This isn't a maintenance report. Just something that may happen to you someday that shows how smart the black box on the Countryman is.

I've got one of those OBDII gauge boxes, and it started alarming this past weekend when I was just at the side of the road up near a mountain pass in Colorado. Coolant temperature instead of being normal 205-215F suddenly shot up to 237F. I got moving quickly since it was -5F outside and it cooled right back down.

But after that, the coolant temperature never got above 175F again. For days. It's a computer controlled thermostat, so I figured maybe it was somehow mechanically partly stuck open, and couldn't let the engine warm up to the normal range. So I took it in to MINI.

There were no codes, but they looked over the thermostat anyway and reported back that it was just fine and that anywhere between 170-220F was within the specification. Only later that day did it finally get warm enough for me to turn the temperature down on my air conditioning to try and get some cold air. I got nothing (but warm air). Heading back to the dealership, they found out that the fuse that runs the compressor and cooling fans (?) had blown (most likely that weekend in the mountains), and they replaced it.

Air conditioning came back. And surprise, the coolant temperature also came back up to the normal 210F range.

I can only assume that when BMW/MINI see that the engine cooling fans are not operational, they automatically run the engine forty degrees cooler to help protect the engine. Pretty neat.

Also could be a interesting reversible way to pick up a few extra horsepower on an S version.