1st Gen R53 Cooper S Most liked posts in thread: Mini Cooper S (R53): Power Steering Pump/Fan/Duct Installation

awesome write-up. I didn't realize how easy of a job it was with this external electric unit. I've got just about 200k on my R53 and it's just now going out on mine. I'd say bravo to MINI for making it last that long, regardless of its current failure.

 

Perfect timing!

my PS pump assy died two days ago!

Matt

ps. Just read over your site, nice work for sure! Good with the details and the references for others to follow in your footsteps. But I noticed.... No Ian Cull Auto-Up circuit? That's just sad....

 

What's up with the duct you installed? Do you have a source or part number? Pics of it installed?

Good write up. The pictures and circles are particularly helpful.

 

I think it's awesome that you took so much time to create that how-to web page. Great work!

 

Thanks for the write up. My 05 R-53 had a pump failure and MINI replaced it and added the duct. My 06 August build date R-53 does not have the duct.

 

Hmm, maybe I oughta pick one up. That duct would certainly solve the issue of getting junk in the fan. Thanks for pointing out the part numbers, tough to see from an iphone.

 

The duct was put on the gen 1 'verts.

Only bad part about the duct is that it has to be removed for oil changes and it doesn't work so good when the car is stopped.

 

This is far from statistically significant

so take it for the single datum it represents. 02 S, driven hard, no fan failure, but the PS pump unit just went south with almost 120k miles on the car.... No fancy ducting.

Matt

 

Super how-to! Thanks for taking the time to put it together.

(By the way, my sister's '06 MCS hard top has the fan duct, so it is not just on the convertibles.)

 

I think there's statistical significance in these numbers:

IMPORTANT. Have you had a power steering/pump failure? Please vote YES or NO!!! - MINI2 - MINI Forum

This MINI2 thread also contains the best DIY for disassembling and cleaning the EHPS pump -- together with Bill's excellent DIY contribution herein, you can't go wrong.

 

Yikes, that's a long thread. I found the pump disassembly on page 22.

IMPORTANT. Have you had a power steering/pump failure? Please vote YES or NO!!! - Page 22 - MINI2 - MINI Forum

 

I'm taking mine out now...

I'm gonna try to clean the motor up and replace the brushes. We'll see if that fixes it...

Matt

 

I'm curious what the inside of the motor looks like, before and after. I'm interested to see if you'd recommend a cleaning every 50k or just a complete overhaul when necessary.

 

My guess

is that a periodic cleaning is better than waiting for a failure. When it fails, there is the possibility for more damage....

There were some photos of the guts on the MINI2 thread. MiniManiaUK took it all apart and posted some shots.... I'll take some when I have it apart as well.

Matt

 

Cool. I saw the pictures over there. As the saying goes, a picture's worth a thousand words, but if you don't know what the heck you're looking at, it's worthless. A few words from a trained eye are more valuable than any picture.

 

It's out of the car...

and if I ever do this again, I'll just drop the sub frame. No, you don't have to, but everything is really exposed when you do.

Also, if your car has 112k miles on it, everything is much, much dirtier!

Matt

 

So I'm tearing it apart...

and it's pretty easy to take the motor cover off to get all the dust out....

there are two sealed bearings that could be swapped out, but even on my high mileage car, they feel pretty good. The brushes are close to shot, but changing them will take patience....

I'm going to tear into that now....

I haven't taken photos yet because it's a total mess...

I'll keep letting people know what I find....

So far, no special tools but snap ring pliers needed.

Matt