I did mine following a diy that an owner posted here, with pictures on flicker.
The short version is
remove bumper cover, disconnect lights, tempture sensor, etc.
Remove the interior bumper.
Unbolt ac condensor...leave the hoses connected, swing it out of the way, support it.
Remove pins that hold the radiator in the holder...two upper corners
I dropped the lower hose, drained the coolant. Then reconnected it.
Disconnected the upper hose I think at the bleed valve.
Gently pulled the rad forward, tilting it.
Pulled out the old unit, pushing down on the clips that hold it in place.
It was very tight... But possible.
Dropped in the new fan, tight, but do able.
Reconnected the fan harness...one plug if you have the updated psfan harness...two if it has not been updated. This left me with a plug I could have cut off, or as I did, just wiretied it out of the way. Button up, refil, bleed.
Done. Fan 85$, BMW/ mini coolant 20$, (now the cooling system is "freshened". About 3-4 hours in the garage....I had to play with the bumper cover a few times to get the bulbs in, and the temp sensor in the right spot...a second set of hands would have saved me 1 hr easy. I worked slow...but I could likely do it again in under 2 hours again...

 

Is it absolutely necessary to remove the lower radiator hose?

 

If you don't, fluid will drip everywhere when you do the top hose. I did it because it made things easier...and I was due to put fresh fluid in the system....only about half the coolant will be removed this way...but if you do it every 2 years or so, rather than 4, it should be fine.
If I rememberright, to get the bumpercover off, you have to remove the lower splashguard, so you endup with easy access to the lower hose.
Like I said...it is a tight fit...I think there might have been 2 more pins at the bottom of the radiator too...it was 2 years ago...
Going to a full service mode on an S would most likely be a better bet...but with some skill and patience, and finesse, you can do it without going "all the way".

 

It can be done, just leave all bleeders and the coolant bottle cap on, slide the hose clamp back, loosen it without pulling it off, then grasp the hose and collapse it, pull and lift the end up. I tied it off to the bonnett with some string to keep up and out of the way.

If you remove the screws between the bumper cover and lower splashguard, you can leave the splashguard in place.

The radiator has two pins at the top only. The bottom corners slip into rubber seats. Use a small socket at the back of the pins to collapse the retaining thingamabobs.

As said, take your time and be patient. Whatever you do don't damage the radiator or A/C coil as they are fragile and are impossible to repair (at home).

 

OK got my Power Resistor.

It's an ARCOL HS100 R47, see here :- http://www.arcol.co.uk/uploads/products/hsseries-10.pdf

NOT the Rover kit, but a cheaper £5 one off another Ebay seller.

I plan to screw it to the body on the outboard semi vertical side of the LHS front chassis member, above the earthing point there X175.

Then run the low speed feed cable 87<08 Red/Green from X53 Cavity 2 to it and then from the resistor back to the high speed feed cable 87<08 Red/Blue and use a scotchlock to tap it in.

Cheers

Chris

 

good info Chris! Can't wait to see how it works out

Where did you get that elec. diagram?

 

http://www.bmw-planet.com/diagrams/release/en/index.htm

 

A quick update from me.

I have soldered 2 leads to the resistor to allow plumbing.
1 with a 3 way scotchlock connector on the end to splice into the high power feed to the fan.
The other with a 2.5mm pin on the end to plug into the low power fan feed from the relay.

I have practice mounted the resistor to the BIW and marked the mounting holes. Hope to drill them this weekend.
Will try and mount using 2 sheet metal screws and thermal compound (need to find this in my garage).

Have sourced and fitted a 2nd hand heater matrix, just need to double check the water pipe connections before I remove the flexible hose clamps and let the hot water into the system.

Have also connected the switched grounds of the Low & High speed fan relays in the fusebox so temporarily the cooling fan comes on Full speed when the Engine ECU calls for low speed.
I know this draws a lot of power and is noisey but is better than overheating.
Turning on the Aircon now causes the Cooling Fan to cycle on/off at Full power keeping everyting cool until all fixes are in place.

Cheers

Chris

 

As I try to follow along here, I'm a bit perplexed by a couple of things:

What is the "BIW"?

