2005 MINI Cooper: fire, smoke or burning smell

Filed May 30, 2023 · Engine · 160,000 miles · MD · fire

The contact owns a 2005 Mini Coop S Hardtop. The contact stated that while the vehicle was parked and unoccupied, the vehicle alarm activated inadvertently and the contact noticed smoke coming from underneath the hood. The contact stated that he lifted the hood open and noticed fire coming from underneath the engine. The contact extinguished the fire with a fire extinguisher. There were no injuries sustained. The vehicle was towed to an independent mechanic; however, the vehicle was not diagnosed or repaired. The manufacturer was not made aware of the failure. The failure mileage was approximately 160,000.

Filed Sep 8, 2021 · Body, Electrical · CA · fire

Driving at approximately 10-15 miles an hour entering a parking lot when I noticed flames coming out of the hood scoop of my 2005 Mini Cooper S. After brief inspection from my mechanic, it is believed to have been caused by the wiring harness for ABS or possibly the power steering unit since the fire originated from the rear/right hand side of the engine and those two components. I have a claim opened with USAA but during simple research, I have found tens, if not close to a hundred issues with similar characteristics. I know I am not the first R53 Mini Cooper (2002-2006 run) with this problem and this should be considered a hazard and public safety issue. I have included the link to many of the cases captured by the North American Motoring Association (a primarily North American Mini car association) which details 24 pages of these issues. https://www.northamericanmotoring.com/forums/stock-problems-issues/73527-spontaneous-engine-bay-fires.html?ispreloading=1

Filed Jan 5, 2016 · Brakes · 106,000 miles · MD

In cold weather the driver side parking brake freezes/sticks. One of many examples was this morning. It was 27 degrees in my garage and I was able to drive with no problems, I drove for a few miles with the car fully warmed up. I stopped for coffee and left the car running (wife in car) and returned no more than 5 minutes later. When I tried to drive the parking brake was not released all the way. After driving a short distance the passenger rear brake was cool to the touch but the driver side was radiating heat and smelled of burning brakes. This is an unacceptable flaw and can be dangerous. The rear calipers are relatively new and the brake fluid is flushed every two years. I also have a 2006 mini cooper that does not have this issue. A quick internet search provides numerous examples all seem to be isolated in the 2004-2005 years and in cold climates.

Filed Jul 8, 2015 · Electrical, Steering · 57,000 miles · NJ · fire

After an hours drive, I was standing outside of the vehicle talking w/ the car off. All of sudden smoke starts pouring out from under the hood. I quickly opened the hood to hear some type of electrical fan/pump sound & smoke coming from the bottom/rear side of the motor. I was able to pull the battery terminal & the noise/smoke stopped. I then searched online & found the known issues of the electrical assisted power steering. I found the fuse for the circuit, a 100 amp fuse hidden on the bottom side of the fuse box that had not popped even though the pump was burning itself up. I had enough tools w/ me to pull the fuse, get the car started & make my way home w/o the power steering assist.

Filed Jan 17, 2012 · Steering · 108,967 miles · NJ

After running errands in the morning I parked my car in my spot in front of my house. When I walked away the car was silent. Two hours later my neighbor knocked on my door to let me know that my car (which had been off and parked for two hours) was making a loud whining noise. I went outside to check it out, and determined that the noise was coming from my car while it was off. I immediately took the car, which was driving well at the time, to my local mechanic who could not determine the cause of the problem and recommend that I should take it immediately to the mini dealership. When I arrived at the mini dealership they immediately took my car back. I was told that my power steering pump was failing and overheating, which caused the power steering fan to keep running while the car was off. The service representative said that this happens time to time, and if I had continued driving the car it may of caught on fire. The technical words on the work order from the mini mechanic were, "scanned car for faults, after checking cars fault memory it was found that there was a current fault for an open circuit on the electric power steering pump." both the power steering pump and fan had to be replaced.

Filed Jan 17, 2012 · Electrical · 36,000 miles · NY · fire

I use my mini cooper the night before parking it at around 10:00pm the night of december 22nd, 2011. The next morning went to work as usual by mass transit. At around 8:00am I received a call from my neighbor telling me that my car was on fire. The superintendent of my building had seen the car smoking and by the time he came back to grab an extinguisher the car had caught on fire. The fire was put of in short time and the fire department assured the fire was off spreading fire retardant, a powder talc like over the area that caught fire. The fire was over the right side grille between the windshield and hood. The estimate of record prepared by geico adjuster describes damages in the instrument panel, dash pad crossmember, supercharger, air grille and much more parts. The car has been considered total loss by geico and currently going through the process to try to settle but haven't because the estimate they gave me for the value of the car is very low compared to what I paid for it and the low mileage of it. This is terrible since I have not finish paying the car, I'm shocked a car can catch fire by itself I would appreciate if someone can help me with the problem of mini coopers catching while parked a recall for the same problem is all over the internet today jan 17th, 2012. Or guide me if the insurance company will do something regarding the recall, although they are not recalling the model or year my car was made.

Filed Aug 29, 2011 · Steering · 103,000 miles · AZ · fire

Tl* the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. While driving, the contact stated that the vehicle would loose power steering and the contact would see and smell smoke coming from underneath the hood. The dealer nor manufacturer were notified of the failure. The vehicle was not repaired. The failure and current mileage was 103,000. The VIN was unavailable.

Filed Aug 2, 2010 · Engine · 61,000 miles · MD · fire

2005 mini copper caught on fire. The fire resulted in a total loss of the automobile.

Filed Jul 20, 2009 · Steering · 85,000 miles · OR · fire

Tl*the contact owns a 2005 mini cooper. While parked outside of a retirement center, the contact was informed that his vehicle was on fire. The fire department extinguished the fire and unplugged the battery because it appeared to be an electrical fire. The vehicle is currently parked at the contact's residence. Through research, the contact discovered that the failure was due to the electrical power assist on his rack and pinion. The manufacturer was aware of the failure, but there were no recalls available. The contact believes that the failure was due to a manufacturer defect and a recall should be issued. There were no injuries. The current and failure mileages were 85,000.

Filed Apr 16, 2009 · Engine · 48,737 miles · CA · fire

On march 12, 2009 at approximately 9:00 pm my wife and I were driving back from dinner in northridge, california when I made a stop at the local post office. I was driving my 2005 mini cooper hatchback and did not notice any warning lights or errant behavior with the car. I stopped at the post office to mail a package, parked the car, turned the engine off, locked the car with my wife inside the auto, and went in. When I returned approximately two minutes later I found my wife in the car in a great state of panic with smoke pouring out from under the hood of the car. I immediately unlocked the doors with my car key, made sure that my wife was out of the car, and we called the fire department. We both witnessed a small fire burning underneath the engine block. The fire department quickly arrived, opened the hood and put out the fire. I contacted a representative from mini on the 13th who informed me that someone from bmw would be contacting me regarding the car. I towed the car back to my house and towed it to bob smith bmw in calabasas on saturday the 14th. Bob smith bmw has provided me with a rental car in the interim. I then received a phone call from bmw from a steve kossar on march 17th, who requested the details of the incident. When I spoke with susan at bob smith bmw later that week I was informed that the steering pump was replaced along with a couple of additional parts. No explanation was given as to the cause of the fire. I was also informed that bmw north america would be assigning an engineer write a report on the status of the mini and that bob smith bmw would not release the car to me until they received word from bmw north america that the car was sound. Since then I have placed two phone calls to mr. Kossar at bmw on april 1 and april 7 and left messages asking for a status report on the car. To date I have not received a reply and no word on the cause of the fire.