@ approximately 85k miles power steering failure intermittently became an issue on 2004 mini cooper s. @ 95k miles power steering became complete failure.
2004 MINI Cooper S steering complaints
Page 6 of 8: complaints 131 to 160 of 210, newest first, as owners wrote them.
Power steering got tighter and tighter making it really hard to turn in small corners (which are everywhere in big cities). It turns out the be a well-known issue which is power steering fluid leak. It almost got me into accidents/property damage due to tight steering.
Power steering pump failed to work, it worked off and on for a short period. I am in the process of replacing it.
I own a 2004 mini cooper s and lost the power steering while driving on the highway. There were no leaks detected but the ps canister was empty. The mini was purchased new from crown mini in richmond, va. We are the only owners of the mini. My wife is afraid to drive the mini now and we wanted to report the problem as soon as possible. I have received no help from mini after sending them an email and calling them.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. The contact stated that while driving approximately 40 MPH, he suddenly had a loss of power steering with out any warning. The steering became very difficult to maneuver after the failure. He was able to continue driving after restarting the vehicle. The vehicle was not inspected by a dealer and it was not repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and advised him that there was a tsb but no related recalls. The failure and current mileages were approximately 109,000. Updated 04/15/11
Failed component 1: lower control arm bushings diagnosed at dealership as bad and oil leak is due to faulty o ring. Failed component 2: power steering total failure. Dealer stated this was due to poor design of steering pump fan (poor placement of the fan). Dealer stated there was a possible recall regarding power steering failure due to this poor design possibly pending. Work to repair these failed components has not been completed pending a dealer recall. The car is not drivable.
While driving my 2004 mini cooper s, the power steering failed while making a turn at low speed. Without the power steering, it is hard to steer during low speed. After turning off engine and restarting, the power steering came back. But the power steering pump seems to be on all the time with a humming noise even after the engine is turned off. Which leading to the draining of the battery. The battery gave out after a couple jump starts. As of 2/15/2011, I have disconnected the power to the power steering pump and fan. Because I cannot afford of the high cost of replacing the power steering pump and cooling fan. I have not replace them yet. I still have these parts.
Complete failure of steering column, it locks up during driving, can barely turn the wheel. This happens randomly during driving, even on a straight road not making any turns. Have to force car over onto shoulder and restart the car. Nothing bad has happened yet, but very dangerous when driving with kids in the car. All fluid levels check out, no warning lights about steering failure.
1. 04 mini cooper s power steering failure while driving. Occasionally while driving the pump will loose power and steering will be very difficult. Power steering fan stays on after vehicle is turned off which tends to drain the battery. 2. Eventually the pump started leaking and fan stop working needing replacement. Loss all power steering while driving. 3. Replaced pump and fan with new units and problem is temporarily fixed but problem has come back. Noticing the same symptoms from #.1 post happening again.
Sudden failure of power steering. Control of car was not lost. It will require a new power steering pump.
I drove my mini cooper 2004 s with 95k miles on the freeway and noticed my steering very difficult to move. I arrived to my destination safely and searching on the web for steering problems with 2004 mini cooper and found federal investigation in progress. I towed the vehicle to the mini dealership and explained the problem. They found the power steering pump defective as described on the website and repaired the vehicle for 1500 dollars. The dealer/bmw offered no compensation to defer the cost. I contacted bmw customer relations and received a non response on if and how bmw would respond.
2004 mini cooper s, power steering failure. I have experienced intermittent failure of power steering in my 2004 mini cooper s. This has occurred seemingly at random and causes great difficulty with steering the vehicle. This creates an unsafe driving condition in which it is difficult to control the vehicle. This has happened several times in a given day or sometimes only once in a week. The failure has occurred at various times of operation, including immediately after starting the car in the morning, mid-commute, and at the end of a long drive. The only consistency is that it seems to occur just after putting the car in reverse, then back in 1st gear (though not every time). Power steering is almost always restored by turning ignition off and back on- not a safe action in most of my driving circumstances. On one occasion the power steering pump continued to run audibly after the vehicle was turned off, threatening to drain the battery. This lasted for about 20 minutes and was only resolved by driving the car again for about five minutes. When the car was turned off again, the pump finally shut off.
Power steering pump failure on 2004 mini cooper s.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. The contact stated that while driving and making a turn the power steering suddenly failed making the steering wheel difficult to maneuver. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer who informed the contact that the power steering pump failed. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 170,000. The VIN was unavailable.
I was driving very slowly into the drive thru burger king and I lost power steering and it became very difficult to control the car I could not get it to go the direction I wanted it to go so I ended up crashing into the curb. Another time this happened was when I hit a patch of ice my car lost power steering a few seconds later and I had to restart my car, but it did come back on.
During 2010 I experienced the power steering going on and off while driving throughout the year. Also, sometimes the power steering would not work right at the start up. I then had to turn the car off, and re-start it. My mechanic could not find a direct problem. 3 days ago, jan 2011, the power steering failed completely, and my car was not drivable, it would not start. My mechanic examined my car and found that the power steering unit was completely broken.
