Hi, all.

I've recently replaced the clutch in my daughter's 07 Cooper S and along the way, I accidentally broke one of the connectors on the power steering motor. I believe that I broke the connector for the steering momentum (torque) sensor. I plugged it back in, started the car and didn't have any power steering. When I plugged the connector back in, a couple of the pins bent [sigh]. I took out the power steering motor to check the pins and bend them back into place and everything seemed okay. The pins didn't break and straightened out nicely. I put everything back together and the power steering works, but, I still have the power steering warning light and every now and again, it feels like the steering wheel is getting gently tugged on while I'm driving.

I have a Foxwell scanner that reads Mini codes, so, I scanned it and several modules have come up with a steering angle sensor fault. I can look at graphs of live data out of the sensor and when I turn the steering wheel with the engine off (no power steering), I can turn it lock to lock and the data changes with the steering angle. It looks like the angle sensor is working just fine. I've erased the code and it doesn't come back. When I turn the engine on, though, I start turning the wheel - power steering is now working just fine - and it gets to a certain point and the graph snaps to a maximum value, stays at that value regardless of how the wheel is turned and the warning light comes back on. I've also tried unplugging the connector I damaged and re-scanning. When I do this, the scanner loses communication with the steering angle sensor. I don't have the ability to recalibrate or reset the steering angle sensor or the momentum (torque) sensor with this scanner.

So, my daughter took it to an indy Mini shop and they hooked up their scanner and did a little trouble shooting. They've diagnosed the issue as the steering angle in the clockspring and are suggesting it be replaced. Could I have inadvertently ruined the clockspring when the pins on the power steering motor were bent?

I read a little about how the system works in the TIS - https://www.newtis.info/tisv2/a/en/r...eering/Xnfgl4n - and it seems like the steering angle and momentum sensors do talk to each other. Do they need to be synchronized in order to work properly? I very likely spun the power steering motor a little as I was pulling it out and putting it back in, so, it's very likely that they're out of sync if it matters.

So... (thanks a ton for reading this far) based on all of this, is it still likely that the clockspring needs to be replaced, or should I look deeper into an electrical problem or some other hidden damage in the power steering motor? Is it necessary to synchronize the momentum sensor and the angle sensor and, if so, is there software or a scanner that can do this? If I replace the power steering motor, will I have to synchronize them?

Thanks very much for your help.

 

Anyone?

I've reached out to the shop where my daughter took it and will post their opinion when I've talked with them.

Thanks for reading.

 

Hi, all,

I talked with the shop and got the low-down. There isn't a steering angle sensor in the power steering motor unit and the momentum sensor doesn't need to be synchronized to the steering angle sensor in the clockspring. So, the issue is definitely with the clockspring and it will need to be replaced. So, things happen in "3s," apparently... 1... 2... * waitaminute...

Thanks for reading.

 

Hey, I replaced my clutch around six months ago, a week after I bought the car lol, was a long job for the very first job on a mini having previously owned a toyota for years lol, anyways I definitely didn't realize how important it was to ensure proper alignment of the steering wheel when putting all of it back together, i ended up actually putting it upside down but i was ready to leave the shop so I drove it around like that for a while and then attempted to realign it, but I think I failed horribly because I backed out and heard a large pop and since then I've been experiencing major differences in the handling, I brought it in to a mini mechanic (did not want to what so ever but I had to planning on driving it a long ways), they said it was the steering angle sensor, and I was wondering if you ended up replacing it, how it went, and if it was actually the clockspring or the steering angle sensor. Also, I have no idea where to look when replacing this, I usually do youtube videos and figure things out and if you have any good sites I'd really appreciate it!