For the second time our mini had overheated on the road. The first time I caught it just before the car boiled over and pulled over to the side of I-84. Today I was driving to work same conditions as before, hot stop and go traffic on the freeway with the AC on when the temp started to rise. I tell you it really sucks to drive with the heater on full blast in 90° weather but its better than buying a new engine. A trip to the dealer last time produced a blown fuse so they decided to replace the relay too just to make sure that was not causing the fuse problem. I bet they find that the fuse has blown again this time around too. Anyone have any ideas what could be causing the fuse to blow? Is my faith misplaced when it comes to the "new" British electrical systems? :???:

Tom
2003 MCS
4500 miles
adopted 10/02

 

I see you have a 2003 MCS, so I doubt it's the common fuse for the
power-steering fan and the radiator fan.

You should learn which fuse it is and carry a few spares just in case.

And let us know if the relay change did the trick.

 

I also received my 03 MCS in 10/02, and have twice experienced the same overheating problem. It occurs with the auto a/c on, and in stop and go or waiting in line. I've had the relays (there are two) and fuses replaced on the auxiliary fan. I too hope that that is the end of the problem, but summer is just beginning. I also found the solution was to kill the a/c, and get the car moving. Temp came right down. I never boiled over either.

 

My mini just overheated yesterday, doing the same thing as yours. I was hanging out waiting for a friend for no more that five maybe even seven minutes. Then my a-c light started to flash and the a-c started to get warm, I looked over at the temp gauge everything was normal, so then I proceeded to shut down the engine. I left it off a couple minutes, then I started her up and right away the temp. gauge was reading the vehicle was overheating, flashing read light and all, I look up to tell my friend and all I saw was tons of smoke comming out from under the hood, man I freaked, it looked like the car was on FIRE. So then we rushed to open the hood and discovered it was the water boiling so bad that it had busted the cap on the tank and all. I spent all of last night thinking about it and I noticed that the car's fan never turned on once, does yours turn on or does it just never turn on when your problem occurs? Also does your a-c light also blink on and off like in my mini? Anyways I am rushing over to my dealer in the morning, I'll keep everyone posted to see want goes down.....

 

I have thus far been happy with Alice's handling of the heat. 110 degrees in the shade, driving around in stop-n-go traffic with the ac running, and I'm yet to see the temp gauge go above 1/2 way.

 

So I just got back from the MINI dealer (South Motors, Miami, FL) man they took forever to tell me that I had burned out my fan. First they took the car and left it in the back for about four hours, and they still didn't let me know anything until I chewed them out. Then they had the nerve to tell me that if I would have gotten there earlier they would have been able to get the fan in sooner (any sooner I would have been the one turning on the lights at the dealer). So now I don't have my mini and I have to wait until tomorrow for my S. And before I forget did I mention they made me rent a car so that I could get to work, home, and maybe pick up my car if it's even ready tomorrow. Crapiest two days of my life. All I wanted was to get rid of my rice rocket and be happy, at least my rice rocket's fan can be found in a freak'n vending machine and can be performed in about half an hour.

 

I just got the mini back from the dealer and the problem was a bad fan motor too. This time they tell me it took out two fuses(F5 and 50A) or is F5 the location and 50A is the rating for one fuse? Well it affected the power steering too and I was worried that I overheated the power steering unit but they said the fluid looked ok.
The AC light did start to blink the first time the car overheated as for the fan I only noticed the fan was not running after I could pull over(traffic jam) and open the bonnet, by that time I had already cranked the heater and only had a small puff of steam out of the coolant tank. The rest of the steam was coming out of my ears :smile:

Tom
2003 indi blue MCS

 

Update: Three days after my second "fix" which amounted to replacement of fuse and relays (first fix was to replace the auxillary fan itself and fuse), another incident of overheating. Same scenario, stopped at a drive through. This time, the dealer replicated my scenario, each time blowing the fuse. A search of the wiring diagram indicated that the power steering pump fan (protected by my skid plate) was the faulty piece. Apparently some engineer designed both the power steering fan and the auxillary cooling fan to run on the same circuit (could he have been a civil engineer?!). Pwr.steering fan replaced, scenario repeated, no blown fuse, no overheating. Finally!

 

My MC overheated in traffic this weekend. AC was NOT on and it was only about 85f that day. The problem seemed to go away after I pulled over and let the car cool down, but after reading these posts I'm concerned that I'm driving around with no cooling fans at this point.

Can anyone identify the fuse for the combined radiator/ps pump fans? I'd like to check this and am guessing the owner's manual is no help.

Thanks in advance.

 

>>Can anyone identify the fuse for the combined radiator/ps pump fans?

Anyone?

 

Well, it's fuse 5 in the panel in the engine compartment - only 5A. I know this because my car overheated for the second time in traffic and I had it towed to the dealer.

My service manager was a little too familiar with the problem, and intimiated that he had seen more than one car with a frozen engine due to this incredibly stupid design glitch. I had to wait half an hour for someone to come out and show me which fuse I needed to keep an eye on in the future. My service manager's advice: carry spare fuses (of course he wouldn't give me any) and check the fuse every time I fill up for gas. If I find that it's blown, disconnect the PS fan from the harness (of course he had no idea how to do this) and replace the fuse. Then at least the engine fan would work, although I would run the risk of frying the power steering pump on my way to the dealership for yet another "unscheduled" visit to replace the PS fan with the same fragile, non-waterproof part in thre same vulnerable, unprotected position and replace the tiny fuse that this time bomb shares with the engine cooling fan.

My understanding is that this problem was partially fixed on 03 cars by separating the fans on separate circuits and fuses, yet there has been no recall fix on 02 cars. I can't believe BMW would allow a problem like this to go unaddressed, let alone let it off the production line in the first place!! :evil:

 

Same thing here. Had the overheating problem that started about 2 weeks ago. Called Ferman Mini in Tampa and took my car in today. The fuse had blown for the fan, and it wasn't running at all. The coolant had boiled over. They changed the fuse and flushed out my coolant system. Also replaced the thermometer. It has been driving fine ever since. I'm a happy girl again!! :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile: :smile:

Erin

 

Funny, this just happened to me too. Took the car to my dealer, they replaced the fan motor and fuses in just 4 hours. Dealer dropped me off at work and picked me up later.
Crevier in Santa Ana.
Very good service.

I love my MINI.

 

Is this true regarding the fix being made for 2003? My MCS is in the North Atlantic as we speak and it would be a relief. I've been reading this thread with a large degree of fear and loathing (working on my rant it if ever happened to me).

>>My understanding is that this problem was partially fixed on 03 cars by separating the fans on separate circuits and fuses, yet there has been no recall fix on 02 cars. I can't believe BMW would allow a problem like this to go unaddressed, let alone let it off the production line in the first place!! :evil:

 

Oh, I forgot to mention. On the drive home tonight, the only MINI I spotted was pulled over to the side of the highway with the hood open and plenty of steam rising skywards...