R56 Major steering issue. Need experienced opinions.
#27
Well. I've exhausted all of my options. It's been sitting in my garage pretty much since I posted this and I've been driving my F-150. Unfortunately I don't have time to mess with it and it came down to selling it or having someone else fix it. (Which is pretty much unheard of for me) I really want to drive it again soon, so I brought it to Hendrick Mini in Matthews, NC yesterday and I will be paying a $180 diagnostic fee and then repairing the car myself hopefully this weekend. I won't forget to update this, but not much has been done to the car since I had the battery replaced.
I think the alternator is bad, the torque sensor is bad, or something really stupid will need to be done like replacing a fuse.
I think the alternator is bad, the torque sensor is bad, or something really stupid will need to be done like replacing a fuse.
#28
Here's sort of a summary and update as of now:
So back when I started having this issue it was very minute and only occurred when backing out of my driveway on a cold start with faster than normal wheel turning.
I was told to test the battery here on NAM, which was a good recommendation, being that I had the original battery from 2007 in the car still. It put out around 170 CCAs. I immediately went to Advanced Auto in Fort Mill, SC and had them replace the battery.
The problem subsided for about a week and came back worse than before as shown in the video and would now happen any time the car was either under 2000 RPM or under 10 MPH.
This led me to believe it was the alternator that was bad. I had some ideas of what I wanted to try next, but never did anything to the car.
I dropped it off at the dealer and I got a call today asking when I bought the replacement battery. That question was followed up with "Did you know it was the wrong battery for this vehicle?"
After all this trouble, turns out the dying original battery was causing the issue with the steering and the new battery was causing low voltage in a ton of sensors all over the car. The alternator was making up for this when I got up to speed.
I told them to go ahead and replace the battery, might as well. ($300 battery plus $180 diagnostic fee and another $50-100 installation fee...)
Needless to say, Advanced Auto will be refunding me the diagnostic cost from MINI and the battery they sold me that was not for my car.
So back when I started having this issue it was very minute and only occurred when backing out of my driveway on a cold start with faster than normal wheel turning.
I was told to test the battery here on NAM, which was a good recommendation, being that I had the original battery from 2007 in the car still. It put out around 170 CCAs. I immediately went to Advanced Auto in Fort Mill, SC and had them replace the battery.
The problem subsided for about a week and came back worse than before as shown in the video and would now happen any time the car was either under 2000 RPM or under 10 MPH.
This led me to believe it was the alternator that was bad. I had some ideas of what I wanted to try next, but never did anything to the car.
I dropped it off at the dealer and I got a call today asking when I bought the replacement battery. That question was followed up with "Did you know it was the wrong battery for this vehicle?"
After all this trouble, turns out the dying original battery was causing the issue with the steering and the new battery was causing low voltage in a ton of sensors all over the car. The alternator was making up for this when I got up to speed.
I told them to go ahead and replace the battery, might as well. ($300 battery plus $180 diagnostic fee and another $50-100 installation fee...)
Needless to say, Advanced Auto will be refunding me the diagnostic cost from MINI and the battery they sold me that was not for my car.
#30
I just got back from the dealer. They were awesome, even washed and vacuumed my car for me. The diagnostic fee was waived and the total came to be $295.55 with tax, labor, supplies, etc. I took it for quite the test drive and I can now say it is problem free. If any issues come back I will keep this updated, but for now if there is no updates on here, then there are no updates on the car.
#31
#32
#34
Sorry to hear that, are you getting a code thrown now? Without a code is hard to pinpoint, but I would go back and check the components from earlier in the thread.
Thanks
Thanks
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MINI Guru/ MINI Owner Since 2004 | NEW Lifetime Part Replacement | Local Pickup
Milltek | Genuine MINI | Forge Motorsport | NM Engineering | ECS Performance | M7 Speed
Customer Service Hours: 8am-8pm EST|Sales Team Hours: 8am-11pm | SAT 10am-7pm 800.924.5172
#35
#36
I brought it back to the dealer. They're telling me the electric power steering unit has water damage and is bad. MINI quoted me $509 for the part and $900 for labor, coming out to be about $1,400. As an apology for making me waste my time to get a new battery when I didn't need it, they credited the battery on that bill, bringing it to $1,100. This sucks, but it isn't my main concern.
At first, I thought that maybe I should consider just taking the car and trading it in for either a first gen MINI (or a Honda S2000). Then I thought I would buy the part through my dealer and repair it myself on one of my lifts and not pay for labor. So, I went to the parts department and had them call MINI for a price quote. This time MINI quoted me $1,007 ($1,507 up front, $500 core return) just for the part with a technician discount.