Our 2004 mini cooper s is loosing power steering randomly making it very unsafe to drive . Its very random , I thought it was some kind of sport mode but you cant even control the vehicle when the car kicks into "paralysis", totally weird ...I've owned all foreign cars mostly japanese ,and german ...this is the first time I've seen anything like this and I grew up in the car business driving everything you can think of.....it would be a shame if mini looses its reputation over something like a power steering problem just fix the problem its obviously a major defect on the engineering .....sounds like a recall to me ....please don't join toyotas crash parade.
While driving onto a freeway on ramp, my steering became excessively difficult and I almost ran into a median. I pulled over and the steering resumed normal activity and then became very difficult again to the point where I could barely steer the car enough to take it to a repair shop three blocks from my house where they informed me that my power steering pump had failed.
Power steering failure during driving. Became sluggish/very hard to turn on the highway at speed.
04 mini cooper s with under 40,000 miles. Intermittent power steering pump failure. Car is extremely hard to turn when the power steering is not working. Restarting the car sometimes causes the power steering to start working but it went out while driving at 25 miles per hour on jan 02, 2011. This is an indication of a power steering pump failure.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. While driving approximately 35 MPH the power steering failed. The contact was not driving so he did not know the full details of the failure. The person driving was able to drive the vehicle to their residence. The failure was not diagnosed by a dealer. The failure and current mileages were 60,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 bmw mini cooper s. The contact stated that while starting the vehicle the steering wheel jammed and she was unable to turn it or control the vehicle. She turned the vehicle off and back on, she was able to turn the wheel after it reset but it was very hard to turn the steering wheel. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure mileage was 35,000 and the current mileage was 39,000.
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. The contact stated that when pulling out of his driveway and attempting to make a turn, the vehicle was difficult to steer. The vehicle was inspected by a dealer who informed him that he needed to replace the steering pump. The vehicle was repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 72,400. Updated 09/07/11
2004 mini cooper s - power steering fan/pump failure VIN# [xxx] my power steering stop working completely. This power steering would go "on" and "off: intermittently over the past year a half (4-7 times a week over the last 8-10months). I'd park the car when I went to leave, no power steering. This has gotten progressively worse and now the power steering has stopped working while driving on the road!!I have only has the car for 2 years and it has 70k miles. I brought the intermittent failures to the dealerships attention numerous times but they need to "see it happening" to fix it. Now that my power steering has completely failed, they now told me to its the power steering fan/pump that has failed. I can not afford the repairs and have been driving with no power steering for over 3 months. I see this issue has been discussed everywhere online & that this is a dangerously huge and common issue for my model & year mini cooper. I don't know if this process of filing a complaint will even do anything to make a difference, but if someone is reading this complaint, please help us. Thank you ** the website would not accept my VIN # as valid so I was unable to add it to the appropriate place during this complaint filing.
My 2004 mini cooper s suddenly and without warning lost its power steering. I had to have it towed to the mechanic who said the whole steering was shot. That is when I found out that mini has had a lot of these failures. If I had been on a curve and at any faster speed I may have been seriously hurt, and now bmw won't even fix the car! This is not right especially when they have known there is problem, what is it going to take a few people getting killed like with the toyota brake problem? Make them do something to fix this problem.
My car has had intermittent power failure since 2008, usually lasting a few days. More recently my power steering has been out for the past 2 months. Today it started working on my way home from work but the power steering fan remains on after I turn the car off. I had to disconnect the battery in order to keep the fan off. Consequences have resulted in near accidents on the highway and road when failure occurs (failures happened when I have gone into turns). Power steering pump and fan will need to be replaced.
The power steering assist failed during cornering. Required me to apply extra force to the steering wheel at which point the power steering assist re-engaged causing the car to over steer. I needed to make a quick correction in order to avoid crossing over the centerline and hitting an on coming vehicle. The power steering assist has been on and off for the first couple of months since that time and has been completely non functional for the last month or so.
Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. The contact was traveling 35 MPH when the steering became extremely tight. There was no warning prior to the failure. The contact stated that the failure had occurred before but not as extreme as the most current failure. The contact could barely maneuver the steering wheel. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where the power steering cooling fan and electronic power steering pump were replaced. The dealer advised that the power steering failure was a known problem. The failure mileage was 4,053 and the current mileage is 4,509 updated 02/03/11*lj also, the driver side seat heater grid burned through the cover and the drivers jacket. The second seat cover burned through also and made a hole in the passengers coat. Updated 03/18/11
Tl*the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. While the contact was driving approximately 50 MPH, the power steering stopped functioning and it was difficult to turn the steering wheel. The vehicle had not been inspected or repaired. The failure mileage was approximately 50,000.
The power steering on my 2004 mini cooper s fails intermittently. The car is extremely hard to steer when the power steering fails.
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