What is the "heater matrix"?

Thanks....

 

Also, what gauge wire are you using?

 

BIW = Body In White = Painted Body of Car
Heater Matrix = the small radiator inside your cars heater, this exploded on me when my car last ran too hot..............hence fixing the fan.
Wire Gauge = thickest I could find in my garage, thicker than the wires it will connect to.

Got the holes drilled this afternoon, can't find my thermal grease so ordered a 30g syringe off Ebay, should be with me on Tuesday..............

Heater matrix now fully fitted and tested, a warm car interior follows......

 

We look forward to pictures . . .

 

OK, fitted, wired in, WORKING !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Heatsink grease arrived yesterday so nipped out this morning and fitted it all in and IT WORKS.

Removed the switched earth short so Low Speed Relay back to stock, started her up, selected Aircon, nervous wait, LOW SPEED FAN!

Pictures attached before wiring tidy up.

Red wire is plugged into Low Speed Fan feed from relay.
Black/Yellow wire is crimped into Schotchblock to High Speed Fan feed to fan.

So voltage from Low Speed Relay is fed through Resistor and then to fan using the High Speed feed wire, hence only 2 wires at fan connector (earth, feed).

Left the car running until the fan had cycled about 10 times and the resistor was not even warm, but it was freezing at the time.

NAM we have a solution.

Cheers

Chris

 

SOLUTION POSTED

 

thanks for following through on this one!

Matt

 

Yesssssssss!. So am I correct in that this resister can be installed without removing the fan and making the connections through the harness before the connector?

Even if I have to take the fan out to do this, I am looking forward to spring to make this happen.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

Rich

PS-To be sure. This is the one?
Mouser Part #: 284-HS100-0.47
Manufacturer Part #: HS100 0R47 5%

 

Yes, resistor installed without removing anything.
All connections made to cars wiring before the fan connector so if in the future I need a new fan it can be fitted and used as OE, no wires on car cut.
That is the correct part.

Ran the car around for about 1 hour yesterday with aircon on full to load up the resistor fully. It got too hot to touch but was not up to 100C as could not boil water. Fan stayed on low speed all the time, NO full speed used.

RESULT

 

UPDATE

Checked over the car with my multimeter this morning to make sure all is OK.

System voltage 14V
Low speed fan voltage 8V after resistor, so resistor is dropping 6V

This gives the following maths.

Current through resistor (and fan) = V/R = (14-8)/0.47 = 12.8A
Fan resistance =V/I = 8/12.8 = 0.63 Ohms

So my initial assumption that the resistor and fan are of the same resistance is wrong as the OE resistor is 0.34 Ohms

Also my resistor power =VI =(14-8)*12.8 = 77W
so my 100W resistor should last well.

Now we know the OE setup resistances:-
Fan 0.63 Ohms
Resistor 0.34 Ohms
Total 0.97 Ohms
Voltage 14V
Low speed Current =V/R =14/0.97 =14.4A
Resistor voltage drop =IR =14.4*0.34 = 5V
Resistor power rating = VI =5*14.4 = 72 Watts
Low speed fan voltage = 14-5 = 9V
Low speed fan power =VI = 9*14.4 = 130 Watts

High speed fan current =V/R = 14/0.63 = 22.2A
High speed fan power =VI = 14*22.2 = 311 Watts (noisey)

 

Hi, I think this is great as my low-speed doesn't work either. I know all the info is probably in the post, but I'm not as electrically inclined as others here.

If possible could a link be posted to what should be bought, or where you bought the resistor and how to connect it correctly.
I see that the wires are in the harness and easily accessible. But I wouldn't know which wires to use.

Thank you.

 

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/1-x-0R47-100W-...item1e59f9ac2f

 

I bought mine from www.mouser.com. Mine is the 0.33 ohm version. part number 284-HS100-0.33. Cost me $15.00 plus shipping.

 

This needs to be a "sticky".

Well done gang!

 

AWESOME... needs to be sticki'ed.

 

Really, I hope it works out (aka 'cautiously optimistic') -
FWIW the factory part works when first installed, too...

 

ok guys when is the diy going to be posted...