2005 MINI Cooper S Convertible problems

My 2005 mini cooper s convertible had a fire in the engine compartment reportedly caused by the failure of the power steering pump. I pulled into my driveway and turned off my car. I had no problem steering the car up to that point. I got out and went into the house. My wife came inside and told me my car smelled funny and was smoking (light) under the hood.

My brother was driving my 2005 mini cooper s convertible when he smelled wires burning and smoke, went to pull over and the car was hard to control. Upon inspection the mechanic said that the power steer pumps electronics had caught fire and burned the adjacent parts. Upon contact raulph schomp mini cooper dealer I was told that my VIN number was not included in the cars being replaced for similar problems. The car just had major work done to the power steering system a year and half ago by the same dealer.

Power steering pump on my daughter's car caught on fire about three (3) weeks ago while she was stopped at a red light, luckily she thought enough and turned the car off so the damage was only to the power steering pump and wiring harness . Once we discovered what had caught fire we did research on how to make the repair(s) and came across the recall for 2005 mini cooper s convertibles power steering pumps, they are recalling them because they fail and sometimes catch fire.

2005 mini cooper s convertible - pending a second replacement of the power steering pump/cooling fan assembly due to failure - the whole assembly was replaced 18 months ago and the replacement fan has already stopped running, causing a severe leak of ps fluid (twice found completely empty) and resultant power steering failure. First failure summer 2008, repeat failure winter 2010.

I was told the following about my passenger airbag system. Basically the computer failed and I had a crack in the passenger seat sensor. This car has only 32,000 miles and was mostly driven with no one in the passenger seat. This should not have failed with such minimal use.: replace mrs module and program,encode (mrs module failure, internal short circuit) fail $774.06 replace passenger seat occupancy mat (passenger seat occupancy mat has micro crack on mat fault 0071)fail $874.55.