriveable around slow speed turns. The steering effort was much more than manual steering cars I've owned in the past.

Power stearing went out on 2005 Mini cooper while driving on lots of curves along columbia river, seems to be a thing with these cars after looking on line. Just glad I'm not swimming with the fishes due to having to muscle the car on the road.

Power steering is intermittent making car difficult to control. I'm the second owner of car. First failure occurred at approximately 85,000 miles.

While driving my 2005 Mini Cooper S through a crowded parking lot, my power steering just suddenly went out without warning. There was no indication of the sudden failure and I was barely able to get my Mini into a parking spot away from pedestrians.

Power steering intermittently goes out while driving and continues to run while the car has turned off. Has almost caused me to crash several times when it has gone out on the express way.

Power steering intermittently goes out while driving and does not return until car is cycled off and back on again.

Experienced abrupt and complete loss of the power steering system simultaneous with an immediate and sharp decrease in power. This incident occurred at 75 mph on an interstate highway, car in middle lane. Very narrowly avoided collision with a truck when moving vehicle to full stop in emergency lane. Vehicle currently not in use as we feel it is a road hazard and unsafe to operate in current condition. Also awaiting for response from Mini dealer.

While driving, the power steering stops working. This problem is intermittent and happens every few days. Simply cycling the ignition gets it working again but is a big safety concern in my book.

Over heating constantly no technical person knows of a remedy. Overflow tank blows out when car overheats constantly . This seems to be a problem since the beginning no matter what year the car was built and never remedied. Why not a recall? not knowing what other damage this causes to the engine. This has to be a recall for the company to fix it is a hit and miss fix??? this is a costly process and even in the forums on Mini it has been an ongoing issue. Front end fails all at the same time. (control arms, cv joints) steering becomes hard to control. Mini help.

My power steering began to stop working as I rode. I would park the car, switch the engine off and restart and the power steering would come back. This happened several times both in back roads and highways. Finally last month it stopped working completely and now it is very difficult to drive and really a danger to be on the road with.

Our 2005 Mini Cooper S has intermittent steering issues. The power steering comes and goes. When researching the fix, I found that a lot of people are having the same issue. There is even a guy on ebay selling remanufactured power steering pumps at an average of one every three days. (based on ebay feed back).

On 1/14/11 while driving my car on a highway my steering wheel tightened up and made steering impossible. I was able to get back to my driveway. It didn't happen again until 1/16/11 and then 1/20/11, all while driving my car at different speeds, also while trying to back into my driveway. It happens with absolutely no warning. No warning lights or notification from the Mini computer system has alerted me.

Drove car to work - someone came in a few minutes after I arrived at work and told me my car was smoking. Went out and looked but smoke had stopped by time got bonnet open. Came from front passenger side. When started car to leave work - had warning light and power steering would not work. Mini manual said to stop immediately. Had car towed to local german repair shop and the said power steering motor had burned up and melted all the adjacent wiring. Had to replace motor and wiring.

2005 Mini Cooper S. Intermittent failure of power steering under varied driving conditions. Although NHTSA has opened investigation, BMW has not issued a recall yet. Local Mini service department will change the electric steering motor at about $1000, but is unaware of the reason for the failures.

Power steering for the last year or so only works a fraction of the time. The first time it went out was while driving on the freeway. Last weekend it stopped working and didn't work again for a full week. Very hard to drive this vehicle when it goes out unexpectedly.

On sept. 19, 2010, my 2005 Mini Cooper S had been parked in a garage for about 10 hours. When I went to leave, I found that the power steering was not working at all and I had to really muscle it to drive it. I'd never had a problem with it before. Because I had to get to where I was going, I drove it very carefully. After about forty minutes, I stopped at a service area to use the restroom. When I came back out and started my car up, the power steering was working again. Since then, I've had no problem with it. I had planned on mentioning this to my mechanic when I go in to have my brakes done in the next week. But then my husband forwarded me a news story about the power steering issue and I figured that I should report mine.

Sometime in late summer of last year, my car began to make a "honking" sound. It sounded like the clutch that had already been replaced on both of our 2005 Mini coopers under warranty (another possible safety issue?) but the clutching seemed ok. Up until the time I was able to get the car in to the shop to get looked at, I noticed a puddle in the garage, and I also noticed it was getting harder to steer. The shop determined that my steering rack was leaking and needed to be completely replaced, which we did. Now, just over 1 year later, the car is already exhibiting the same behaviors exactly. Something in the vehicle is causing the rack to malfunction and require replacement.

On multiple occasions at various speeds and at random times, the power steering on my 2005 Mini Cooper S will stop working. After researching the issue, this appears to be a very common problem that plagues almost every Mini sold since 2002. I would also like to reference NHTSA action number :ea11005, as it applies to my particular issue.

I own a 05 Mini Cooper S that has power steering problems. . The steering went out when driving 75mph. . Since then the power steering motor will not shut off on its own and the battery must be disconnected which is another issue altogether. . . I am not able to drive this vehicle as it is not safe. . . It started as an intemittent problem and now is a constant problem. . . I only own this vehicle as was hoping Mini would step up and take care of this. . .

