Well my battery died a few days ago due to the fact my coolant fan never shut off and ran all night killing the battery.
Day and a half later I replaced the battery and the fan comes on the second I connect the battery 1+1=2 right fan killed it.
So I go a couple places around town pulling the fuse in order keep from killing it again.
I go just a few miles away to the dealership and I pull in shut off the car and NO FAN runnig SO I cant go tell the dealership that it wont shut off right.
i decided to drive around an sit with the ac on to make sure the fan didnt go out all together. ITS Fine acts normal. GREAT

Go Figure!!!

Of all the times to quit acting up its in the dealership parking lot.......
When the problem started I had been driving in the rain. So I am going to put dielectric grease in all the plugs I can find in order to prevent this from happining again..

 

Had the same thing a couple of weeks ago except the dealer kept the car with my OK to drive it. second day the fan stuck on and they replaced the entire fan assmbly under wrnty.

 

Ohh the law of fixability. It is just like your work computer, it will act up right up to the moment the IT person is there and then it starts worknig perfectly. Or the ED that always happens at home, but when the hot nurse walks in it goes away imediately


Hope your Mini gets well soon.

 

yeah, it's like washing your car. The moment you're done, you start seeing dark clouds hovering over you... yet, a flock of low flying bombers...

there's something going on with our cars.

 

My Passat had a similar problem: I disconnected the battery everywhere I went for a week. The problem went away and came back six months later. I surmised it was a stuck/flaky relay and told the mechanic so. He replaced the relay. The problem is gone, but the mean time to failure is 6 months! So I have to wait a year to be 95% sure we got the real culprit.

Anyway, keep an ear out for that fan running when it should not.

 

It IS a British car! :smile:

 

jdmarino got it right. You have a "self-healing" intermittent failure. The suspect items are the temp detection sender switch that energizes the fan run relay when peak temp is reached.

Of the two parts, the temp sender is most likely failure point for the fan not starting. You can short or ground the sending wire to see if the relay/fan spins. The sender could stick (holding output at ground) and create the continuous run-on condition. The relay is suspect to be stuck if the fan runs on. Try tapping on the relay module with a screwdriver handle. Test for sender fail by disconnecting the sender output wire (when in a run-on condition). Find the failure or replace parts rather than waiting for another batt death or melt-down. Both are inexpensive parts.

In my experience, the haunts always come back when it's most inconvenient.