Common Issues: Power Steering Failure

Sections: Faults & Fixes | R50 (Coupe) | R52 (Conv.) | R53 (Coupe) | Recalls/Campaigns Feb 18th, 2009 80 Comments

A very interesting story over at BBC sent into us recently concerning Power Steering issues on R50/R53 MINIs.

BMW’s customer service told Heather this wasn’t a common fault, which is surprising because we’ve heard from dozens of other Mini owners who’ve told us they’ve had exactly the same problem, and have had to fork out anything up to Â£800 for the repair.

Not a common fault? Show of hands to those of you that have had power steering problems. As it turns out, we are not alone.

Matt Pike is an independent Mini mechanic, and a supplier of spare parts. He says he can barely keep up with demand for replacement power steering pumps: “At least 60 per cent of our regular customers have all had pumps changed. And we’re getting at least two calls a day from people after power steering pumps because they’re such a big failure. I’d say it’s the most common problem we have with the Minis.”

This is something that already happened to me and I think the unit I have installed now is also going bad. I also think I’m lucky in that it didn’t fail until almost 180K miles. I know many R53 owners who have had the power steering go out shortly after the warranty expires.

If you are in the market for an R50 or R53, take a minute to check out the R50/R53 Buyers Guide. Many of the issues that affected the first generation MINIs, including power steering, are listed here.

[ MINI Power Steering Failures ] BBC.co.uk

Written By: DB

Mike

My 05 (January Build) MC had its power steering fail at 30K miles.

Symptoms for those who asked: At slow speeds (parking mostly) you will at first experience “hiccups” where the steering wheel jumps and kicks back and refuses to turn. After a little bit of this you will simply not be able to turn the wheel without great difficulty. Once you get up to speed it gets easier (I had to drive an hour to the dealer!)

Fortunately it was all within warranty, but now that I’m just exiting warranty I’m really trying to gauge how much risk I’ve got of other things breaking. THe dealer is offering me great trade in value and if the new MC’s are more reliable I might just take them up on the offer. (more than just power steering has broken on me already. Windows ceasing to go up and down; interior door handles failing to function; fluid leaks; cosmetic defects inside the car….. but I still love the little guy.)
CooperSharon

My January build 05 MCS just had a pump replaced. I had the less common, “never shuts off” failure, only 2 weeks after the warranty expired and 50,322 miles. My dealership stood behind it, thankfully.
M Wilcox

BMW/Mini will not only acknowledge the problems with the power steering but also will not own up to the reliability problems with the CVT transmission – My p/s steering pump puked at 74000 along with the cooling fan to the tune of $850. Now I am holding my breath with the transmission and hopefully get will rid of it before it dies – it would cost as much to repair as the car is worth. I realize it would cost BMW/Mini a bundle if there were a recall but it would be the right thing to do and would benefit them in repeat owners.
Timothy

There’s at least some speculation, as noted upthread, that the power steering pump/fan in the early build MINIs is too exposed to the elements underneath the car.

One preventive measure many owners take is to install a revised aftermarket skid plate which extends farther back from the front of the car. MossMini.com sells them (part number 100-063), as an example. (The product description even makes specific reference to the power steering system.) How well this actually works is open to debate, but, to add two data points, both my ’02 and ’04 MINIs were equipped with this skid plate, and both did not experience any power steering problems. (No, I have no financial or other interests in skid plates, Moss, or MINI.)
C4

@Timothy:

You bring up a very good point regarding the PS fan. My understanding is that the stock fan shield in the 2005 and up MINIs is a little better at protecting the fan from debris and other junk. But indeed the PS fan could cause a fair amount of grief if it seizes.
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=618252503 Jaysen Kim

I have an ’04 MCS and had mine go out on the Dragon. I had a warranty then and they replaced the pump and fan.
ausalan

The pump on my 05 MCS (build date of August 2004) died at 41K miles, 3 months before the warranty expired. For me, the symptom was just that the steering became very difficult; no change in noise level either when the pump when out or when I got the new one.

