I recently had a bit of an ordeal with my 2004 Cooper S. I thought I would post the story here in hopes it may be of help to someone searching similar problems.

When I first started looking for a Mini I had read up a bit and it seemed like the two most wide spread issues were surrounding the CVTs in some models and the power steering. I made sure to get a standard to help avoid any transmission issues.

Last October, about a month after I had purchased it, the power steering started going out. I took it in to get fixed. Unfortunately the problem was transient and all would be fine after an incident having let it sit parked for a while.

The mechanic wasn't able to reproduce the problem so they said there wasn't really much they could do. Sure enough it was still working great when I went to pick it up. All was going well until a couple weeks ago. The intermittent loss of power steering resurfaced. When it went out I just pulled over, let it sit for a minute and restarted. Sure enough the problem went away for the time being. A few days later it went out and a quick rest wouldn't let it go away.

I thought this was a "good thing" since at least now there would be an obvious problem to see and address. I was going to take it in the next day but then my luck ran out and it wasn't able to even start when I went to leave work.

The battery was completely dead. I had to use the key to open the door, there was no internal lights, no ding when I put the key in, and certainly not even the faintest attempt to turn over when I tried.

I tried getting a jump but still wasn't able to get any sign of life after having it hooked up to another car for 5 minutes. I get it towed to the shop and await a verdict.

They say it was just a dead battery. I told them about what all had happened but they assured me something these things just happen and the car worked great after putting a new battery in. (Say what you will about the diligence of the people I took it to but that's another topic all together).

I go to pick it up the next day and it's as dead as the day I dropped it off. The battery had completely drained over night. I was somewhat relieved it didn't work briefly enough just to get me off the lot and need another towing.

After some time they call to say they've identified the real underlying problem. Now, I'm not very technical with cars so I didn't probe for more detailed specs so I can only rely the high level overview I was given and accepted.

There was something about how the PS pump was causing a short in a relay which was draining the battery. They got a new pump ordered and put it on. I still had yet another issue starting it when I picked it up again. I think this was more their fault than the cars, they claimed they hadn't tightened all the connections correctly (great, what else did you guys leave loose?). Anyway I had them hold it overnight again to make sure it wouldn't get get drained in time and I drove away.

Now here's to hoping it works in the morning.