The UK Haynes manual says that the resistor can be replaced by desoldering the old one & resoldering a new one.
But I have searched for just the resistor and have been unable to find the BMW part no. for it. .!

 

This

Ive been riding on a rockauto fan for months. Its a pretty easy job to do, you gotta pretty much disassemble the front of your car tho (but you dont have to take the radiator out)

 

Here's at least one of the previous threads discussing possible replacement of the resistor only (though no resolution yet):
https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-resistor.html

 

I think the part in that thread from JeffM is the relay, not the resistor.

 

I'll bet you this part would work: 0.33 ohm 100 W for $15, but has a 3 week leadtime.
http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...P6X%252bS2M%3d

Could also try a 50 W one - cheaper, smaller, and in stock:

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...7avknkxuofQ%3d

Gotta love Mouser.com for finding electronic parts - they have a pretty good search function, too.

 

JAB 67: I have two dead fan housing assemblies stored waiting for a solution. I'll volunteer one if you tell me where to ship it to. The first is the original from my '02. The second was the first replacement that lasted about 1-1/2 years before failing. No. 3 is a summer old and still working in my MINI.

PM me and it'll be on its way to you for free. Of course, should it be fixable, maybe I could get it back some day with instructions on how to fix these things?

 

Ladies and gentlemen I com baring good news. On the module that was shipped to me for examination the problem was indeed a bad resistor. Duh, that is why we are here. The good news is that it is a fairly easy to source wire wound resistor that has just been spot welded to the housing. In the case of the fan housing I was looking at the wire had completely corroded to the point of creating an open circuit.

The thing I have to do now is find what the resistance and the current rating were on the resistor when it was still good. As it is now I have no way to figure that out other than to ball park it by using the amperage of the fuse supplying the low power side and the equation V=IR.

If somebody were will to go out to their radiator and stick and ohm-meter across the resistor I could probably figure out the rest of what I need.

The good news by the way is that the resistor will probably be in the range of 25-40 dollars.

 

Is the resistor easily accessible? Do you have pix of what it looks like?

 

PM sent to "ToBFree"

 

IT is very easy to get to once you remove the fan shroud from the car. The resistor sits out in the open air so it can be kept cool, the problem is that this exposes it to all of the elements.

Getting the old one off might be a bit tricky simply because the resistor is spot welded on, so a bit of creativity is required. If I can find the right resistor wattage, I will go ahead and order one and see how it works.

 

Any updates on this?

 

Buy the rockauto part. All new....you would have to remove the old fan, solder in a $50 part, and then reinstall. You the still have a old fan. Spend 30 bucks more, and you are all new. The rock auto one I got was from a very good company, and probably a different resistor desgin. Quicker to just do the swap. If you are an OEM snob, your new fan will have the same flaw as the one you replace....and cost 3x as much. You could watch realoem and wait to see if BMW comes out with a new part number, then hope it is to fix the flaw we find, and not some other factor.
This is just my rant on the subject.

 

So I looked into this and from what I have seen Zippy is basically right. Unless you buy them by the 1000s a new resistor is going to be in the 30-40 range.

 

So is the "low speed" fan always supposed to work when egine is running then ? And the HS fan to come on a about 206 degrees or so ?

 

Somebody posted the exact temp the low speed turns on, and the high also. Sorry...but I can't do the search right now myself or I would find it for you! The hi speed is also turned on by activating the A/C. The low speed should be what runs most of the time....If the car is not moving and fulley warmedup...the oem has a fault in which the resistor fails, thereby preventing the low from ever running. Thusly, the car gets very hot before the hi-speed ever turns on... and then it cycles on and off....very loudly....rather than just letting the low run for a few minutes.

 

Zippy is corrent on how the temps and/or A/C system pressure activate both speeds. If you lose the low speed you may not even notice other than the fan sound. Eventually, the high speed will start to remain on after the MINI is shut off. The Bentley Manual states the values if you're really interested.

 

the low speed turns on at 195 and the high speed at 205.

What was the resistance and wattage of the resistor? I may be able to find sources at a lower cost for those that are interested in being really, really cheap.

Matt

 

It is not a question of being really, really cheap. It is just that there is no need to replace the whole assembly when all that is bad is this resister and/or the relay. I know Rock Auto has the assembly at 1/3 the price of OEM and some have been very happy. Others, not so happy.

I just want the parts to fix it. Of course just to get at it is a pain but I would rather buy the bad resister and relay than the whole assembly.

