Mini Power Steering Failure

thornbury

A couple of points to note on these pump failures; yes you can obtain a cheaper reconditioned pump from even well respected reconditioners such as BBA Reman, my friend has done this three times with her 51 plate mini one and now needs her fourth.(she has only owned the car for two and a half years) The last failure was in March so this one has lasted 2 & 1/2 months. BBA Reman, to be fair, have been brilliant in honouring their warranty but this still leaves the cost of fitting, inconvenience, and of course the sheer terror at failure time.:eek:
The other point is that a car with failed power steering is NOT the same as a car made without power steering as the gearing is different on the two systems. A car with power steering has a more responsive wheel with maybe only two turns required to go from lock to lock; without power steering and it could take four to four and a half turns lock to lock in order to make the car more driveable by anyone who doesn't happen to be an Olympic shot-putter (the steering wheels tend to be smaller with power assistance as well - for the same reasons, the mechanical advantage of a large wheel not required.)
Any advice as to what my friend should now do with regard to contacting BMW would be greatly appreciated. Maybe Trading Standards? Has anyone gone down that route?

thornbury

For those who haven't seen it, here is a link:-

Whoops! not allowed to post it. You should be able to find it on this site though.
Also note that this was back in February 2009 so BMW must know of thousands and thousands of failures.

harveybobbles

Microstar wrote: »

Minis are not particularly reliable or good quality cars, certainly nowhere near the quality of other BMW products.

Erm, BMW ABS modual anyone? Or steering rack perhaps...?

lee1157

Hi - Can anybody help

We have had a steering pump failure on our 2001 mini cooper, my wife had been complaining of the steering failing and the car being intermitently undriveable when going around a roundabout. Luckilly the battery was flattened later that day after she parked up at sainsburys (A result of the failure means the pump carries on running?) so she didnt get chance to run anybody over that afternoon! When the Green Flag Rescue came they started the car but warned me that their maybe a fault with the electrics on the power steering pump and the car might not be safe to drive and made us aware of the watchdog problem. Green Flag followed me home in it and said they would transport it wherever the following day if needed.

Concerned for the safety of my kids, when I got home I logged onto the web to see if it was a common fault and up popped up your forum and the watchdog piece, I was livid that this had not been recalled, my children had been driven around in a death trap and over a 1000 people on this forum have experienced the same fault - what does it take for a recall - people to die!! this could be another Toyota/lexus...

On Watchdog somebody spoke of a fire and to not leave a car in the garage if the pump had failed as it would still run and maybe catch fire, I went into the garage and their was a burning smell and the pump was still running. As the car wouldnt start as the battery had flattend again I pushed it out of the garage, not only where BMW happy for a faulty part not be recalled, but they where going to burn my bloody house down as well!

I immediately rang BMW helpine from the number provided by watchdog as I was naturally worried for my wife and kids safety. A decent gent at BMW initimated it would be covered by goodwill, he commented that the pump should last the duration of the vehicle or at least 100,000 miles (Ours has done 81,000) and they are aware of the failures. I was told I needed to take it into local BMW MINI dealer (BLUE BELL WILMSLOW) which I did that afterrnoon and they said to me I needed to pay a £90 inspection fee, I stated that the Green Flag had said it was the pump, so why the £90? company policy was the response.

BLUE BELL rang me back this morning and confirmed following the inspection that it is the faulty steering pump, and said it was £600+ and they would put a goodwill request to BMW this afternoon.
To try and speed things along, I rang BMW head office this afternoon who have denied that anybody had said it would be covered by goodwill even after giving me a unqiue reference number to give to Blue Bell BMW for the goodwill claim.On the phone a very abrupt and not at all understanding member of BMW customer services team said that irrelevant of a goodwill request they are only covering vehicle of up to six years old !!! I am livid.

I have now received a call from BLUE BELL WILMSLOW this afternoon who have said the faulty part will not be replaced under a good will request.

I have sent this forum entry to the gent who I originally spoke to who efficiently gave me my individual reference number. I am going to give BMW them the opportunity to deal with this issue before I send it to my brief, our MP and notify the local and national press.

This is an absolute disgrace and shows complete negligence on BMW's part.

Yours very angry

Lee

10JH

Mine only does that if the ignition is switched off! So if you're coasting along with no ignition, after about 30 seconds the steering locks completely.

BTW, have only tried this at about 10mph, not on the motorway !

Altarf

lee1157 wrote: »

We have had a steering pump failure on our 2001 mini cooper
...
This is an absolute disgrace and shows complete negligence on BMW's part.

A disgrace that a part on a car that is 9 years old can fail? It was almost old enough to qualify for the scrappage scheme.

Strider590

Microstar wrote: »

Minis are not particularly reliable or good quality cars, certainly nowhere near the quality of other BMW products.

lol, sounds about the same to me..... Difference being that new BMW owners don't keep their news cars long enough to find these faults (new car every 6-12 months), while second hand owners tend not to complain as much (because yay they're now upper class) and the fault can be blamed on the previous owner.

cyclonebri1

So is the mini steering rack electronic, hydraulic or hydro/electric??

skiddlydiddly

Its Grease lightning!

cyclonebri1

skiddlydiddly wrote: »

Its Grease lightning!

Giving your age away :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl: