PS I am interested in hearing from people who this has happned to very recently, but also months or even years ago, people who were in warranty and out of warranty, people who were able to get all their money refunded, those who only got a partial refund, and those who had to stump up the full amount for a new steering pump.
That's going to open the floodgates of information Ben!
If you read back through pages of this thread, there's the information from quite a few instances and exactly how they were resolved - that might be a better option for now.
well, I might as well give the run down of my experience so far
Day 1 - MINI confirmed that the PSP was defunct and quoted me £552 all in for replacement. I mentioned that I'd done research into the problem and found out that MINI UK have been very helpful towards some owners with this problem. The chap from Coopers Sunderland was himself quite helpful and said he would approach them for me. He did however find out that I did not have full BMW service history, which I reckon will come into bearing later on. Also said that it would be 48 hours before a decision is made. I reckon a quick letter to MINI UK will also be typed up tonight and dispatched tomorrow.
Thanks for your comments. To clarify we would like to speak to as many people as possible who have had a problem with their steering pump, with a view to covering this issue in detail on national television.
TV coverage of the problem is a double edged sword,it may only serve to highlight a weakness in the car that registers with the public and reduce residual values of the cars.
After 8 years of the problem , it is unlikely any recall of 1 million cars is going to happen,and the car is just about out of production(except cabrio)
BMW are providing goodwill in most cases ,even if it takes a bit of complaining,and have always replaced them as a warranty item.
What is a mystery to me is that they never addresed it earlier ,during production ,I guess there was a large cost implication in redesign and a retro fit issue on earlier cars.
Ultimately all the PAS pumps will fail,but is that different from a clutch or driveshaft? -that will be BMW s point of view and that they have replaced failed pumps
im having a problem here and need some advice, I have a 51 mini with 78k on clock and my Pump failed last week and sent it to mini to get it looked at along with a good will claim. the claim was rejected rather too quickly and got a call from mini saying it was. So being at work and busy at the time i told them i'll call them back later to sort something out. 2hrs later i get a call back telling my that my mini is ready and going to cost me £635. They fixed the pump when i didnt specifically ask them to.
WIll i have to fork out or can i get someway around this?
To be honest, I'm not really surprised that the goodwill fix didn't go through on a 51 plate with 78k miles - I think in that instance the pump (given it's design) did quite well to last so long. Normally, I'd say that the mileage needs to be lower than that to stand a reasonable chance of them making an offer.
As for actually fixing the car without authorisation - tell them that. They fixed it without authorisation. You submitted the car for confirmation of the fault and wanted to approach MINI UK for this assistance. At no point did you authorise the fix on the car for £635 - stress this is money you simple don't have, and that you had been searching found a more cost-effective solution prior to picking up the car for the work to be completed elsewhere.
Bottom line is: they did not have authorisation to undertake this work on your car and you will not be paying for unauthorised parts and labour.
Hi
I was new to this forum yesterday and stumbled upon it when looking for info about failing power steering as my mini (53 plate) with 32000 miles suffered a failure yesterday morning when I was going in to the car park at work.
I have only had the car for 2 weeks! I rang the mini dealer in Swindon who told me the pump would probably need replacing and would cost £610!!! I booked it in for a diagnostic today.
LAst night I found your forum and took on board all the information and wrote my letter as you suggested. When I left my car off this morning I handed over my letter and politely put my case. The receptionist was helpful and said they would contact MINI UK for me. Rang this evening to say that the diagnostic was not showing the pump to be faulty but as it was an intermittent fault the pump would be replaced as a good will gesture at a cost of £54 to me to cover 50% of the labour. Result!!!! I therefore assume they did not charge me for the diagnostic.
Many many thanks for saving me over £550.
MINI paid 80% of the parts, so I only had to pay for 20% plus the labour. I excepted that as I do have a high mileage car, the last service was not carried out by MINI, and its way past warranty.
Saved over £341 just by asking! Fair play to Michael from Cooper Sunderland who took care of the phone call to MINI for me. Possibly could have saved more by ringing MINI as well, but its hard to get the time during the day.
glad to hear you had a good result. I on the other hand wasnt so lucky. They wouldnt offer the goodwill so im going to have to fork out plenty of money. Sigh
LinkBack to this Thread: http://www.mini2.com/forum/first-generation-faults-fixes/49527-important-have-you-had-power-steering-pump-failure-please-vote-yes-no.html
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That's going to open the floodgates of information Ben! 