And that Mini hasn't redesigned the part annoys me greatly. I had the fan assembly replaced at 45,000 under warranty and it's bad again now at 90,000. I am not happy about this of some of the other expensive fixes we "all" seem to have been getting.

"Dr" Rich Wolfson (I have tenure too. <G>)

PS-Don't get me wrong. I love Artoo. But I am still reeling from a $1400 A/C compressor fix this summer simply because the clutch is not available separately from the pump.

 

those that manufacture in volume can get you the whole thing at a price where replacing just the failed part isn't really economically feasable. right now it seems that it's a $30-$50 delta between replacing the resistor and the whole assy.

And in this case there is the spot welded attachement that has to be dealt with. Others find the Rock Auto solution to be a better way to go than to buy a part at $40-$50 and have to deal with the issues of replacement. So be it. But what if it were $25 for the replacement? Then you're talking enough of a savings to make dealing with all the other issues more compelling.

Call it cheap, call it frugal, call it whatever. But right now, with a 2002 with over 100k miles on it, if mine went out I'd probably just replace the assy. If it doesnt' cost that much for just the resistor, maybe I'd fix it.

Yes replaceing the whole assy is a bit wastefull, but it sure minimizes risk and get you a bunch of other stuff for a very small marginal increase.

But that's for each buyer to decide! I'd still like to know the resistance and power rating so I can do some searching.

Matt

 

If anybody wants to take apart a good fan to get a good resistor out, its resistance could be measure with an Ohm meter.

I put the chances of that happening to be next to nothing unless someone has a bunch of spare parts laying around. They then could spot weld (or possibly re-braze)the part back in......I think the fact that it has a ceramic centerpiece, and a rather large heat producing coil of wire to create the resistance precludes the uses of standard soldering techniques (thus the reason for the spot-weld!!)...yet another barrier to most anybody replacing it.

When an alternator fails...i would rather put in new bushes or bearings and put it back on my car...it still can be done if the windings are good, and you can still get the parts....but it is getting harder to everyday!! Almost anybody CAN do it with so general tool, skills and some time.
Most people do not have the equipment to do a spot weld without frying a resistor......or meltingthe plastic, or making the plastic housing catch fire!! This repair...thought it seems simple, is much harder than one would think...simply because it was not built to be a modular design, with replaceable parts. It is built to be a toss-able wear item from what I have seen.
Perhaps one could replace the resistor, spot weld it in, return it to service....and then the next day disassemble the front of of their car yet again, and have to put new brushes in their fan motor!!
I hated tossing a seemingly perfect part in the trash...but for a few dollar part...but what choice do you really have?

 

MUST have been the dealer....OUCH!!!

I call that one heck of a mark-up...you can get it for 559.30, plus shipping, no core, OEM, new with the clutch.

I've seen remans 418.30(OEM), new...for 530.10(aftermarket), with new clutches, 36 month warrenty, no core....for an 05' anyway.

http://www.discountcompressor.com/ad...60-01993.html#

 

Actually not. I usually do my own work but this time took it to Shade Tree in Morristown. They do excellent work. I wanted a place that I could trust to not only troubleshoot but to do the repair correctly with a guarantee.

I also thought it a lot too but it was probably the same as what the dealer would have charged. And it is done right in a good shop that I could trust.

But even at $600 for the compressor it still is 4 hours of work. In this case Shade Tree charged e $725 for an OEM compressor and 4 hours labor as getting to the compressor requires "service mode". But they do it right with a full evac and charge. And a 2-year warranty. I could have found a place that perhaps $300 cheaper but they wouldn't have been better.

And it is done. Aside from looking for a deal, what do you think a compressor done right from an independent garage should cost? Of course they make money on parts and labor. What would Helix charge? Or any of the other known quantities on the board?

I would have rather been able to replace the clutch only for $200 for the part as opposed to $725. But that, as I said, is not an option on our Minis.

Rich

 

I read somwhere else on NAM that the resistor was .34 ohm, dont know how true that is though. I can tell you however that it is a very large wire wound resistor and that is fused at 30 amps.

Just because the resistor was spot welded on at the factory doesnt mean you have to do the same thing...

 

Heheh....I still have a huge soldering iron we used to use to fix radiators in our old Triumph TR6's and Sprites. This thing is huge!

 

to put the car in "service mode". It's really no big deal. Seems likethe price of the A/C was a bit high, and you could have had it done for less without really sacraficing quality. But for some things I too go to places that are more expensive than other shops (for my suspension work) and while I could save money, I'm happy with the expense...

1/3 ohm at 30A is under 100W...

Thanks for the info...

Matt