Problems with 2004 MINI Cooper S STEERING

Power steering pump failed while driving. luckily incident happened at low speed. *tr

Complete loss of power steering immediately after starting vehicle. this is much harder to steer than a car which never had power steering to begin with. almost impossible to turn the wheel. *tr

Was driving my son home from a soccer tournament, traveling about 70 mph, when the steering failed-i could only turn the steering wheel about 1" in each direction. terrifying. the problem persists, and the car is unsafe to drive-i'll probably need to tow it to the mechanic. *tr

Drove 70 mi from milltown, nj to valhalla, ny on april 26. power steering stopped functioning upon arrival. turning off and restarting engine remedied the problem. on return trip, failure occurred just past essex tolls on garden state - about half way to return destination. checked and topped fluid. the steering fails regularly according to this pattern. it appears that power steering pump cooling fan has stopped working. i will replace fan. if this does not remedy the situation, i will replace the power steering pump. i will retain the old parts. *tr

Lost power steering intermittently last month while driving and now the fan stays on and runs the engine till the battery is dead. i need to have it jumped everytime i want to drive it. mini stated they will not replace it for free "they don't care if there is an investigation, unit were ordered to fix it the cost is on the customer" *tr

I have a 2004 mini cooper s with approx 80k miles. the power steering randomly and intermittently fails to work. this problem has occurred approximately six times during the last two months. i intend to replace the power steering pump, but am told that this may happen again, even with replaced pump. *tr

For the past year, my mini cooper s has had several sudden power losses in the power steering, resulting in the car becoming difficult to control. it has been looked at by a mini service department, who knew about the problem, but did not inform me. my warranty was called in, and they did not authorize its repair either. i live in a remote area, with a driving need for 3-4 hours for medical care. this drive is through canyons and over mountains, so the loss of steering control is in no way an option, and may also result in an accident causing injury or worse, death. i have documentation that the complaint was made to mini by me, and yesterday, received confirmation that they did, in fact, know about the problem. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. the contact was driving 40 mph when the power steering malfunctioned and the vehicle became extremely difficult to steer. the contact took the vehicle to a local mechanic where he was advised that the power steering pump and the rack of the rack and pinion would need replacing. the mechanic replaced both the rack and power steering pump. the failure mileage was 70,000.

2004 mini cooper s. consumer is seeking reimbursement for the replacement of the power steering pump. *tr

Acute loss of power steering in my 2004 mini cooper s. i was driving normally and was pulling onto the interstate when the steering became very difficult. i was able to continue to steer the vehicle but it required a great deal of effort. i've been told by my mechanic that it doesn't involve the failure of the power steering pump fan...the fan has been tested and is working ok. the cost for the repair is going to be approximately $1160. my mechanic has told me that failure of the p. s. pump in this year and model mini cooper is common. *tr

Power steering just cuts off while driving for no reason. you have to stop the vehicle and turn off engine and then turn it back on to (i guess) reset the power steering. this is impossible if you are driving on a road that you cannot pull over and especially on a curvy road. *kb

While driving my 2004 mini cooper s the power assisted steering seems to quit working. this has happened in the past and then the power assist begins working on its own and may work for quite a while then unexpectedly will stop working again. when this happens the steering becomes very difficult and requires a great deal of extra effort to turn. many times it only stops working for one or two turns then the power assist pump begins working again. in the fall of 2010 i had to install a power steering pump "cooling fan" because it failed but the pump continues to intermittently stop working.

