Mini seems to have developed a slight power steering issue. Power steering will all of a sudden stop working, but as soon as the ignition is turned off and on again the problem disappears. After this everything seems and feels fine, wouldn't know there was any problem at all.

Is this a legendary power steering failure waiting to happen, or is it more likely to be something as simple as a loose connection/faulty connector?

Thanks in advance.....

Almost certainly a new/reconditioned pump is required unless you want to strip and clean/rebuild your own unit which often works.....usually a build up of carbon dust inside.
More details here:
Power Steering Pump replacement - Forums (http://forum.minicooper.org/showthread.php?t=9626)

what confuses me though is why does the power steering just not go completely and never come back. Why is fine again after the car is restarted??

The pump control circuit board has components on it which often appear to fail intermittently at first, either due to heat or carbon dust build up shorting things out I guess. As said if you have the tools, time, skills and patience, a through clean out of the pump as detailed in the links provided often extends its working life.......but sometimes only a new/recon pump gives a complete fix.

Hi,

Just to add that as mab01uk says you can if you know how, strip this down and service yourself , a friend of a friend in the know did this but he only actually got an extra few months out it, my point is if you can't do that yourself then i don't think it would be worth paying someone to.

Hope you get it sorted :)