Here is my solution that I modified from a few others. Cut an aluminum plate and notched it so that it can slide on without removing the crash bar/nuts completely. No drilling to body/engine mounts necessary. Wires are routed through existing slot in the fan shroud, which I soldered in parallel with low/high speed fan wires. Should get adequate cooling in this location as well.

 

Hello,

I had done this mod to my fan wiring and pretty sure done everything right, but it still didn't work...I have the newer style wiring loom where the resistor is on the fan itself.

When I touched positive/negative from the battery to the negative and positive of the low speed, I hear a very faint click from the fan area and that fan doesn't run. Doesn't run low speed with the AC either. Anyone had a similar issue? Can't see how a relay/fuse would be causing this as the test is directly from the battery to the plug.

Can't figure it out, and tried to resistors 33 and 47 ohm both 100w.

Thanks!

 

You are not exaggerating about the temp. My resistor got up to around 360* F on the surface.

 

So I had my low speed fan resistor go out, and replaced the entire fan and shroud with an amazon cheap special - and it worked for about a year and a half.
Then it started acting like the resistor had gone out *again*. And I didn't think anything about it, because - well, it was a cheap replacement, so of course the resistor could blow out in only 18 months.

So I implemented this solution - bypassed the low speed fan wire by putting a resistor between the low speed power and high speed power line.

And I didn't think anything about it.

Until it kept happening - it seemed like it didn't work. After the car had sat overnight, I could start the engine, turn on the air, and see the low speed fan working. But after about 20 minutes of driving, it would start to overheat, and the high speed fan would come on (you could hear it).

So I figured maybe the resistor was heating up and cutting out - since it wasn't the stock resistor. So I wired a standard mini resistor in. But there was no change in behavior.

Finally, I ripped out the whole fan, and redid it like it was stock, and put in a higher quality fan unit. (still from Amazon though).
And problem solved. No overheating. Car drives like a dream.

So my take is: The new resistors (I tried several) weren't bad. It had to be the fan. There is no other explanation. Obviously the high speed wiring was working, as it would run at high speed. And this solution uses the high speed wiring to power both low and high speed.
Weird - but my theory is that there was a problem with the fan, that would cause it to stop in low speed mode after awhile (heated up? who knows?) but High Speed gave it enough power to overcome that problem.

So if this solution doesn't work for you - it may be that your resistor isn't the problem. It wasn't for me.

 

After years of working properly (albeit replacing the resistor once) now I am not getting any fan - low or high.

My daughter got her permit today and I took her out in the GP for a lesson. While I sitting there explaining something I saw the temp gauge pegged.

Immediately turned on the heat and the temp went down to normal and drove home.

I was sure it was the resistor failing again......but alas it was not. I had continuity between the two spade terminals of the resistor.

Checked all my connections and actually redid them with wago connectors just to be sure.

Then I checked for voltage at the wiring harness with the fan on 1 and AC on and no volts at all.

Checked the fuses under the hood (30a, 50a) as well as the 30a under the steering wheel. All good.

Will have to test the two relays for the low and high speed. Will also apply 12v direct to the fan on the high speed line. I don't think it's the fan.

After 18 years it is possible the relays gave out.

I'm hoping it's not a rodent issue where they chewed up wires to get nest building materials. I did just recently have a mouse die while driving on the highway when he fell into the cabin blower. I thought my engine blew up but it was him getting chopped up.

Any advice appreciated.

 

going thru the same now as prior poster. - how did you resolve this?

 

So post a picture of the part friend! Help us all out.

 

Get pet insurance to cover burial of the mouse.

 

I did this mod around 5 years ago, no problems still, and I AX my MINI S in 90+°F heat, on my way home from AX, I'll turn on the AC and it never gets too hot. High speed fan works fine (though its about the only time that I use AC living at 9000' altitude).