2004 mini cooper s power steering failed on i93 south on my way to work in boston without any warning , speed about 80 at 4:00am on the morning of 4/25/2011. made it to work had car taken in for service at mini of peabody ma the same day and was charged $1180.00 dollars to replace steering pump. two weeks prior on 4/8/2011 at the same dealer at their recommendation replaced steering fan and return hose as a precaution during routine maintenance charged 500.00 dollars. friday 4/22/2011 car was at same dealer to have the catalytic converter replaced followed by their usual test drive , there was no mention of any steering problem at that time nor did i experience any problem with the steering on my way back home after repair. my concern is if this had happened with out warning on an off ramp or when my wife or daughter were driving the out come could have been much different. i paid an extra 60.00 dollars to keep the old pump. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. while driving approximately 40 mph, the steering wheel became very stiff and difficult to turn. the contact also stated that the steering wheel was stuck in a partially turned position but the vehicle continued to drive straight forward. the vehicle was towed to the contacts place of residence and was neither diagnosed nor repaired for the failure. the failure and current mileages were 105,683.

Power steering got tighter and tighter making it really hard to turn in small corners (which are everywhere in big cities). it turns out the be a well-known issue which is power steering fluid leak. it almost got me into accidents/property damage due to tight steering. *tr

Loss of power steering. at first intermittent, now complete. *kb

Power steering fails. on multiple occasions the power steering has failed, both while driving as well as after just starting the car. the problem is intermittent and i see no pattern to it's occurrence. typically it is remedied by turning off the car and re-starting. there has been a few occasions where it will sputter in and out before it goes out completely but the most common occurrence is when i start the car, there's is no power steering.

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. the contact stated that while driving approximately 40 mph, he suddenly had a loss of power steering with out any warning. the steering became very difficult to maneuver after the failure. he was able to continue driving after restarting the vehicle. the vehicle was not inspected by a dealer and it was not repaired. the manufacturer was contacted and advised him that there was a tsb but no related recalls. the failure and current mileages were approximately 109,000. updated 04/15/11*lj

Power steering pump failed to work, it worked off and on for a short period. i am in the process of replacing it. *tr

While driving my 2004 mini cooper s, the power steering failed while making a turn at low speed. without the power steering, it is hard to steer during low speed. after turning off engine and restarting, the power steering came back. but the power steering pump seems to be on all the time with a humming noise even after the engine is turned off. which leading to the draining of the battery. the battery gave out after a couple jump starts. as of 2/15/2011, i have disconnected the power to the power steering pump and fan. because i cannot afford of the high cost of replacing the power steering pump and cooling fan. i have not replace them yet. i still have these parts. *ln

I drove my mini cooper 2004 s with 95k miles on the freeway and noticed my steering very difficult to move. i arrived to my destination safely and searching on the web for steering problems with 2004 mini cooper and found federal investigation in progress. i towed the vehicle to the mini dealership and explained the problem. they found the power steering pump defective as described on the website and repaired the vehicle for 1500 dollars. the dealer/bmw offered no compensation to defer the cost. i contacted bmw customer relations and received a non response on if and how bmw would respond. *tr

Power steering pump failure on 2004 mini cooper s. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. the contact stated that while driving and making a turn the power steering suddenly failed making the steering wheel difficult to maneuver. the vehicle was inspected by a dealer who informed the contact that the power steering pump failed. the vehicle was repaired. the failure mileage was approximately 170,000. the vin was unavailable.

I was driving very slowly into the drive thru burger king and i lost power steering and it became very difficult to control the car i could not get it to go the direction i wanted it to go so i ended up crashing into the curb. another time this happened was when i hit a patch of ice my car lost power steering a few seconds later and i had to restart my car, but it did come back on. *tr

Our 2004 mini cooper s is loosing power steering randomly making it very unsafe to drive . its very random , i thought it was some kind of sport mode but you cant even control the vehicle when the car kicks into "paralysis", totally weird ...i've owned all foreign cars mostly japanese ,and german ...this is the first time i've seen anything like this and i grew up in the car business driving everything you can think of.....it would be a shame if mini looses its reputation over something like a power steering problem just fix the problem its obviously a major defect on the engineering .....sounds like a recall to me ....please don't join toyotas crash parade. *tr

Sudden failure of power steering. control of car was not lost. it will require a new power steering pump. *tr

Power steering failure during driving. became sluggish/very hard to turn on the highway at speed. *tr

