Been there, done that... But a MINI is drivable with NO Power Steering as I proved by driving the dragon and hell bender on the way to Fontana in 2012.
But they have only extended the warranty of the production range listed above up to 02/05 production. Feb 05 My 2005 prod 05/05 is not covered by the warranty extension. 3 months after the production range so maybe I have the improved pump.
Ok, so its based on the service date. Does, that mean when you first bring the car in for service at a Mini dealer? Or when you purchase the car?
The term is "In Service Date" and it is defined as: The date the Vehicle was purchased by the original owner and driven or the date the Vehicle was placed in use for rental, demonstration or other purposes. For the vast majority of us that would be the date you signed the papers and drove it off the lot. (assuming new purchase) If purchased as a pre-owned you can always call MINI, 866-ASK-MINI, to obtain the In Service Date. For Example, my 2006 has a build date of 10/06, yet I did not purchase until 1/8/07. My in service date would be 1/8/07 then.
Yeah, it actually went out on the Foothills Parkway last year on the way to Fontana and I actually had to drive the dragon as hell bender with no power steering... I also had to stop at the TOD because if muscle spasms in forearms and biceps... Luckily Eric from Helix was able to hand deliver one to me and Marzo installed it one morning. I'm still pulling together all the paperwork and will likely get the reimbursement... If so, it's an unexpected windfall that will go right into Mods on my other cars.
Hope your reimbursement comes though smoothly. I sure wouldn't have wanted to drive across the dragon with non operational power steering. You did well to make it to Fontana.
If your car was built after Feb 05 I don't care when you took delivery or the "in service" date your warranty started your PS pump is not covered if it was produced after 05 / 05. Look in your drives door jam for your production date. They switched the pump for cars produced from March 05 on so they are not extending the warranty on those cars. Meaning not all 2005 2006 cars are covered only one built up to Feb 05. (Including Feb)
:cornut: Aw DaveO. you don't need this warranty anyway. Spies at the Dragon reported that you don't use the steering wheel but ride your 'flaming brakes' instead.:lol::lol::lol::lol: Jason
My letter came as my pump was on it's way to Module Master in Moscow, Idaho Yesterday I send Mini a letter asking for reimbursement for my expenses. I include the cost of my eBay cooling fan and PS fluid ( no labor charge).
I just got home (2:15 AM), turned the MINI off and the pump was still running, had to disconnect the battery to shut it down. I did the low speed fan fix with a resistor a while ago. Just before that, when I was in town the steering went stiff for a moment then returned to normal. From your experience, is my pump dieing? Is this a symptom of the pump about to fail completely?
Thanks Mr. Jim, two thoughts come to mind. What I was thinking last night as I was panicky about getting all my junk out of the boot to disconnect the battery then finding the right socket to disconnect the ground wire. Thoughts of that burned up justa I saw in salvage yard last week, not pretty. Since this is a warranty issue, I hoping for flat bed service to the dealership, what do ya think?
That just happened to me yesterday (steering went stiff, then came back), and now I'm worried about a ticking time bomb. I have a 2006 R52 that won't be covered under the warranty extension. For the past couple of weeks, after extended city driving, the fan might turn on for a couple of minutes after parking. This never happened in the past. The car was in the shop yesterday for brake work and I asked about it. They said the steering pump may be starting to fail, and overheating and kicking the fan on. Well it just happened that after I picked up the car and drove to my destination, the power steering died while I was parallel parking into a tight space. Not a good feeling. It was back to normal an hour later when I left. Should I try to get it replaced right away? We drive mostly in the city and it would be bad if it went out, especially for my wife.
"Should I try to get it replaced right away? We drive mostly in the city and it would be bad if it went out, especially for my wife." If you have the use of one car and the wife shares it, absolutely. I called my dealer this morning, he told me they are waiting on pumps from Germany and they would have some in two weeks.