Since I had the car in 2009 I had this problem with the power steering that it has a failure. Bmw no response for this its a pump that its not design correctly. Lost of minis has this problems. Hard to steer and almost got into a crash.
2005 MINI Cooper S steering complaints
Page 4 of 8: complaints 71 to 100 of 212, newest first, as owners wrote them.
I started the car cold before heading out and the power steering was completely out. After several minutes it started working again, although not with the full assist. Since this time, every time I start up the car, I have a varying degree of assist for the first couple minutes of driving it.
Electric power steering pump failed while I was in a turn at 30 MPH. Steering became very heavy and nearly caused the car to leave the road due to greatly increased required steering effort. Shut car off and checked fluid level. Fluid level found to be full. Researched the problem when I got home and found that this is a known safety issue with mini's. Additionally, transport canada has issued a recall already on these power steering pumps due to continued failures.
Power steering cuts out intermittently. Power steering comes back after restarting vehicle. Then fails later again.
Vehicle fire 5/2/2012. Car parked for 4 hrs. Returned to car & drove it $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.
Tl* 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 the federal safety agency action number ea11005 (steering: hydraulic power assist: pump). The approximate failure mileage was 60,000. The VIN was unavailable.
Lost power steering while driving my 2005 mini cooper s. All of a sudden, have no power steering. Very difficult to steer, but not impossible. Thank god I was not in a place that this could have caused an accident. I note that I can turn off the motor, then turn it back on and the steering is ok for a few minutes, then goes out again. I love my mini cooper, but this is a serious safety problem. I am afraid to drive it now, if I can't count on the steering to function correctly.
On date of incident, was attempting to park when the steering wheel locked up (became very difficult to move). I managed to get the car into a spot and called for tow assistance. The repair shop diagnosed as a power steering pump failure and had to replace that and other affiliated components (cooling fan, etc.). Approximately 4 days before the failure, the power steering fan was uncharacteristically whinny, but went away after a few minutes and was not heard again before the failure.
The car has been having issues with the power steering assist. The power steering assist goes out intermittently making it dangerous to drive in the transition from power steering assist to manual steering. I hope this assists the investigation into this issue.
Power steering pump had to be replaced at 62,000 miles due to failure.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. The contact stated that after starting the vehicle, the steering wheel would not turn in either direction. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic and they advised her that the power steering pump and assembly needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired. Approximately one and a half years later while driving approximately 30 MPH, the vehicle stalled and would not restart. The vehicle was towed to the dealer where they advised her that the power steering pump failed again and needed to be replaced. The vehicle was repaired for the power steering pump. The manufacturer was contacted on both occasions and offered no assistance. The failure mileage was approximately 37,800. The VIN was unavailable. The consumer stated one incident occurred on 01-sep-2009 with 37800 failure mileage and again on 16-feb-2012 at 53827 updated 06/07/12
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
Vehicle darting around on road like steering stops then starts back up,acceleration darts left , deceleration darts right.
Was driving in traffic on interstate 95 when power steering failed without warning. Car became very difficult to drive. Pulled off road, checked fluid levels and couldn't find any obvious problems. Power steering came back on when restarted car. Power steering stayed on for rest of drive, but has gone out several times since. Always comes back if turn off car and restart.
Power steering pump failure. The steering wheel completely locks up and can't be turned. On top of that, it's completely unpredictable when the failure occurs. The first time it happened I was taking a right turn out of a roundabout, when the steering wheel wouldn't turn completely. Fortunately, I was going slow enough that I could brake so that I didn't have a head on collision with a car waiting at a stop light. It was extremely scary.
Power steering failed while making a right hand turn. The failures have been off and on since then. Failure is usually during in town driving.
At highway speed, the power steering suddenly lost power (no noise or other indications). The wheel became extraordinarily difficult to turn. I managed to get the car off the road, but the steering would not have responded to a smaller/weaker driver.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s convertible . The contact stated while driving at the speeds of 30 MPH, without any warning the power steering malfunctioned. The vehicle was turned off and then on when the power steering began to function properly. The failure occurred four times. The failure was not diagnosed or repaired. The dealer was not notified of the failure. The failure mileage was 75,000 and the current mileage was 75,020.
Power steering pump seized and needed to be replaced. Power steering fan failure and also needed to be replaced. Power steering hoses leaking and also needed to be replaced. Output shaft seal is leaking, but has not been replaced at this time. These repairs cost me approximately $1000! I have found numerous complaints about power steering failures in the 2004-2005 mini. Please make bmw pay for this!
