I understand that the electric cooling fan will sometimes run on after the car is shut off. However, my fan will not cut off period. My wife came home tonight and said it was running after shut off. I said it's normal. Don't worry.

Twenty minutes later it was still running. By the time I found the fuse it had been running for 30 minutes straight.

Anyone had this happen? Bad relay? Faulty thermostat/switch?

The only other factor/non-factor was that the car ran out of gas. We started the car to run the A/C for a minute to see if that tripped something. During that, the car ran out of gas. Oops.

Any help is appreciated. JR

 

i just found a previous thread about this. (had to google it to find it here!) I'll look at that. sorry if this repeated question has inconvenienced anyone. Might need to ask it again though. JR

 

it happened in our early car. They didn't bother to disconnect it when we took in for service so we ended up getting a new battery as well.

 

New development. The fan problem stopped. In other words, the fan no longer runs on after the car is turned off. My question, is: Is there a way to make sure the fan is working when it's supposed to? I've been keeping an eye on the temp gauge, and it never goes above halfway (normal for my car). As much as I'd love to not look this gift horse in the mouth, I probably should... thanks. JR

 

If you turn on the A/C and do not drive the car the FAN should come on or the temp gauge should rise. Driving around you get a lot more cooling than you would think. I had put a FAN kill switch on Miata (to kill it during Autocross runs) and I could drive around without having abnormally high temps unless I was stopped for long periods. This was on a car with 150K miles and 14 years under its belt.

Good Luck,
GrilleGuy

 

couple of weeks ago noticed my far running after I'd shut down .... this was in itself not unusual, it should do that, but on my morning commute it had never done it b4.

over the next weeks it seemed like it ran longer and longer - I checked coolant and oil levels and everything seemed OK - temps were right where they always were

last week I came home and parked and the fan continued to run. No biggie thought I. Two hours later the fan was still running.... hmmmm

Not wanting to kill the bat I pulled the neg cable. In the morning I re-connect AND THE FAN STARTS UP.

OK - time for service. I head to the dealer and lo, when I turn off the car, the fan goes off. &%*^&% Well they kept it for a day and were able to observe the problem so they replaced the entire fan assembly (seems to me there should be a way to just swap the switch/thermostat but) thankee for warranty service

02 MCS just a smidge over 36k

 

I had a similar problem but it was with the power steering fan. It ran until the battery died. I jumped the car and the fan started up right away. They had to replace the power steering pump and some other stuff.

 

Sounds like you have something faulty, Jayar. Better to be safe than sorry: have it checked by your MINI service department! :smile:


Clover

 

My fan is doing the same thing. Running when car is off I am having to pull the relay out when parked and place back in when driving. I had this happen to me last year and they put in a whole new fan assembly, now its doing it again!

Last year it was repaired under warranty, now I am over 50,000 miles.

MINI offers a 2 year warranty on repairs don't they?

I just dont want to have to get stuck with the bill. Fan costs $200 plus labor probably a $300 - $400 repair.


Has anyone had something fail after 50,000 miles that was coverd by warranty before?

 

This happened to my MCS at 62,000 miles. Dealer said that it was the auxiliary fan. Parts cost just under $500. (!!) Finally agreed to replace it under warranty. Had to pull the bumper, A/C condenser, radiator out the front to get to it. Guess what: two days later I have no A/C. Turns out that the condenser is now cracked and leaked out all the Freon. Dealer says that it is coincidental, nothing to do with their repair. Cost to repair: $900. MY cost. Mini just happened to call the week following to see how happy I was with my service, and I gave them an ear full. Never heard another word from them, either. I've decided that owning an out-of-warranty Mini in Indiana is an expensive proposition.

 

There is no doubt they are related - the front of the car is removed to do the repair, and the condensor is mounted in the front. I would fight that with your local newscaster good guy.

Randy

 

Last week I started getting the constant running fan syndrome and was having to disconnect when I turn the car off. I went to the shop and wouldnt you know it as soon as they ordered a new fan assembly the problem has seemed to stop itself. It sounds like it is on when it needs to be and shuts off when I shut the car off. Anyways, the part is now sitting at the shop and I am not sure if I can pretend I never had a problem or if I should get it replaced anyway. Any thoughts? (out of warranty period so $$$ out of pocket)

 

It may just be the fan that will sometimes continue to run if the car is hot after being shut off. Mine does this from time to time.

 

okay i'll try to be as much helps as possible...
first, the fan WILL run after the engine is shut off when the resistor on the fan motor detects the engine temperature higher than 205*F). It will run until the temperature decreases, and then it shuts off.