I drove it for about a week before getting it fixed. At first I could often get the pump going by just turning off the ignition and starting it up again, but eventually it failed for good. The failure was “digital”, in that either the pump worked fine or not at all. I kind of liked the manual steering — reminded me of my old ’81 Scirocco. An average-strength male driver should not need to worry about getting stranded somewhere if the pump failed. But it was not very safe to drive at low speeds.
ausalan

I forgot to add that according to the invoice, the dealer replaced my broken pump with part number 32-41-6-778-425. According to Frank’s comment above, that is the new part number. So at least in my case, I don’t expect to have the same failure after another 40K miles. Also, my PS fan worked fine before the pump failure, and I had no noticeable fluid leaks.
Osmodious

My ’04 Cooper S had TWO steering racks, one pump AND a steering column go bad (the second rack was because they didn’t replace the damaged pump the first time and it killed the second rack, too). Of course, I had a lot of service problems (13 visits to get a loose seat repaired, 2 sunroof cassettes (because they installed the first one incorrectly), one time it was returned to me with no coolant, one time they managed to scratch the cowl down to the metal when washing the car, and other incidents). Wound up trading it in on an Acura shortly before the warranty was to run out…couldn’t imagine paying the thousands of dollars for repairs. And I still miss it every single day…
GregW

Where’s all the Goodwill ex-gratia towards owners? Obviously USA dealers have never heard of the word. Don’t you giys have a Lemon law? But for you guys over 100,000 miles – cars do need maintenance – no car lasts for ever. The pump is electric – don’t ask me why they couldn’t have made a pump driven off the fan belt.
GregW

CVT Auto trans repairs – I am surprised no one mentioned the cost of an exchange unit from MINI dealers. Think in the region of $5000 if your baby looses drive.
C4

GregW… The PW pump is still hydraulically operated but instead of being driven by engine power (belts) it uses an electric motor hence the term “Electro-Hydraulic”. In the 1st gen BMW MINIs you still use power steering pumps, and PW fluid.

In the second gen MINIs the system is 100% electric. No PW pump or fluid, just an electric motor doing all the steering effort for you. Of course, computer controlled for effort, etc.

This is one of the reasons why the steering in the new cars does not feel nearly as direct as in the older MINIs.
C4
Also the reason why MINI didn’t use a conventional engine belt driven PW system was two fold:
- To prevent sapping additional power from the smaller 1600cc TRITEC engine (Reduce engine load) and increasing fuel economy.
- To improve emissions. And then there is the claim that electro-hydraulic PW systems are more reliable (If the critical components meet quality standards that is).
jarrett

my 04 pump has not failed but have to replace the power steering line twice for breakage, to the tune of $800 total. most recent time in at dealer they told me the pump was leaking and to make sure resevoir stayed full or i could expect a pump failure.
ex997 guy

I had the power steering pump fail on my ’05 (February Build) MCS under warranty at around 40K miles. The power assist would go away intermittently, and then after a week went away altogether. Rather disconcerting in the middle of a turn. It was in the shop overnight.
Kathy

I have an ’06 JCW Competition Edition. Bought it in January 2008 and I take it in every 5-8000 km for an oil change. At every oil change (4 so far) my power steering auxillary pump fan has been replaced under warranty. The part has a two year warranty so I should be OK money-wise in future. My MINI dealer says the fan is too exposed and the lower car makes it even worse.
wrecker

I have an 05 S with over 125K miles. I have had no prob lems with mine. I did however, at the advice of my local tuner, (Chad at Detroit Tuned), pull and inspect my PS fan. It had some grit in it and was kind of resistant to spinning freely. I removed all I could to clean the bearings and fill them with fresh lubricant. This was at about 100K miles and I have not had any problems. Knock on wood.
C4

So we can conclude that the January 2005 production “revised” PW pump is still subject to failure.
Dr Guano

