NHSTA is reporting on their site that MINI will be recalling certain 2007 -2011 S and JCW models manufactured from November 14, 2006 to January 18, 2011. The electric auxiliary water pump that cools the turbo has an electronic circuit that can malfunction and overheat. The circuit board may smolder and possibly lead to a vehicle fire. MINI will notify owner starting in February 2012 and replace the water pump at no charge. Models Included MINI / COOPER S 2007-2011 MINI / COOPER S CLUBMAN 2008-2011 MINI / COOPER S CONVERTIBLE 2009-2011 MINI / COOPER S COUNTRYMAN 2011 MINI / JCW 2009-2011 MINI / JCW CLUBMAN 2009 MINI / JCW CONVERTIBLE 2010-2011 Link to recall info on NHSTA site Thanks to Gil-galad for pointing this out.
Wow! Seems they have not provided any vin numbers yet? Or ALL cars are being recalled? Oh well, guess we will be getting a letter next month :frown5:
I think we owe a debt of gratitude to our Canuck friends for being the pointy end of the spear and catalyst for the swiftly following NHTSA action.
Now...let's get the turbo oil line issue recalled. It appears that they will already have the turbo removed to resolve the aux. water pump problem, replace the '07 to '10 oil lines at the same time.
Glad to see this is being taken care of. FWIW I would be parking outside until the fix is performed if I had an affected MINI. Wonder if you could get the turbo line replaced for the cost of the part, since it has to came off anyway.
Ya I just found the posting on the Transport Canada site dated December. Thanks Gil-galad for the post!
I've just made a practice (since October, when the NHTSA evaluation was opened) of doing a quick check of the MINI a couple of times after I've pulled into the garage and while I can still hear the aux water pump operating. I take a whiff of the warm air convecting out of the bonnet scoop for any telltale signs of anything out of the ordinary. Three months ago I would have been ridiculed by the masses for doing this. It's still probably a bit of overkill, but much preferable to the alternative.
All R56 owners can avoid this problem by upgrading to an R53. :wink: Sorry it just had to be said, but I really wish all the R56 owners all well and hope no one gets hurt and all the cars are fixed.
I thought that 2003-05 R53 only had this problem? Good advice Chuck, I've been parking mine outside since fall even though it is an '06.
Don't go rushing off to you dealer to get this done. From MotoringFile I'd also venture to say that unless a Service Assistant at a Dealer reads any of the various forums they have no idea this is the works yet. You will probably need the official letter that will come from MINI USA to have this work performed on your car anyway. I'd also imagine that that MINI will stagger the notices in a region as to not overwhelm a dealer with work.
Not only that but they'll need to lay in a healthy supply of the new parts too......that's what usually slows these programs down. Imagine - you're the small water pump mfr with the contract, you have a production line set up geared towards their daily usage (keizen, remember?) and now all of a sudden they inform you that they need an extra 100,000 or so of these, ASAP! And of course, they still need the ones you've been building for the assembly line too.....
You can search here. Search for a Recall | Safercar.gov | NHTSA I also have an 2006 Cooper S R53 and there aren't any recalls or defect investigations. Only items I found were complaints and 36 TSBs of which some apply to early 2007 R56s.