Leaving the gas station all of a sudden I started hearing a loud buzz inside the car. I got back to work and popped the hood. The noise is a fan, I assume the ps fan. It's coming from under the engine. It's never soundend like that in the 3000 miles I've put in the car since I got it. Ive never heard anything but the engine. Is the fan going out or for some reason did it just now turn on? 2006 R53 with 68000 miles.

 

Power steering fan is under the car...weather is getting warmer these days. As to why it's loud..maybe something is caught in it. There's not much of a cover lots if people put one on there

 

The fan has two speeds, past a certain temp, or with the AC on the fan will go to the high speed setting which is fairly loud. Any chance those scenarios occurred?

 

The PS fan...located under the car by the PS pump...about a foot behind the oil pan is likely failing...
It should be pretty quiet....best some sand/grit has gotten into it...making it loud...it is sealed pretty good...but the seals fail...then sand/water/bearings....never ends well....
It may sieze and blow a fuse...

 

It was pretty hot here in KC yesterday. I suppose it may have finally just kicked into high speed. It did sound like it was spinning extremely fast. I'll go ahead and pull it off this weekend and clean it up.
How easily does a mini s with working ps turn? I ask because I bought my mini with 67k and its the only one I've ever driven. I've got nothing but my Hyundai and Magnum to compare to. Both take less force to turn.

 

And just to point out...
The PS fan has ONE speed...
The radiator fan is the one with two speeds.

The PS on a mini is not over boosted...
If you were trying to park a mini without PS, you would know it...

 

Another possibility... your radiator fan may have stopped running at low speed because of a burnt out resistor. The engine continues to heat up until the high speed is triggered.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-solution.html

 

When I jumped in to go home all was normal. The temp did drop significantly outside.