I took my ’02 R53 in for an oil change at 55,000 miles and left with a new (RMFD) power steering pump ($781.00), oil pan gasket, a front sensor seal, upper control arm bushings, glove box (I had discovwered that the chrome on the latch had come loose by slicing open my finger) and the oil change. Grand total…$2,450.
rich

The power steering on my 03 mcs with 51,583 miles just failed. no leaks or noises or other warnings.
Mick1573

Hello all, Just had my pump go on me yesterday in my 2002 mini one in the uk. Seems all models from 2001-2007 petrol engines are at fault or not so according to BMW. There has been many inciedents in the UK in regards to the power steering failing but dont be concered with milage as the car will fail without notice or the pump will become erratic by switching on and off (if your lucky for that sign!!!) Just contacted BMW Customer support and they just said it had to diagonsed in a dealer ship (Money for nothing as i know whats wrong!!) When arey the going to admit tha there is a fault and recall this car. Sick of being ripped off and having my hard earned cash stripped off me constantly by greedy dealerships. Require everyone to complain and then we can do something about this. So please dont just read this article, pick up the phone and get the power to us normal folk to reclaim our rights. Or even worse before you lose someone you love!
Andy

My power steering cut out this morning (2004 MC) pulling into traffic and nearly killed me. I left the car at home and when I got back home today it seemed to be working just fine. I checked all the fluid levels and they’re fine. I’m about 6 months out of warranty and afraid of my car! I think MINI should do a voluntary recall now before someone gets hurt!
Vincent Deschenes

HI!

I got the same problem 2 weeks ago. My steering pump is doing a big noisy sound. My garage told me that I’m not the first of is customers that had this problem. By the way I have a MCS 2005.

It will be 800$ only for the piece plus 2 hours of time. I had to change my power steering fan too, 225$ for the piece plus 1 hour.

Is there any calls from BMW for that parts ?

Thanks
Emma

I am having that exact problem. I am struggling to turn the steering wheel and after calling AA they confirmed it probably is the pump :(! i’ve only had it 8 months but it was a private exchange so no warranty. Hopefully it won’t cost too much.
Emma

Sorry, forgot to say i have a 54 reg Cooper.
Phil

Bought a 2003 plate John Cooper Works Mini 48 hours ago. After 40 miles of driving on the first day the power steering started to go. 5 miles later it had gone completely. Local Mini dealership say’s it’s either one of two known problems. Either dampness in the wiring loom effecting the switch or the pump itself. Waiting now to find out which but I suspect it’s the pump. It’s drivable as the steering loss is progressive but if you switch the engine off completely and restart it’s all back to normal.

Phil
DAWN

SERIOUS PROBLEM…when a power steering pump fails without warning on a curvy road at high speed /50mph, at night. How extremely terrifying that I could not control my car for a few seconds without using every last ounce of power in my entire body to keep from going off road. This could have caused death to anyone who is less than an excellent driver. I am too young to die at 48 as is my 2004 mini with only 67k miles. This is the first and only mechanical issue I have had so far. I think a safety recall is necessary. In the least, a full investigation. Do I hear TOYOTA recall….look what damage control they had to do after ignoring their customers complaints. Who els has had this problem and what should we do about it?
http://motoringfile Frank

you should file a complaint on this website https://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/

or call 1-800-831-1117 it only takes a few minutes

this problem is already under investigation by the NHTSA so the more people complain the more likely they will do something about it. Also if they do recall

the steering pump and you already paid for the repair they have to refund you the cost
Richbrandon509

2004 MCS apx 106,000 miles, power steering pump would stay ON AFTER turning OFF the ignition and REMOVING the key… I just took out the fuse, and drive it without, it’s not bad but is is rather annoying in parking lots and trying to reverse…
Staceyb

Love my 05 Cooper…but power steering just went out. Thankfully I was at home at the time. It is super difficult to back out or drive slowly. I just passed 103,00 miles. Stinks!!!

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