So now I think "Why would MINI charge me half the price of a dealership employee price?" I looked on AllData at how much this job pays... 16 hours. I was quoted $900 for labor and that they would have the part on Friday and it would be done by Monday. The technician would have to work non-stop to finish by Monday. At the dealership I work at, we charge $101 per hour of labor. MINI is charging me $56 per hour... Almost half priced again. But why?
This doesn't add up and it makes me think somebody at MINI is not being honest and my problem won't end up being the EPS unit either. My price quote should have been around $2,400, not $1,100. I'm not complaining about half priced, but it seems like a bunch of smoke and mirrors to me.
At first, I thought that maybe I should consider just taking the car and trading it in for either a first gen MINI (or a Honda S2000). Then I thought I would buy the part through my dealer and repair it myself on one of my lifts and not pay for labor. So, I went to the parts department and had them call MINI for a price quote. This time MINI quoted me $1,007 ($1,507 up front, $500 core return) just for the part with a technician discount.
So now I think "Why would MINI charge me half the price of a dealership employee price?" I looked on AllData at how much this job pays... 16 hours. I was quoted $900 for labor and that they would have the part on Friday and it would be done by Monday. The technician would have to work non-stop to finish by Monday. At the dealership I work at, we charge $101 per hour of labor. MINI is charging me $56 per hour... Almost half priced again. But why?
This doesn't add up and it makes me think somebody at MINI is not being honest and my problem won't end up being the EPS unit either. My price quote should have been around $2,400, not $1,100. I'm not complaining about half priced, but it seems like a bunch of smoke and mirrors to me.
#38
Im not sure where they are getting there labor quote from cause swapping out an EPS unit takes all off 2 hours tops. Then a complete car reprogram and an alignment. I know it probably books for a couple more hours but that's it. Its Honestly very easy. One bolt on the steering shaft. 3 electrical connectors, drop the exhaust and out with the k-frame. Heck you don't even have to take the front bumper off. Then 4 e-torx and the whole unit is in your hands. Sounds like alittle creative quoting to me.
#39
Im not sure where they are getting there labor quote from cause swapping out an EPS unit takes all off 2 hours tops. Then a complete car reprogram and an alignment. I know it probably books for a couple more hours but that's it. Its Honestly very easy. One bolt on the steering shaft. 3 electrical connectors, drop the exhaust and out with the k-frame. Heck you don't even have to take the front bumper off. Then 4 e-torx and the whole unit is in your hands. Sounds like alittle creative quoting to me.
#41
I think the parts rep got messed up and gave me a quote on the automatic transmission steering box possibly.
#43
#44
Exactly why I posted on here. $900 to get that put it my car seems like a lot. Granted, they're giving me $300 of it, but that's still a lot of money that I don't think I need to pay.
#46
That sounds about right. Figure 6.5 hours total at $135/h labor rate comes to $877 and some change. I'm not worried about it anymore. I had the wrong part appraised, the 16 hour thing was a very bad estimate. I really appreciate that you looked that up for me. At my dealer we charge 7 hours to do that job, but we wouldn't be able to program it.
#47
Picked the car up today. I drove it probably 40 miles in total today. So far so good. The EPS unit was replaced, $1,200 after labor, tax, etc.
I was looking over the RO report and found out that I've had the water pump issue resolved and the tensioner done - I was worried about these. Also, they only charged $110 an hour!
I was looking over the RO report and found out that I've had the water pump issue resolved and the tensioner done - I was worried about these. Also, they only charged $110 an hour!
#48
Location of the Cooper base power steering
It's not on top but underneath on the base model. I emailed the ebay seller prestigeminiparts and he answered all my questions. I had a high whine on startup and after a second it disappeared. Thought the fluid might be low in the PS BUT IT DOESN'T HAVE ANY ON THE 2007 BASE. Haven't had IT checked yet but it sounds more like the starter.
#50
Picked the car up today. I drove it probably 40 miles in total today. So far so good. The EPS unit was replaced, $1,200 after labor, tax, etc.
I was looking over the RO report and found out that I've had the water pump issue resolved and the tensioner done - I was worried about these. Also, they only charged $110 an hour!
I was looking over the RO report and found out that I've had the water pump issue resolved and the tensioner done - I was worried about these. Also, they only charged $110 an hour!