Hi Guys,

So today while driving to work I smelled the sweet smell of coolant -turns out my cap was likely leaking and I had coolant coming out from under it -- granted its supposed to vent so maybe there is another issue.

So coming home tonight I flipped my scan-gauge over to Water temp to monitor it. Driving on the highway my temp was between 198-202 when cruising. Slowed down for city traffic and (NYC) and watched the temp creep up to 215. Put the car in a parking spot and watched the temp climb slowly to 230 -- then the loud fan kicked in and the temp dropped pretty rapidly to 215. I had to go inside so I shut it down.

Questions -- what is the normal operating temperature you guys are seeing while cruising and while in slower traffic.

Does the thermostat and high speed fan kick in at 230 degrees which would explain the rapid drop off in temp?

Thank you all for your help.

I live in ohio, And my ultragauge never sees above 205, Any form of moving and it says at 192-197 F

im seeing 195-202 on my gauge in all forms of motion and just parked.

maybe your low speed fan is not working or you dont have enough coolant in the system. a block somewhere?

Thanks guys -- I had long suspected that my low speed fan was not functioning but to be honest: do not know how to check.. I have only ever heard the hi-speed fan. The internal temp gauge has never moved beyond middle -- exactly middle which is probably because its not very sensitive.

I'll be ordering up a new DORMAN fan -- realistically how long is this going to take for me to put in: I am going up to my friends place in a few weeks -- might take some time in his garage to do some work (oil change, crank pulley etc..) -- looks like this might be something for the list too.

Greek -- I was seeing 230 while parked after driving for about 25 minutes -- mind taking a look tomorrow, letting it idle a little before shutting it down?

Hey guys I did find the following information in a different post which fits exactly with what I witnessed.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...placement.html

Post #5 states:

"Just Finished this...not too bad. I also purchased the Dorman fan from Amazon. Mine had two connectors.....the original on the car had one. I've learned (ZippyNH) that is kinda like an Appendix from the earlier cars and not used any more (the smaller of the two)

While researching this fix I came accross some incorrect numbers on when the fans (low and high) are actuated. I'm getting this right out of the Bentley Manual:

Low: Comes ON @ 221F and shuts off @ 214F

High: Comes ON @ 234F and reverts to low speed after dropping 7 degrees.

AC and Fan action:

"The cooling fan operates on low speed when the A/C is switched on AND the system pressure reaches 8 bar. The fan switches to high speed should the AC system pressure rise above 18 bar."

This would explain why some people DO NOT get the fan upon immediately turning on the AC.

And I'd like to ask a question also. Since I had coolant blow up all over the engine how long will that smell stay so I can smell a new leak?

Joe in Warner, NH"

sounds like the low speed is not working
and you probably have a bum radiator cap.
easy to fix the cap problem.

yea ill take a look and see what the temps look like after a long drive tomorrow. but i have never ever seen it go above 210 even when im beating the **** out of it on some back mountain roads.

mine used to run 190s going down the road when i still had a stock ecu.

With my stock ECU my car never saw past 195 even at highway speeds...
After a tune, and a coolant change (added some water to the mix), my temps go from 193-200 at highway speeds, never seen past 195 in the city.

The fan change isn't too bad, if you need any help feel free to PM me, I had to do it twice... (I thought the replacement fan was broken, turned out to be the AC compressor -.-)

My steady state is 193. Will climb over 200 in traffic, but I rarely see it above 220.
Previously replaced the fan and AC compressor.

I run a ScanGauge II, and live in South Florida (it's not really been hot here yet). My temps are always 200+, typically between 205 and 215. MINI engines are known to run hot, and the theory is that this is why they do not put a temp gauge in the cars as standard equipment (it would scare some people off).

I'm in Florida also and I see 187-198 as normal rarely above 205 sitting in traffic. Mine does cool down quickly as soon as I start to move but I do have a Mishimoto radiator also.

220 max... Otherwise, she floats around the 200 range, plus or minus 5 degs

Not sure if you have a gen1 or gen 2 mini so migh be different.
On my gen1 there was a wiring harness that came from the fan and across the front of the radiator to the driver side and hen there was a connection.

If you disconnect there you can test the prob. Mine had 3 leads. One for ground, one for low and one for high.

I used the leads from a multimeter and jumped from battery and to ground and low. If the fan runs then it is not the fan but the resistor for the fan.

There is a huge thread here about that issue. I opted to by a replacement resistor and spliced it inline in front of radiator to fix the prob.

The oem solution will fail because the resistor is on the backside of the fan and does not get enough air and burns up.

Found this hack was a lot cheaper and quicker.

Hi...I have a gen 1- have read a lot about the resistor issue and if replacing the resistor or splicing in is the same work as replacing the fan would rather just replace the fan.

Just off hand can you take a pic or show the step by step of splicing in the resistor mod?

so im getting 195-197 moving and siting still 201 when i turn the engine off it spikes to 210 and stays there.

I did a reading while driving to work today did not go over 209...went between 198-209...same drive actually longer.

Wondering if yesterday was a fluke...I don't doubt my low speed fan is done though

myabe you have sticky thermostat, i had a fluke problem once in my jetta i was driving to the autozone to get something and when i park i notice the temp needle was like 3/4 up i was like WTF is goning on now. went in got my stuff and went to leave temp went back to normal and i am pretty sure it was the T-stat. never happend again.

Sorry, I know longer have that car. I looked for some pics but cannot seem to find any.

Hey Greek -- so it looks like I have had no such luck -- today driving home it hit 230 again - the fan didn't kick on automatically fast enough for my liking so I clicked the AC on -- after about 35 seconds the temperature dropped down to about 205 degrees as the high speed fan turned over...

Oh well -- sucks but I guess I'll be pulling that Fan out of there at some point. The only saving grace is I LOVE air conditioning and basically use it when temps get into the 70s....my drive to work is 95% highway where I am flowing constant air across the radiator.

The sad part I live in NYC and have absolutely no place to take the front bumper off of the car -- shockingly parts stores don't like you working on your car in their driveway. so this is going to have to wait until I can get to my friends place (4 hours away). the resistor mod does not work on the early style cars (I read the entire resistor mod post) -- my car is a 2003. I may order the dorman replacement resistor that goes on the fan itself and repair the fan so I have a spare lying around (we have a storage locker for a reason) - we are probably moving out of the city at the end of the year so I guess I'll be changing out things then.

Do you mean this from DetroitTuned.com? http://www.detroittuned.com/dorman-gen-1-fan-relay-kit/

Had that been around when I did mine on my R50 I would have bought it.

With MOTD being next week, you may want to order this tomorrow before Chad and crew back up for the Dragon.