Power steering will go out without notice at all speeds. It will reset if the car is turned off and restarted, however the interval to the next power outage is unpredictable. It occurred the first time, and then didn't reoccur for a couple of months. Then when the problem returned it did this for approximately two weeks, then didn't happen again for another month. It has no been a fairly common problem. Have also had experiences where making a turn, the power assist will go out, and then return, which has me putting extra exertion into making the turn, only to have it come back on resulting in oversteer.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper S. While driving 35 mph and at other speeds, the power steering fan became inoperable and power steering functionality was lost. The vehicle was taken to a repair shop where the power steering fan was replaced at the contact's expense. The manufacturer had not been notified. The failure mileage was approximately 30,000.

My power steering is going out. Upon my own investigation I have learned that this is a common problem. Should such a vital piece to having control of the car be a problem? no. Cost of repair is $1,070 as quoted from my dealer.

Takata recall. Dealership wanted to charge me $1000 to fix this airbag. Steering also stiff and at time unresponsive. Number three misfire is a design flaw. Horn does not work. Lens on headlights make light very dim.

2005 Mini Cooper S power steering assistance suddenly disappearing from time to time, at least once a month. So far I avoided accident but this can be dangerous. I heard it happens to a lot of Minis, but there is no recall issued.

2005 Mini Cooper S; while driving at highway speed 60 mph going around a bend on the highway complete failure of power steering car was very difficult to maneuver and almost crashed into median.

Intermittent complete loss of power steering. Now is no longer working. Has caused very serious situations and potential accident.

I bought a 2005 Mini cooper in sept 09 with 61,450 miles. Several months later the steering "cut out" as I turned a corner. I took it to our mechanic who couldn't find anything wrong & said that it may just be that a speck of dirt that got into the system. It happened a couple more times and I assumed that the "dirt" was working its way out. Then I had a dramatic incident where not only did the steering suddenly and unexpectedly cut out, but there was tremendous "drag" on the system and it took all my might & main to turn the steering wheel. Trying to make a right turn I found myself in the opposite lane. I took the car back to the mechanic who eventually got the car to fail for him. He told me to go to a Mini service center who could deal with the faulty electronics. I called Mini of America to ask for assistance in making the car "right" but I was told that cars break, that it is beyond the 50,000 warranty and that if the car was unsafe, I should have it fixed. The rep said that "maybe" they would pay for part of the problem after it was diagnosed. I then spoke with a mechanic at a Mini service center who knew immediately what was wrong. He said this is a common problem with Minis before 2007 ----first the problem is intermittent, then the electronics completely fail. Paying for maintenance and repairs for a car that I own is my responsibility but I believe that a car manufacturer is obligated to put out a safe car. If this is a design error, then the company should make it right. When I turn the wheel, I need to trust the electronics to respond -- because my life and the lives of my passengers depends on it. I think that Mini should be required to insure that the computer that governs steering operates properly. At present I have a car that sits driveway because it is too dangerous to drive. I am making a trip to a city that has a service center in two weeks and I am hoping that Mini corrects this problem with no expense to me.

Owner parked Mini cooper at store went inside. While in store, heard over intercom that her vehicle was on fire. She went outside and saw flames underneath front of vehicle. Fire went out before fire department arrived. Investigation found that electro-hydraulic power steering system wiring had overheated and burned only - nothing else ignited. The damage was consistent with the previous ea analysis ea07-011 pertaining to 2002-2003 Mini coopers.

The power steering on my 2005 Mini copper s foes out intermittently which could potentially cause a terrible accident. I refuse to pay more than 1,000euros (since I serve overseas) to fix a "known" problem that BMW Mini chooses to ignore despite the valid complaints from all over the world. . . .

2005 Mini Cooper S. Approximately 63,000 miles. October 22, 2009. I had just gotten home from work and parked in the garage. Going in the house I smelled something burning. After a couple minutes of investigating in the house, I decided to go back into the garage, and find that it is a little smokey. I open the garage door and back the Mini out onto the driveway. Now there is smoke streaming from under the hood. I can hear spinning/clicking noises coming from the engine compartment. I open the hood and see flames coming out of the back of the engine, below the exhaust manifold. I emptied 3 fire extinguishers into the engine bay and it was still burning. Called 911. By the time the fire department came, the fire had burned itself out. I was extremely fortunate that I went back into the garage within minutes to investigate, otherwise it could've been a huge car fire and potentially fire damage to the garage and house as well.

2005 Mini cooper intermittent power steering started at 55,000 miles. During right hand turn at approximately 30mi/hr had near head on collision with the car in the left hand lane do to the unexpected power steering outage. Repair was not covered under warranty (5,000 miles over) cost estimate at $1,200. Car is safer without power steering. Predictable, but difficult to drive.

Power steering unit stopped working driving normal highway conditions resulting in very difficult driving/handling. Car has 48,000 miles and has been serviced on schedule. Unit's fluids were normal and driving conditions were a normal commute. Potentially a very dangerous condition.

Power steering unit had to be replaced twice because of ps motor failing suddenly and with no warning. First occurrence nearly caused crash because ps failed while negotiating intersection.

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Cooper S. The contact stated that while driving, the vehicle lost steering power. He turned off the ignition and restarted; after the restart, the steering capabilities returned. The failure progressed and became worse. The vehicle was taken to an authorized dealer but they could not duplicate the failure. The current and failure mileages were approximately 80,000.