Exiting the freeway engine lights started flashing and I immediately lost steering. Took all my strength to steer it to safety. Some smoke coming underneath. Local mechanic reported that the cooling fan for the hydraulic power steering had stopped and everything had over heated. Multiple wires and components completed melted. Local mechanic declined to fix and told us to take it to bmw/mini to fix. They refused to acknowledge defect and we are still trying to get it repaired.
2006 MINI Cooper S steering complaints
Page 3 of 3: complaints 41 to 48 of 48, newest first, as owners wrote them.
The power steering failed 2 days ago on my 2006 mini cooper s with only 36,600 miles. It's a known issue & yet bmw/mini refuses to address it. I was very fortunate that it happened in a parking lot & not on my daily highway commute or during my recent vacation.
On saturday afternoon, 12 march 2011, a loud, high-pitched humming or whining, serious-sounding noise developed while I was driving, the loudness (and/or the pitch) of the noise would change when I turned the steering wheel. I checked the power steering fluid level, which was ok. The night of sunday, 13 march, I left the car at atlantic motorcar services of wiscasset, maine 04578, which specializes in mini and other european vehicles. The following morning I described the problem and asked them to check it out. Atlantic found "the power steering pump (epas) is defective". They replaced the epas assembly (part # 32 41 6 778 425) at a cost of $1212.49; and bled, flushed and filled the system (ps service kitbg $99). This resolved the problem.
2006 mini cooper s: power steering failure intermittent failure of power steering--at first. Very frightening experience. Very dangerous. Now there is no power steering. I've never had such an experience in any automobile. I investigated this experience online and find a number of similar experiences. I'm very troubled by such a flaw in the engineering of this vehicle.
Power steering fan about to fail, was advised to replace to prevent power steering pump failure. Independent mechanic made the assessment and advised the repair. This is known issue in 2004-2006+ minis and am reporting to make sure there are enough data points and consumer reports of the incidence.
Power steering pump. Complete failure while operating vehicle.
2006 mini cooper s jcw gp first time in 2008 just noticed fan would come on more often and power steering whined louder. Dealer at main line mini replaced. Second time in 2010 steering wheel felt like it lost power but regained during occasional turns. Dealer claimed it was due to aftermarket parts (camber plates) but then replaced it anyways cause main mechanic drove it and noticed play in steering.
After pulling into my driveway and going inside the house for a few minutes - we noticed a very chemical/plastic smell. We quickly found it was coming from outside, only to find our 2006 mini s spewing black smoke from under the hood. There was a fire, found to be caused by the power steering cooling fan failing, and causing the power steering pump to overheat and start on fire. I have found numerous blogs and complaint pages on this problem. I haven't the money to repair this problem at this time, and so the car still sits. This seems to be a problem the manufacturer is responsible for, even after warranty. "preventively replacing" the parts is also a ridiculous thing to expect vehicle owners to do. Updated 10/13/10*bf pictures received. Updated ivoq 10/21/10*jb
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