04 mini cooper s with under 40,000 miles. intermittent power steering pump failure. car is extremely hard to turn when the power steering is not working. restarting the car sometimes causes the power steering to start working but it went out while driving at 25 miles per hour on jan 02, 2011. this is an indication of a power steering pump failure. *tr

2004 mini cooper s, power steering failure. i have experienced intermittent failure of power steering in my 2004 mini cooper s. this has occurred seemingly at random and causes great difficulty with steering the vehicle. this creates an unsafe driving condition in which it is difficult to control the vehicle. this has happened several times in a given day or sometimes only once in a week. the failure has occurred at various times of operation, including immediately after starting the car in the morning, mid-commute, and at the end of a long drive. the only consistency is that it seems to occur just after putting the car in reverse, then back in 1st gear (though not every time). power steering is almost always restored by turning ignition off and back on- not a safe action in most of my driving circumstances. on one occasion the power steering pump continued to run audibly after the vehicle was turned off, threatening to drain the battery. this lasted for about 20 minutes and was only resolved by driving the car again for about five minutes. when the car was turned off again, the pump finally shut off. *ln

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. while driving approximately 35 mph the power steering failed. the contact was not driving so he did not know the full details of the failure. the person driving was able to drive the vehicle to their residence. the failure was not diagnosed by a dealer. the failure and current mileages were 60,000.

1. 04 mini cooper s power steering failure while driving. occasionally while driving the pump will loose power and steering will be very difficult. power steering fan stays on after vehicle is turned off which tends to drain the battery. 2. eventually the pump started leaking and fan stop working needing replacement. loss all power steering while driving. 3. replaced pump and fan with new units and problem is temporarily fixed but problem has come back. noticing the same symptoms from #.1 post happening again.

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. the contact stated that when pulling out of his driveway and attempting to make a turn, the vehicle was difficult to steer. the vehicle was inspected by a dealer who informed him that he needed to replace the steering pump. the vehicle was repaired. the failure mileage was approximately 72,400. updated 09/07/11 *bf

My 2004 mini cooper s suddenly and without warning lost its power steering. i had to have it towed to the mechanic who said the whole steering was shot. that is when i found out that mini has had a lot of these failures. if i had been on a curve and at any faster speed i may have been seriously hurt, and now bmw won't even fix the car! this is not right especially when they have known there is problem, what is it going to take a few people getting killed like with the toyota brake problem? make them do something to fix this problem. *tr

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. while the contact was driving approximately 50 mph, the power steering stopped functioning and it was difficult to turn the steering wheel. the vehicle had not been inspected or repaired. the failure mileage was approximately 50,000.

While driving onto a freeway on ramp, my steering became excessively difficult and i almost ran into a median. i pulled over and the steering resumed normal activity and then became very difficult again to the point where i could barely steer the car enough to take it to a repair shop three blocks from my house where they informed me that my power steering pump had failed. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. the contact was traveling 35 mph when the steering became extremely tight. there was no warning prior to the failure. the contact stated that the failure had occurred before but not as extreme as the most current failure. the contact could barely maneuver the steering wheel. the vehicle was towed to the dealer where the power steering cooling fan and electronic power steering pump were replaced. the dealer advised that the power steering failure was a known problem. the failure mileage was 4,053 and the current mileage is 4,509 updated 02/03/11*lj also, the driver side seat heater grid burned through the cover and the drivers jacket. the second seat cover burned through also and made a hole in the passengers coat. updated 03/18/11

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 bmw mini cooper s. the contact stated that while starting the vehicle the steering wheel jammed and she was unable to turn it or control the vehicle. she turned the vehicle off and back on, she was able to turn the wheel after it reset but it was very hard to turn the steering wheel. the vehicle was not repaired. the failure mileage was 35,000 and the current mileage was 39,000.

