Hi Everyone,

Well I had a very productive day yesterday, managed to get a few jobs done on the other halfs mini one,

1. Oil anf dilter change
2. Air filter change
3. Fitted iridium plugs
4. Rear discs and pads replaced
5. Service light turned off
5. Airbag light turned off

Gearbox oil and passangers electric window to sort today.

But what I did notice yesterday was that there was quite a noisy whining sound coming from the power steering pump even if the steering was not being used, is this normal on the mini or does it say the pump is on its way out ????

Regards
Stan.

Not unusual, some of the ps pumps are noiser than others, even a new or reconditioned pump will whine..............if it does eventually fail here is a useful link on how to replace the pump:
Power Steering Pump replacement - Forums (http://forum.minicooper.org/showthread.php?t=9626)

Be prepared, your powersteering pump may be on its way out. It is very very common problem on 1st. Generation Minis. Do a search here or on North American Motoring site , there is a ton of info on it.

Many pumps fail but many just whine away happily from new to many, many thousands of miles. We have an absolute dog from 2002 and the pump is audible all the time. Many mini owners from that era know the sound and here you coming. A lady just the other day smiled in a multistory and went '2001-2002 ??'. They can fail but I wouldn't change it unless it does unless it is under warranty*


*Too many other things to fix at the moment.

I agree...........I like the whining sound, its part of the early Mini's unique character and i would miss it if it was silent like most other cars and later Mini's! :D

Classic Mini's have whining gearboxes.......many like the sound so much they fit straight cut racing drop gears to make it louder!

My Mini one has done 115,000 on the original steering pump & has had the whine since new. Our cat recognises the whine as I approach down the lane & goes out to the garage to wait for me.

My '02 Cooper S has it and seems ok - 123,000klms so far. Drove an 2007 JCW Convertible on the weekend and it's completely silent.

My '02 Cooper S has it and seems ok - 123,000klms so far. Drove an 2007 JCW Convertible on the weekend and it's completely silent.

2007 on (Mk2) Mini's have fully electric power steering with no hydraulics pump involved.......at the time of the Mk1 new Mini's development by Rover there was no fully electric power steering available which was felt to give the required sporting steering feel, so they went with the Electro-Hydraulic system.

Hmmm - now I'm confused - the 2007 was a Supercharged JCW R52 convertible - must be the last of the Supercharged cars and I thought they had the same system as my R53? The car is still on the market as I reckon it's priced too high even being a factory JCW / Covertible / very low klms etc...

Here's a link... 2007 JCW CABRIO (http://www.carsales.com.au/dealer/details/mini-cabrio-2007-12275681?base=1216&vertical=Car&cr=1&eapi=2&__N=1246 1247 1252 1282 4294963980 4294963035 1216&silo=Stock&Range=Price:35000,40000~0.5&sort=default)

The convertible carried on with the old style power steering until the new shape appeared later than the hatch........you must have driven one with a very quiet ps pump!

Yes well it has only just covered 29,000 klms and the sound from the JCW exhaust drowned out everything - it sounded great! But not a hint of whine even when the dealer drove it out of the undercover part - very surprising...