Thank you zippy!!! I will so just that then! I also have a spare center console switch box so I was thinking about making my own fan override and taking the fog light switch with the led and mounting it into the switch box I have in the car now. Space will probably be limited but I would imagine this is doable since some minis have a button in that empty spot.

 

If your going to tap 12v power from somewhere, and run your fan with it via a manual switch, don't forget to put an inline fuse in.

Also I would use a relay. I just did a relay circuit for some lights. A Bosch 40 Amp should be strong enough I would think. Pole 30 gets Power from battery. Pole 87 sends power out to your accessory. Tap power to go to your toggle switch. Then the other pole on the toggle switch goes to pole 85 on the relay. Pole 86 on the relay goes to ground.

So there will be a small amount of amperage going through your toggle switch to the relay. When 85 and 86 get power and ground they power a small coil (electro magnet) which will close the circuit in the relay between pole 30 and 87 which is the high current draw for the fan. The inline fuse should be between the battery and pole 30 on the relay.

Sure seems like a lot of work though, I think Zippys idea is easier. Even if you can't get the bumper off to access it while you're on the road, you can jump the big red and little red just on the fan side of the plug near the hood latch. Get one of those plastic "side by side" crimp style connectors. So long as you're on the fan side of the plug, you won't be hacking up the cars wiring harness side. It will be easy enough to replace the entire run of wire on the fans side later when you replace the resistor if you choose. Also, look for a YouTube video that I found once,.. It shows how to test your relay with an ohm meter in like two seconds, right at the plug without having to take anything apart. Testing that should definitely be the first step.

Edit: in last paragraph, I meant test *resistor, not relay
Also if you wire your own circuit, two fuses, one in front of toggle, one in front of relay.

 

Hi all


I have been following the thread and have a 02 mini cooper S with the 2 connectors on. I am getting similar symptoms, no low speed fan with temp or with air con turned on, and high speed kicks in sometimes when I turn the engine off, and the coolant is bubbling over a bit in the expansion tank when hot ( due to no low fan I presume).


I have the resistor 0.33 5% 100w, thermo paste ready to the job, but being the older style 2 plug connector with the relay on the fan itself, I want to make sure before I remove the bumper and drain the system ect.


Heres my question, on the large connector block with the 3 wires, one brown earth, and two red/blue of different sizes, how can I tell with a volt meter that it is defiantly the resistor ?
The larger red/blue wire shows +12v constant even when car is off (I presume that's the high speed fan wire) the thinner red/blue wire shows no voltage at all, with engine on, or off, and with the aircon on or off, makes no difference. So with the block disconnected I am testing the power coming from the car, and the low speed wire is showing no power, is this correct even when the aircon is on ?


This tells me the car is not sending power down the low speed fan wire and hence the fan does not work on low speed, and if this is the case, it is not the resistor that is at fault, correct ?


Tested all fuses ect, and the power steering fan kicks in as soon as the aircon is turned on, so am I right in thinking I should see +12v on the low speed thinner fan wire?


Thank in advance for anyone who can shed some light before I pull the car apart.


Hotrock


P.s. Can I put a jumper between the high speed fan wire (large red/blue) and the low speed fan wire (thinner red/blue) to see if the fan kicks in on low speed ?

 

Thank you Alex. I will save the manual switch mod for a more ideal and warm day. Does jumping the big and small plug red wire cause the fan to come on high speed under low speed event trigger?

 

I don't have the older two plug type.

I've heard that on those, both relay and resistor are in the fan.

You said "The larger red/blue wire shows +12v constant even when car is off"

That's probably live power for the Relay. I would not jump that to the other one, based on onfo here. Sorry that I don't know that older style circuit with two plugs. I could not be more specific

 

Yes. It's exactly the same as replacing the resistor with a jumper wire,..... You're only a little further up-hill is all.

The big red one hoes directly to the fan motor. The little red one has a resistor inline with it and goes directly to the fan.