Now the problem is that the resistor in the motor goes bad and and no longer detects the decrease in temperature, which in turn keeps the fan runing.

So if you have been driving in hotter than normal weather and the fan runs a little after the engine is off, is ok. It's supposed to do that. If it does it for more than 1/2 hour I would take it to the shop and have the tech. look at it.

There's 2 stages to the fan speed and we can check those with the diagnostic tool. Which helps us determine if the fan is working like it's supposed to.

If you want, jus to have peace of mind, check the coolant level on the reservoir. please be carefull if you have an MCS because the reservoir is pressurized.

I hope this helps.

 

Our 2002 MCS had the same problem, fan would run after shutting off, until it killed the battery. I ordered a new fan assembly after researching it here. The fan assembly was not that difficult to install. I did not have to unhook the AC lines, only the upper radiator hose. The radiator unit will then tilt out far enough to get the fan assembly out. I did of course have to remove the bumper cover and the "real" aluminum bumper that hades under the plastic cover. Again not a big deal. I have pics if anyone would like to see.

However, when this problem first started and we had to keep unplugging the fan until I figured out the cause, the AC stopped working. My wife is the primary driver of the car and she said the AC would not stay on. So even with the new fan assembly installed the AC will not stay on more than 15 seconds then the light flashes on the AC button. I am wondering if something needs to be reset, or the new fan unit is faulty? When I turn the AC on the new fan does not come on. I might try plugging the old fan back in and see if the AC works/kicks the fan on.

Any suggestions?

 

Same over here.

 

Also, if the battery is going bad (bad cell) and not providing enough juice to the fan relay switch, it will not shut off, and run until it drains the battery. That happened to me. Fan would not stop, draining the battery - Dealer did diagnostics, found the battery had a dead cell, replaced the battery - no more fan problem.

 

My fan works perfectly, but i had recieved some coments about it... it sounds louder than the motor hehehehe!
MaC

 

This happend 2 days ago at night. It has been cold here in CA, well relatively cold. I went to a buddy's house and I notice the fan was going when I stopped the car, normal I thought. 3 hours later I come back the key isn't unlocking the doors and notice a weak hum from the fan still going. Long story short had to awkwardly disconnect the battery, in the electronically controlled trunk. Reconnect it the following day and luckily the car started. Good thing I'm still under 50,000 miles with my '03 Cooper. Hopefully, I don't get killed with the service cost.

I love the car, but there are way too many issues (rough idle, a few bad starts, broken driverside window, radiator overflow issue, rattles, etc..) and now they are outweighing the good. I'm so dissapointed with BMW with their horrible service and poor quality that I vow never to buy a car from them again. Once fixed I'm trading the car in and going something known for reliability and economy. It's a pitty BMW feels fit to either take advantage of people or just ignore them when they are concerned about what they consider a "dream" car.

Just needed to vent,
Disappointed owner

 

I've got just the opposite problem, my fan wont come on at all causing the car to over hear when going at low speeds or stopped for any length of time. The car is out of warranty and have already isolated the issue to be something about the fan becuase the relays and fuse is fine. Im considering to take it to the dealer, but I fear the repair cost... Any ideas I'd be looking to spend here?

 

Wow, everyone is scaring me. This sounds like a common problem as well as many others that start to get costly after warranty.

It almost sounds like it is time to sell the car and get a new one as soon as the warranty is up. (Not a bad thing I guess)

 

What kind of tool do you use? Something that us shade tree mechanics can use? My dealer told me I needed a new fan because the low stage wasn't working...I would like to rule out relays and cheap stuff before going hard core...

 

My AC problem ended up being the faulty new fan unit (which was not OEM). Dont waste your money on a fan thats not OEM Mini, they're junk. I picked one up at the BMW place for $273.00

Again not hard to replace yourself. I have pics if needed.

 

I'm waiting for my fan housing to arrive from my MINI dealer so I can install it soon. Pics of the process would be appreciated. You can PM them to me or my email
zeus7625@yahoo.com

 

I have the continuously running fan in high-speed mode, again, third time in a year. Last two times it corrected itself after a couple days. I may just wire in a convenient on/off toggle switch tomorrow to get me a few weeks down the road before getting a new fan.

For those who have installed a new cooling fan, is it relatively easy? I'm up for bumper removal, but not draining and replacing fluids and radiators. Does anyone have the dealer cost for this replacement? I have an '02 MCS.