Wow that's a really nice job. Mine don't look like that at all. I will get some thermal compound this weekend. Similar to the one u use for a cpu.

 

Anyone thought mounting the resistor to the Alu bumper where there's airflow?

 

I thought of that but the only spot is on the backside of the bumper beam, which is not really in the air flow.

 

I also mounted my resistor to the aluminum motor mount: lots of metal there to conduct heat away, especially with the conductive paste under the resistor. I drilled and tapped the holes for machine screws.

Eric

 

and mine



Still working fine !!!!!

glad you all fixed yours.

 

Ill be doing this, this weekend. well i cant get the resistor until Monday... but ill be prepping

 

BTW this should be a sticky its probably the main cause of the power steering pump to fail

 

You wrote-
The low speed fan resistor is the direct cause of the power steering pump failing. When your low speed fan risistor goes out your PS fan does not come on unless your high fan comes on, too much heat for that electric motor... replacing the resistor is the only sure way this wont happen again. As mini has not addressed the problem with the engine cooling fan resistor.

Thanks for the info

Thread has been stuck

 

Confirming today that my resistor has fail.

 

That's what you'd call "Mini Artwork".

 

Mine is fine right now - but I know saying that means something bad will happen.. generally I wouldn't be afraid to tackle this myself, I often do general work on the car that doesn't require (super) expensive tools or is too tricky (I do brakes, oil changes, basic straight forward stuff) but I have an unnatural fear of cutting/splicing those wires so... anyone offer to show me exactly what needs doing ? I've read most all of this thread but still have irrational fear of messing with the wrong wires!

thanks

 

I will be posting pictures with descriptions, I'll be doing this tomorrow.

 

Well, I installed mine tonight, on the engine mount. I'm sure it's working because the fan now turns on when the relay (R3) clicks on, and the resistor gets hot, both with the A/C on and at temps a little above normal. I was unable to measure voltages to prove 100% it's working, oh well.

However, I am surprised at how loud the low speed fan is! It reminded me more of what I thought was the high speed fan sound. I was expecting a nice quiet hum, but it's pretty loud with the bonnet up and moving a lot of air. How do other people's sound?

 

Ill be testing mine tomorrow, I finished wiring up the resistor. I just need to get some coolant, as I lost some when removing the radiator. Ill let you know. Sorry no pics but It was a big help using https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...t-end-mfe.html

and wiring in a new resistor is very easy.

 

Hmmm, that doesn't sound quite right. On mine I have to look to see if the fan is moving. I hear the high, but not the (recently replaced) low.

 

I'm not a big fan of cutting OEM wires, either. I'm sure I could figure out the right ones, but could also help just swapping out the fan. Service mode looks major, but it's not that bad.

 

Hey everyone, I need some help with this fan business :D

Ive read this thread 3 times from start to finish before deciding to post and there are some things I am still really fuzzy on.

I have an 03 r50, and im pretty sure im pre march, My fan conector has the large 4pin plug and then the small 2 pin plug on top of it. Is thier any other way of checking whether I have the old version of the fan with the relay on the fan or the new version with the relay in the fuse box? So thats first figuring out which version I have.

Next How do I test to see if the resistor is bad. I tried turning the car on and turning the A/C on full throttle then checked to see if the fan was spinning, it was not. Waited a while for the car to heat up and then the fan turned on , in high mode, and runs for about 5-10 seconds and shuts off and then turns on maybe a minute later and does the same. So what is a sure fire sure way to check the fan in low speed mode?

I tried to get the fan to turn on remotely but I am not very electrically inclined, this is what I did. I unplugged the cannon plug the large one. I used some wires attached to the battery + and -. I know that the 3 wires black being ground, thick red being hi speed, thin red being lo speed. So i ran ground to the fan side of the plug and then tried to run power to either of the 2 pins but the fan would not turn on. Correct me if im wrong but running power and ground to the pins wouldnt make the fan turn on?

I later found out that the little 2 pin plug somehow controls the fan but I dont know how. I found out that if you send power to the red wire in the small plug and the red wires in the large plug then you can get the fan to turn on in hi mode but i still cant get the fan to spin in low mode.

