I've heard of too many fires from the external mod. and it save a 300 dollar fan. but good luck with it.

 

Fires? I haven't heard of a read of a single fire from having an external capacitor, and afaik it's still a recommended method.

 

I haven't heard any fire by installing an external resistor for the fan first stage. The resistor used in the fan has a diferent constrution with air circulating internally for heat dissipation.
The recommended external resistor has a metal dissipator. Mine I installed in the front on the side of the radiator and it is receiving direct frontal air.
Make sure isolated very well the new connections.

Additionally:
Just don't wrap the resistor in paper or wrap it on the wires of the harness, don't install it inside the fuel tank and probably you will be ok.

Post the stories that you heard. I hope the external resistor didn't make a turbo to get in fire.

 

http://xkcd.com/285/

Thanks for bringing the FUD.

 

i read of two fires somewhere on the boards. could not tell you where tho.

 

Hey, I just wanted to thank one and all for the great info on low speed fan resistors. I bought the appropriate resistor from mouser and installed it today. I mounted it on the aluminum strut as some others had done. After reading about 300 posts, it was easy! I spent an hour of time on the job and spent about $35 for the resistor and a drill and tap set for a #8 screw. The installation looks clean and neat and everything is working. I soldered the wire connections and used some thermal coupling goo that I had left over from a computer repair when screwing the resistor to the aluminum strut.

As far as I can tell, I saved about $40 over buying a replacement fan, added a couple of small tools to my collection, and saved two or three hours of labor by going this route.

Thanks again for the information.

 

For 3/03-06 builds w/ single plug who don't want the bypass route, Dorman has a replacement resistor kit to replace your stock.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dorman-OE-Solutions-902-706-Radiator-Fan-Relay-/170969660469?rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.m1851&_trkparms=aid%3D222002%26algo%3DSIC.FIT%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D15054%26meid%3D6949270425303961627%26pid%3D100005%26prg%3D1125%26rk%3D3%26sd%3D140933754707%26
Note: Not only the big green resistor fails, that small thermistor beside it can, too.

 

I have a bad low-speed fan resistor, and I have the resistor at home waiting for attachment. The big aluminum (?) bracket is the place where most people have mounted it, but has anyone put it anywhere else/somewhere it could be sheet-metal-screwed to? I don't know offhand if I have access to a small enough tap, and I'm definitely quite poor at drilling multiple straight holes, so if there's an alternate solution that works well, I might want to give that a try instead. If not, I guess I'll just have to bite the bullet and go for drilling and tapping the usual spot.

 

I mounted mine in the front side of radiator, in between the grill and radiator, so it will be getting frontal air flow while car moving. I use zip tie to hold it and it is doing the job for me.

 

That's where I put mine too, used nuts/bolts to anchor it to the aluminum support though for better head distribution. The resistor itself is mounted to a thin aluminum plate with CPU heat sink material adhering it for even better heat dissipation.

 

Right, I think I remember seeing your fix further back in the thread, SuprCoop (guess I'll have to find it again). cooperSml, do you have pictures? Looks like the links to blogspot from your earlier posts are private?

 

I put mine exactly where the stock one lived. It was pop riveted in place. It was fine until my fan was jammed up by a stick and then it had a melt down, along with the fan motor. I'm sure it would have happily lived out it's days there if it hadn't been for that.

 

I finally have fixed mine, cut out the old original ressistor and and just soldered wires to the originals and then connected it to the new ressistor mounted on the aluminium cross member near the fog light, I found out that the previous owner had filled the water system up with nearly neat antifreeze (not good) that explains why it was running so bloody hot. still all sorted now at last.

 

X2, I originally had mine mounted on the radiator bulkhead but moved it the the stock location. Had to whittle down the plastic standoff to get it to fit. I too used rivets since one side butts up against the radiator and I didn't want a bolt head to vibrate against the delicate radiator components. Now that it receives airflow, heating shouldn't be an issue (and not sure that it ever was).

 

Can you get in there without taking the fan off?

 

Yes, if yours has the 1-plug, not the 2-plug.

 

I fixed my resistor today. The first symptom I noticed was that the high-speed fan would stay on more often after I parked. I didn't think much of it, until one day in traffic I glanced over and my temp gauge was pegged. My oil looks fine though, so fortunately I don't think there's any head damage. There's a lot of info in this thread to sift through, so I made a single diagram that might be helpful for the electrically disinclined.

Originally I intended to solder all the connections, but my 25W iron and rusty technique weren't up to the task, and so I ended up with a splice-lock connector instead. The wiring is untied in the diagram in order to clearly show what went where. After tidying up, I wrapped everything up in electrical tape.

 

^Nicely done!

 

My MINI was built the 1st week of July 2003, still running the original fan with this external resistor.
Installed external resistor (ARCOL HS100 R47) 2nd week of 07-2011, No problems, no fires, works great.
From page 20.

 

my 2005 Mini Cooper (not S) has a fan where the power connection is on the top of the back of the fan motor and only has 2 connections. Does this mean it hasn't got the resistor? It does have 2 fan relays in the engine fusebox, I assume one for each phase. Problem is I'm not getting any power down the cable. Dodgy relays? I've tried swapping them around with others and the temp has been up to 112C with no activity from the fan.

Any ideas?

 

I have an old fan assembly (off a 2005 R52 S) with the non working low speed fan. If anyone is still interested, it's yours if will post results/solutions in this forum. I'll even ship it for free. Sen me a PM with your address.
I've just replace mine with a TYC one from Rock Auto & it fits perfectly.

 

Just so I understand this correctly.. The ONLY reason this resistor is there is just to run the fan at a lower speed? So one could just run a jumper wire past the resistor and it would work but the fan would be working on high speed?..lol..

 

^Spot on, Zip.
There are 2 benefits of having the resistor:
1. Lower decibel levels of the revived low speed fan
2. Longer fan motor life...How much longer? Haven't read on dead high speed fans much.

Advantages of having a jumper w/ no resistor:
1. Cooler Engine
2. More efficient A/C
3. From a cooler engine, probably you'll get longer alternator, compressor, coolant reservoir/hoses,etc service lives....How much longer? Again, your guess will be as good as mine.

.....Your choice.

Warning: Electrical mods always have risks.

 

louisut, where'd you pick up the splice lock connector? I don't really have any proper electronics-parts stores around here anymore, and I'm wondering if there's somewhere else I ought to look.

 

any auto parts store has them.