Complete failure of steering column, it locks up during driving, can barely turn the wheel. this happens randomly during driving, even on a straight road not making any turns. have to force car over onto shoulder and restart the car. nothing bad has happened yet, but very dangerous when driving with kids in the car. all fluid levels check out, no warning lights about steering failure. *tr

My 2004 mini cooper s power steering pump just failed and has to be replaced after only 45k miles. *tr updated 08-29/11 *bf

I own a 2004 mini cooper s and lost the power steering while driving on the highway. there were no leaks detected but the ps canister was empty. the mini was purchased new from crown mini in richmond, va. we are the only owners of the mini. my wife is afraid to drive the mini now and we wanted to report the problem as soon as possible. i have received no help from mini after sending them an email and calling them. *tr

I own a 2004 mini cooper hard top and i was on my way home from state college when the power steering went out. this made the car extremely difficult to drive. since this happened, i am all but terrified to drive the vehicle. i have done some investigation into this, and i see i am not the only mini owner with this problem. i hope something will be done about this. *tr

Power steering failure. when driving power steering will unexpectedly stop working. usually after driving for an hour or so. when power steering stops working the car is very hard to control. *tr

Power steering failed while driving normally on the freeway and it became very difficult to control the car. power steering returned after letting the car sit in a parking lot, but failed again while driving home. we have not driven the car since. the car is out of warranty and we have talked to mini, but they have not offered to help repair the car. we were told that it will cost around $1500 to replace the malfunctioning parts. *tr

Unexpected and intermittent power steering failure. intermittent failures first started around 2008, the failures would last for minutes to hours long, days, weeks, and months would go by between failures. the dealership stated the cause was the power steering pump and since the car was out of warranty the repair would cost ~$700 to replace. when the pump fails the car is *very* difficult to steer at slow and moderate speeds. on a number of occasions a surprise failure occurred on narrow, windy road and it was a struggle to maintain the lane, avoid hitting oncoming traffic and staying on the road. the pump was replaced and as of this writing is new one is now intermittently failing. i just experienced an intermittent failure when turning from a stop and narrowly missed hitting a curb as i struggled to complete a turn. the pump failure lasted about 10 minutes. *tr

I own a 2004 mini cooper s and when driving the power steering failed. i was in the middle of an off ramp and the steering became extremely hard. i was unable to navigate the turn and went off the road. luckily i did not hit anything. when the car was turned off and then back on the power steering came back on. from time to time now i loose the power steering. i feel this is a major safety issue and do not let my wife or child ride in the car. *tr

My car has had intermittent power failure since 2008, usually lasting a few days. more recently my power steering has been out for the past 2 months. today it started working on my way home from work but the power steering fan remains on after i turn the car off. i had to disconnect the battery in order to keep the fan off. consequences have resulted in near accidents on the highway and road when failure occurs (failures happened when i have gone into turns). power steering pump and fan will need to be replaced. *tr

Tl* the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. the contact was driving 45 mph when the steering wheel became hard to maneuver. the vehicle was merged onto the shoulder and then towed to a local mechanic who inspected the failure and informed the contact that the power steering pump needed to be replaced. the power steering pump was replaced. the manufacturer was notified who offered no assistance. the failure mileage was 140,000.

2004 mini cooper: power steering just went out on my way home from work. made a right hand turn and than it was just gone. on sunday 9-26-10 started the car and the power steering worked fine, until i was driving down the road at 70mph and it went out again for good.. done nothing yet to fix it. *tr

The power steering fails on the car. it has happened multiple times. it can happen when you first start the car, or it can happen afteryou have been driving for some time. all of the sudden you lose your power steering and it is very difficult to steer without the power steering. i am a female and i have to use both arms to get the car to turn without the power steering. i am afraid that the power steering is going to go out at a bad time and i won't be able to get the car to turn quick enough and i could cause an accident.

Tl*the contact owns a 2004 mini cooper s. the contact stated that upon starting the vehicle, the power steering was absent. there were no prior warnings before the failure. the current and failure mileages were approximately 102,000. updated 01/03/11