Just make the little red one go directly to the fan, and without the resistor,.. And viola. Fan will run at high speed whenever the car try's to trigger low speed

 

I also have the relay/resistor in the fan, mine is an 02.

 

Oh, my mistake. I thought yours was newer.

You need be on the fan side of the relay before you jump around the resistor.

 

Another thing one might want to check is that your power steering pump fan under your MINI is free and not locked up! Because this runs on the same circuit as your cooling fan as your radiator. Also check and see if the 5amp fuse under the bonnet isn't blown. If memory serves me correct there are 2 5amp fuses. One usually is blown. If that is blown your fan will not work. And it is a sign that your power steering pump fan is stuck. If you have a 2002 MINI most have this design.

 

This is what I did.

 

Okay.. I see what you did. Did you soldier or crimp the wires together? Just make sure whatever you did that you have a good connection. I think what you did there should be fine. Very similar to what I did.

 

I used a male and female spade connectors. It was very right then electrical taped it to seal around it .

 

Awesome you should be on your way then Only thing different is I used shrink tubing. Good luck!

 

That's a thousand words. Photos are awesome. Glad it worked out.

 

Or you may do this w/ a looped wire long enough for a remote location for an external resistor, in case you decide to put 1:


I decided to just jump it & forego the resistor. Also that little thermistor or diode near that green resistor can fail. You may remove & jump that, too.

 

The fan lives!!! Thank you everyone!

 

Call Detroit Tuned in Clinton Township Michigan. They have a much more reliable (and cheaper) resolution for this failure than replacing the whole unit.

 

I am a little confuse about Chris.j.Lamb photo, if somebody can do a little explain of which wire goes where, based on my reading so far,

he unplugs the low speed fan off the plug and feed this to the resistor. Am I right?(What color is that wire?)

He then feed the black and yellow wire from the resistor to where? And I can see this from the picture, pls help.. I am quite a dummy without detailed pics.. Thanks

 

Hey oceanstar. Mine is 2005 S. I understand some earlier ones are different , and I won't be able to help with that.

On mine, from the plug there's a fat red wire, a skinny red wire, and a brown (or black / can't remember) wire.

Skinny red one goes to the resistor, then from the resistor to the fan (via the fat red one... they splice together down hill from the resistor). This is low speed Power

Fat red one goes straight to fan This is power for high speed fan

The black or brown one is ground

I hope that helps. It's a really simple circuit. There's two different wires that the computer could power the fan with. The low speed one has the resistor in series.

 

Some of the older ones have a Relay on the fan, in addition to the resistor,... That's why it gets so confusing

Edit; Click around on Detroit Tuned website. They have a very clear instruction set, and I think a good explanation of the differences in model years; though I didn't read that part, because I have a 2005

 

A word of warning for anyone using the Doorman kit to repair this problem: The one I received had a very poor job done of spot welding the wires to the metal tabs of the resistor.

If you're going to use the Doorman, give them a good tug and wiggle. Mine came right off and were only really held with the silicone goop the factory put on them. There were only two strands of copper that managed to weld to the tabs.

I ended up using ring terminals and #6 socket-head cap screws to attach the wires because the pads would not wet with solder despite the large amount of flux I put on there (the brown stuff on the pad).

 

My car is a early 2004 build, it too has the similar plugs and wires you described, one brown wire, one Red/green(skinny i think) one Red/blue(Fat) but is there any way to check if the resistor is on the fan or or? thanks

 

Yes the resistor is on the fan.
Watch this: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=N9IikLr8vz8

 

Thanks for the info, Just bought the resistor for it, can't wait to try it mod, as I do need my aircon back on, ASAP

 

Hi, it's me again.. I managed to fit the resistor today, tested the fan and it kicks in at around 105C. Resistors gets hot, which I assume it's the low speed fan,

But for some reason, the air con remains not working, it won kick start the fan either when I turn the air con on.