BMW MINI - Power Steering Pump - Danger?

SLB001

Just a quick update... Mini agreed to pay 100% of the £900 to repair the power steering. So always good to be persistent and not take no for an answer!! Thank you to Chris at Cooper Colchester for all his support! Merry Xmas!

Rubyshoes23

I have a 2003 mini one i bought second hand from my local mini dealership 3 years ago. It has done 105,000 miles.
Over Christmas the power steering kept intermittently cutting out which was pretty scary as it was very difficult to turn the wheel. I read about this on the internet so booked the car in for fixing back at the dealership and asked if it could be fixed as a 'good will gesture'. I paid about £90 first for the diagnostics which confirmed a problem with the power steering pump and loom. They fortunately agreed to then fix it for free which i was very pleased about!

laineyian

Having read some of these posts I consider myself extremely lucky. my 06 plate cooper park lane simply wouldn't start the other morning, no lights on the dash, nothing. jump started the car and got to work, left work and car was dead as a dodo. got a new battery and put it in. started no problem. an hour later....dead again. I have now been advised it is the psp which has drained the battery. funnily enough I could smell burning after the new battery was put in and now from what I have read here, my car may well have gone up in flames if we hadn't disconnected the battery. my car is not 6 years old till May this year and has a FSH and is classed as mini cherished, so I'll see what mini have to say when I call them tomorrow. will let you all know.

laineyian

well, had to pay £223 to get my power steering pump replaced, with a 3 year warranty on it, this is with mini uk contributing 80% of the total cost. they started at £285 for me to pay and then came down when I said I wasn't happy. Phoned mini uk today to ask why I had to pay anything and quoted this and other forums where people have had their full cost covered. I spoke to a woman called Maya, who advised " they are telling lies, the maximum mini will contribute is 80%, even someone who's car is still in warranty has to pay £100 excess"
so there you go, if you're saying mini paid the whole cost, mini says you're a liar.
Nice.
Obviously there is no benefit to having my mini serviced by mini dealers, average cost is always £400? so from now on, I'll be giving my local garage my business for a fraction of the price and probably a better job.

princessjasmine

I beg to differ - I have read that to use the car in this current condition could result in the rack being damaged - these cars are not meant to be driven without power steering - it is a luxury in a car but as they come as standard, to drive without, you risk damaging.

NoSatisfaction wrote: »

BMW has no contract with you if you didn't buy the car from them.

If the car is over 6 years old there is no comeback at all on BMW.

Mileage is not relevant because it may have been 100,000 miles on good straight roads or 20,000 miles on horribly potholed twisty back streets. Parts wear out.

I was always taught to hold the steering wheel tightly because power steering can fail. The car is still drivable without power steering, it is just a luxury to make life easier for drivers and any accidents as a result of power steering failure are likely to be the fault of the driver not being in control of the vechicle!

Have a go at driving old front wheel drive iron engined diesels without power steering to get some practice!

princessjasmine

Rubyshoes care to disclose which dealer this was? Many Thanks

Rubyshoes23 wrote: »

I have a 2003 mini one i bought second hand from my local mini dealership 3 years ago. It has done 105,000 miles.
Over Christmas the power steering kept intermittently cutting out which was pretty scary as it was very difficult to turn the wheel. I read about this on the internet so booked the car in for fixing back at the dealership and asked if it could be fixed as a 'good will gesture'. I paid about £90 first for the diagnostics which confirmed a problem with the power steering pump and loom. They fortunately agreed to then fix it for free which i was very pleased about!

princessjasmine

Useful reading all. Thanks. Mine went late this afternoon. Too late to do anything about it on a Saturday afternoon but with a 53 plate Mini Cooper with only 32,000 miles I fear the worse when I start making those calls on Monday morning

CKhalvashi

There was the same problem with the BMW group on a 525d we had a few years back (ours was ’55’ plate, and we had brake problems with it).

We argued that as it was a known fault that became apparent shortly after we bought the car (brand new, only kept it a year) that it should be looked at, especially as I drive down the road I live at 50mph most mornings, I could easily set the town alight with the gas works at the bottom.

It took them until 2008, yes, 2 years after we sold the car, to get a recall done. Needless to say, I pursued them for the £2000-ish it cost!

It may be worth going down the Small Claims route, as it is a common problem with the Mini.

minimad1970

minimad1970 wrote: »

I had this problem a couple of months ago. My car is a Mini One 2003 plate, 65,000 miles and no FSH. Thanks to the advice I found on Mini2 forum I took it to a local dealership who didn't even bother with the diagnostic test as the noise it was making was proof enough. They contacted Mini Uk who then paid 100% of parts and labour. The lady at the dealership said this was the outcome for other cars as well despite age of vehicle etc.

princessjasmine wrote: »

Useful reading all. Thanks. Mine went late this afternoon. Too late to do anything about it on a Saturday afternoon but with a 53 plate Mini Cooper with only 32,000 miles I fear the worse when I start making those calls on Monday morning

I thought the worst when mine went but the dealership and Mini UK dealt with it really well.

princessjasmine

Dear all,
Setting the picture, I have a 53 plate Mini Cooper with 32,000 miles on it. I am the third owner and bought it privately in July 2010. it has FSH from Mini.

Two weeks ago on a Saturday I was exiting a car park and all of a sudden my steering wheel appeared to lock and I could'nt turn it. I was quite shaken thinking my car had just failed on me, and then 30 secs later had a realisation that it was the PSP. Managed to get it home with difficulty. At this point it was 6pm on Saturday so I knew nothing was being done about it until Monday. First thing I did was look on the mini2 forum where I learned that it is a common fault for Mini's and was on Watchdog in 2009. I also learned that it was not deemed serious so therefore not recalled, and that Mini aren't liable to pay for it to be fixed. Possible cost to owner: up to £500.

Armed with this info I initiated contact on Mini's Facebook page. The only way I could reach out at the weekend. They responded asking me to email customer service which I did on Monday whilst also ringing my local dealership Sytner, Chigwell. They said they would have to do a diagnostic to identify what the issue was. Yardy yar, same old... They said the earliest they could look at it was Wednesday but if they had the opportunity they'd look before. I just wanted it out of sight as whilst I can't drive it, it was disheartening me to see it in pain. I took it there on Tuesday morning, they looked at it on Wednesday and I picked up on Weds evening. Job done.

If you would like to find out more information please contact me directly as I'm not willing to detail the nitty gritty of costs on here as credit to Mini, but considering how extremely concerned I was on Saturday and how much I had feared this might cost, I can say that once again I have had first class experience from Mini. Admittedly his issue should not be happening, however the costs etc really are on a case by case basis, my case was put across well to Mini and therefore the result was something I was 100% satisfied with. I would like to extend my thanks to Paul Trotter. Some dealerships get a hard bargain online. Rightly so for a lot of them but there are exceptions. I'm glad I have a good dealer on my doorstep.