When turning into our neighborhood at 10-15mph, there was a sudden loss in power and the steering became stiff. I did not think anything of till I pulled the vehicle into our garage and turned it off. At this time the cooling fan and power steering remained active, creating loud whining noises. I let it run for 30 minutes but the issue remained. Only thing that resolved the issue was disconnecting the battery. Even reconnecting the battery the powersteering fan re-engaged.
Power steering fails during driving. Seems to be after engine gets hot. Happens unexpectedly and without warning.
While driving on the freeway (I-684) at 65 MPH the vehicle lost power steering assist approx. 30 miles from my home. This made the car difficult to control, especially when taking turns in and off of exits. Much force was required to maintain control and steering the vehicle for the rest of the trip home. I will report this to mini on monday.
Power steering pump failure and car become very hard to turn. Almost crashed into a curb take a 90 degree sharp turn. All fuses related to pump did not fail. Steering fluid level is at proper amount. I jacked up the car front the front and it was a little better without any load on the from end but felt very notchy about every 20% of a full turn of the wheel. Electric cooling fan that cools the pump is not blocked and I can spin it freely. Many mini cooper owners are complaint about this. My power steering pump does not keep running after the car is shut down.
I had to replace the power steering pump as it had failed. It first failed while I was on a highway off-ramp and nearly crashed. The failure was due to the power steering fan seizing and therefore it was not cooling the power steering pump. After some investigation of my own, I found out that the root cause of this problem was the low fan speed resistor failed on the engine cooling fan. The power steering fan will only activate once the engine cooling fan is running. If the low fan speed relay fails, the engine cooling fan will only turn on at 233f (high speed fan minimum temperature). Once the engine cooling fan turns on at 233f, the power steering fan will turn on to cool the power steering pump. The power steering fan will be too hot at this point and will overheat itself and seize. The power steering fan failure then causes the power steering pump to overheat and fail. If the power steering fan is not replaced before the power steering pump fails, this causes the entire hydraulic system for the power steering system to fail as well and leak hydraulic fluid. If the power steering system fails, this can cause the power steering pump to ultimately catch on fire due to it overheating from low levels of hydraulic fluid. The complete replacement of parts alone for the power steering system is $1,296.35. This system is required for driving the vehicle at any speed as it is a "power assisted steering" system, thus making it very hard to control the vehicle at any speed. If you visit any mini forum (I.e. Www.northamericanmotoring.com or www.motoringalliance.com) you can find hundreds of posts about the power steering system failing in minis. I replaced the pump and fan ($876.46 parts cost), then had to replace the entire system ($1296.35 parts cost) when the system failed again because of the low speed engine fan resistor failing and causing the entire problem.
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.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While driving approximately 30 MPH, the steering wheel became difficult to steer and seized without warning. The vehicle was towed to the contact's residence and was not taken to the dealer for diagnostics or repairs. The VIN was not available.the approximate failure mileage was 118,000.
Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper s. While driving 30 MPH, the steering wheel became difficult to move when the contact noticed a burning odor. The vehicle was taken to a private mechanic where he was informed that the electric power steering component had melted and needed to be repaired. The manufacturer was contacted and informed the contact that there was a concurrent investigation for the failure however, there were no recalls. The manufacturer offered no further assistance. No repairs were performed. The current and the failure mileages were 63,260. Updated 12/20/11*lj the consumer was informed the power steering unit had suffered a complete melt down which spread to the power steering hose and wiring harness. Updated 01/20/12
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.
In the early fall, september 2011, I encountered issues with my car not shifting properly. It's an automatic transmission so I know there was nothing I could be doing to cause this problem. The car has been serviced regularly and driven with care while in my possession(I'm the second owner. No similar issues on carfax report). While the engine is cool and not yet at its optimal temperature the drive is fine and you may not even notice a problem; however, every ride, once warmed up the car begins to shift incredibly violently as it is obviously struggling to switch gears. This occurs also while slowing down and the car is downshifting creating an opportunity to be "slung" into a car from behind(this happened in the mid summer of 2011). After dropping this car off september 15th to the local mini dealership, I did not hear from them for almost three weeks. In the first week of october I was contacted and told it looks like my car is very easily fixable and should be ready shortly. It was explained to me that a seal had broken on the transmission leaking fluid onto it causing this shifting malfunction. When they finally told me I can pick up my car(approximately october 18th) they regretted to inform me the problem was not able to be fixed and I would have to bring it elsewhere as they do not rebuild transmissions. Now it is back in my possession where I am forced to commute in it daily, driving worse than it was before I dropped it off. It now displays "pe" for its current gear from time to time. This is not the only complaint I have filed for this car matching other consumer complaints. I am a victim of their failed power steering as well.
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