Power Steering Pump teardown

[Minidave]

You had any doubts??????

[davester]

No doubts, YOU da man!!!!
Blugoose and I installed a new belt, a fog light that had the lends shattered and a lower motor mount this morning. I also found out why we were having a hard time putting Stubby in service mode. There are two bolts on each side holding crush tubes to the frame that I missed.

[Minidave]

Funny you should mention those two bolts on the crush tubes, I just found out about those today myself!

So, don't be hard on yourself. Besides, it was so damn hot that day it's a wonder we stayed conscious!

[davester]

yea, when your hot, your hot

[gasmini03]

@ Minidave,
Does the shaft on the power steering pump break very often or are the things that go wrong are what was described in the posts above?

[Minidave]

I've never heard of one breaking the shaft, but I guess if you let the bearing be bad long enough, it could eat thru the shaft till it broke, but it sure would be noisey along the way.

The best way to make these pumps last is to change the fluid after a few years and make sure the cooling fan is working. But since it's a DC motor, eventually the brushes and commutator will wear out. When they do the only choice is to buy a new one or get one from a rebuilder. If it's not worn that badly, like minicooper43's, it may be easily fixable with some new bearings, a good cleaning and flatening off the commutator so the brushes have a good smooth surface to ride on.

[ksminiman]

Dave, you had the motor apart to look at it. In your professional opinion, do you think it would be worth it to take those motors apart at regular intervals to clean and inspect them?

I know that is supposed to be a thing of the past. R&R seems to be the new thing. Don't maintain, just replace. I'd rather do a little preventative maintenance than get screwed later.

[Minidave]

I would not tear it down periodically, I think you could develope leaks if you did that as the pump mating surface does not use a gasket, just some thin liquid sealer.

I know it's an expensive part to replace, but MINI may be going to do a recall on these in the next 6 months to a year, so I think I'd hold off for now, except for changing the fluid and making sure the cooling fan is working properly and unobstructed.

My '03 had the updated grill on it and it never gave any problems in the 65K that I owned it. I haven't hear from Spart for a while, but I don't think he had any problems with it either.

[davester]

I read an article in last weeks KC Star about the PS pumps for '04 & '05 MINI's. The complaint is being examined by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. "An estimated 80,000 vehicles are subject to the U.S. investigation."
How about that-----

[Minidave]

Yeah, I wonder if anything will come of it?

Since it's a DC motor with brushes, it was always going to be a wear item, and need either refurbishing or replacement at some point, and the cooling fan failures just made it worse - I think they should have had an exchange program (at a resonable cost) in place almost from the beginning.

A lot of people have done well over 100K with no issues tho....

[davester]

It has now become a safety item. It is the "subject of 54 complaints about unexpected power-steering loss while driving."

[Minidave]

As it should be! I understand that when the power steering quits it feels almost like it's locked up, it's so hard to turn.

[Minidave]

Power Steering Pump teardown, part Duex!

Monty's pump gave up the ghost on the way home from the T-Bones game a few nights ago, today we tackled getting it out of his car.

It's not hard to remove, although it's a bit fiddly. The hardest parts are getting the hose clamp off of the tube from the reservoir and unhooking the electrical connections without breaking the connectors themselves. Once you get the three bolts out that mount the bracket to the frame, there's just the high pressure pipe to undo, then it's a matter of holding your mouth right till you wiggle it out of where it lives.

Mark managed to do all that this morning and I'll take the pump to work with me on Tues and take it apart and see what I can see. In the meantime, Monty has "armstrong" steering!

We did find that Monty's PS cooling fan was toast, and that's probably what killed the pump. Hope we can fix it, otherwise this will be a pretty spendy repair.....

The lesson here is make sure your power steering fan runs! It's pretty easy to check - make sure the engine's off and stick your finger up in there and see if it spins freely - if it does, chances are good that the fan is fine. If it feels draggy or rough, get one on order immediately- it's only held in there with two easy to reach nuts and one wire connector. Some cars may have a screen over the fan that would have to be removed before you could try to turn the blades.

Here's what the fan looks like off the car...


The two holes on the right side of the bracket in this picture are where it mounts to the frame, just to the left of that is where the wire connects.

[minicoopers43]

When I was doing my Steering pump it seemed that they only designed it to come out and not back in.
I found that if you notch that front mounting hole it "slides" in a lot easier.

070220111090.jpg (59.22 KiB) Viewed 8246 times

070220111092.jpg (80.18 KiB) Viewed 8246 times

[GrayGuy]

What a great thread! My power steering takes bouts of not working (and it's increditable how hard it is to steer such a little car). Now I know what to expect in terms of a fix and I've registered to receive recalls for BMW's. Please also keep the gargae days posted as I can usually lend a hand and get to learn lots too.

[davester]

Where did you register for the recall notices?

[GrayGuy]

http://www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/subscriptions/index.cfm
I was able to sign up for 1995 BMW's.

If this doesn't work then try www.nhtsa.gov and search their site.