I hope i explained myself well enough im really confused and a bit desperate. I would appriciate it alot if someone could walk me through what I should do to check all this out.

Additional info, my a/c doesnt work eihter and I have no idea when it stopped, the air is only ambient temp and deff not cold. My ps pump has gone which I think may be tied into all this, I dont know if the ps fan works I dont know when its supposed to turn on.

 

There are 5 wires, 3 for the engine cooling fan, and the 2 other wires im not sure. The 3 wires going to the EC Fan are LOW speed, HIGH speed and Ground. Before the Low speed wire gets to the fan it goes through a resistor Cutting the voltage down, so the fan spins at a lower speed. Then i believe it goes through a second relay to turn the fan on. When the resistor fails, it fails in the open position allowing no current to flow(this is why your fan doesn't work).

Hope this helps

 

Disregard my entire last post.

Ive taken apart the front and have the fan out. Now this is where I need the guys who did this already and know exactly how the wiring works.

My resistor is blown 100%, i also have the earlier model fan where the relay is on the fan not in the fuse box.

Here is my question, I dont have the parts to fix it right now but I would like to get the fan to run on HIGH speed when LOW speed is called for. Im not electricaly knowledgeable especaily with the relays, If I bridge the red wire that goes through the resisotr, AFTER the resistor FAN side, will this allow the fan to run on high speed even when the engine is only calling for low speed? Basically if I delete the resistor and bridge, will I get what I want?


Oh and I was thinking about this whole mess and I was thinking, couldnt a possible fix to all this be cooling the stock resistor so it doesnt fail, I was thinking maybe somthing like a CPU fan from a computer attached to the back of the fan shroud you can wire it so that it stay on when ever the engine is running, There are some pretty strong CPU fan outs there so do you thnk that could possibly top the stock resistor from overheating and failing?

 

My assumption was that the resistor fail because it looked corroded, I dont think the main issue was heat... I could be wrong

 

I have read entire thread, understand entire thread, that's questionable.
I have an 06 non S, Prod Date 03/06 5SPD
What brought me here was a response from "rhcp4life" (Thank You) to a post I made on another thread about my Power Steering Fan not spinning at all even after I took it apart and cleaned it all up.
So....I checked, and my Low Speed Fan is not working, my High Speed Fan comes on about every 10 seconds for about 5 seconds and then off again, repeat... Is it safe to assume that if I do the aftermarket resistor replacement (I like the one mounted to the engine mount) that it would solve my problem of NO LOW SPEED FAN and NO PWR STEERING FAN? Is there anything I need to check first to eliminate other possibilities. My A/C is currently working fine.

 

Yeah, it doesn't make sense to me either. I made a lot of measurements tonight and it didn't add up. It's not like it's a hard wiring problem, unless Arcol has managed to develop a one way resistor and I wired it the wrong way!

 

Actually from what Ive read and even while examining the burnt out resistor I believe it is in fact heat that makes it just bust, Besides if you look at where the resistor is mounted and how and how its sealed I dont think much of anything get in there, Including AIR. Its too high for salt and road debree, its under the bonet and sealed almsot totally in a plastic housing so I doubt any water ever enters it, but being that nothing can enter that also includes airflow, and I believe that eventually from prolonged heat exposure it just busts. THe mini engine bay gets realllyyy hot, its mounted to all plastic so it has no heat sink, its not vented and recieves no type of cooling.

I am willing to bet that if you took an older car that still has a running resistor and cut a square in the fan shroud behind the resistor and mounted a simple computer case fan, and had it run when the engine is running: that the resistor would never fail. For $13 you can get a 92mm case fan that can put out 110 cfm, THAT IS ALOT considering the fan would be less then half an inch from the resistor. Like i said Id bet that it would never fail.

Which now has me thinking a similar fix could possibly stop all these failing ps pumps. That has been known to go because of overheating, A 120mm case fan is less then 20$ and some put out as much as 240 cfm. Mount one of those babies on top of the PS pump, there is some room there, and I think you could have yourself a long term fix.

 

Tested my car last night, I had no fans at all, Im beginning to think the relay in the fan is bad. Ill be bringing the volt meter home again...

 

Hope this helps everyone!