I have a later model, so I'm not sure if your high-speed fan relay is in the engine compartment fuse box. Mine is, and I just had to tap on it to get the fan to stop (or unplug it momentarily)

I hate the Dorman replacement resistor. It's very poorly made. But... it's a good design. If you go that route, read the last few pages of this thread and be prepared to modify it before installation; to add terminal end rings and small bolts so their wires don't fall off the resistor tabs. Since (re-) installation, mine has performed perfectly. Plus, the fan doesn't stay on after turning the engine off.

 

Yeah, that's exactly what I have to do actually; just tap on the box behind the radiator with what looks like the word "GATE" on it with the end of a screwdriver and it then stops running. It's a pain in the...

I'll take a look at that the last few pages of this thread to determine what I should do to modify the Dorman resistor pack.

Thanks a lot for the help here.

Happy Memorial Day.

 

Here's the post and link for the Dorman fix.

 

Yes.

The one on the left is the OEM and the one on the right is the Dorman. The middle one is a bit more robust than the OEM and it comes on the TYC replacement fan.

///Rich

 

Great comparison, Rich.

While I am always a supporter of our sponsors, Detroit Tuned in this case, nobody should be selling these Dorman fan resistors unless and until Dorman fixes the wire attachment problems with them. That said, Detroit has them for $42 but Amazon (Prime) has them for $24.50 (shipped). Since you'll have to invest time and a little more money to fix the NEW part, I suggest going with the cheapest selection available. Reminder: the crimp connectors aren't included, so you'll need two yellow and one blue butt connectors, plus heat-shrink tubing of assorted sizes. Or some soldering skills.

 

I have read through this and many other threads but have come up with nothing. What is a surefire way to check if the low speed stage is working? When I kick on the AC, the fan does come on and go off. However, I have no way to tell whether it is stage 1 or stage 2. Since I did not buy my R53 new, I have no way to know if or when the fan is working and on what stage since I have no way to gauge the sound difference.

Thanks in advance for any help.

-Tom

 

You need to learn how to read.

 

Everything you need to know is in this thread.

 

AFAIK, the low-speed fan should come on and stay on when the A/C is turned on (and working properly). If you're hearing the fan clearly over the engine noise, that's most likely the high-speed fan circuit (which is likely cycling on and completely off, as opposed to high and low). You can put your hand behind and off to the side of the radiator fan (towards the battery) and feel the air blowing. If it's making a growling noise, it's most certainly the high-speed circuit because you probably won't hear the low-speed fan when it's on.

And if the car's been sitting (not warmed up at all) and you start it and turn the A/C on, and the fan doesn't come on (you can see it not turning), the resistor is the culprit.

If you're up to it, you can use jumper wires to the fan harness connector plug. (Obvs, be careful with this testing approach). Unplug the connector and connect the ground pin to a body/chassis bolt with alligator clips; then clip a hot wire to the pos + battery terminal and touch the other end to either of the remaining two pins in the connector: one is thicker than the other, but they're both the same color. If the resistor is good, you'll get 2/3 of the 12V to the fan and it will run at that lower speed; and from the other wire you'll get 100% 12V power directly (no in-line resistor in this circuit) to the fan motor, resulting in loud, high-speed fan. You'll probably get the high-speed circuit to work this way whether or not the resistor is bad.

 

Thank you Filmy

 

This was very helpful.

 

that response was both extraneously verbose and inaccurate. Filmy you should not be giving advice to a guy who obviously has a problem with reading comprehension. Telling him to wire up directly to the battery is a mistake and dangerous. Do not do this.

 

I am unsure what I did to deserve an attack like this. I simply asked a question in a very long thread in which I have looked over since 1 am this morning. I have also research other forums and there are very mixed responses.

I am so glad this forum has such welcoming and helpful members like yourself.

 

If you don't know that the advice I gave you is good (the part about learning to read) then I suggest you pay a professional to work on the car. Everything you need is in this thread. READ IT FROM THE BEGINNING.

It boggles my mind that you are publicly exclaiming that one of THE greatest threads of all time about a serious problem in the first gen minis that has every single answer to every question ever asked about this problem does not, according to you, contain the information you need.

I'm not spelling out the "answer" to you on purpose. Jesus CHRIST.

 

i bought my wife a 2003 mini cooper s i replaced low ac hose and high ac hose with pressure switch my compressor kicks on i had the ac system evap and recharged ac still doesn't blow cold i also noticed my low speed fan does not kick on at all only once car is driven a while the high speed one kicks on and runs i replaced thermostat those two hoses what else can it be? will the low speed fan not come on cause my ac not to blow cold? please help

 

You will need good airflow over the A/C condenser in front of the radiator to cool the A/C refrigerant. Either your fan needs to suck air through it, or you need to drive at medium/high speed to make this happen. If the A/C gets colder as you drive fast, you will know that it's working properly. You still need to repair the low-speed fan circuit. As long as your high-speed fan comes on, you won't have a problem with overheating in most circumstances, it's just annoying.

 

Read this entire thread from the beginning and then you will be educated on the low speed fan. The AC not being cold is an unrelated problem. Ie you AC can be broke without the fan being broken although a low fan failure can lead to stress on the AC compressor and lead to premature failure.

 

Just wanted to confirm my thoughts following LordOfTheFlies and a few other posts. I ordered the mouser resistor everyone else is using after reading the entire 50 page thread. My 06 R52 resistor is dead (tested with multimeter) and low speed doesn't work

Everything else is fine. Plan was to cut the low speed wire in two, and wire one side of the resistor to the low speed wire coming FROM the fan side plug. Don't use the wire actually going to the fan after the cut.

Then, Posi-Tap the high speed wire on the fan side plug and run a wire to the other side of the resistor.

I am not great with electrics but my understanding is this will take the signal from the low speed wire, run it through the resistor, and somehow supply power via the high speed wire into the fan so it runs at low speed? Is that correct?

Sorry for the basic questions, this thread is mostly WAY over my head haha.

 

Exactly. Pretty straightforward. You should mount the resistor to metal to help shed heat. You take the signal from the car (that's one side of the resistor) and then send a reduced voltage down the hi speed wire to the fan (that's the other side).

 

Doing it 1:1 like your post. I work at a computer shop so I picked up all the needed thermalpaste and such today. Resistor should come by the weekend and I can go back to using my AC!!! (mine isn't broken, just don't want to stress it with no low speed fan). I'll let you know how it goes!

 

My wife was at Walgreens in drive thru when car started made like a chugging feel she turned off car then restarted it and it ran fine when i checked fuses on driver side of her 03 mini cooper s two relays were loose i pushed them they snapped back in place one shows a gas pump and and one right above was really loose like a arrow going thru a circle a negative under postive above i dont know much about these cars

 

Never actually soldered anything before (though I knew how it worked due to attempting some headphone repairs) and I just did it! Everything works great. I've yet to drill/tap holes for the resistor, which gets SUPER hot, but everything is nicely wired, heatshrinked, soldered and good to go. Big thanks to LordOfTheFlies! Also I would fully recommend the Posi-Taps I bought off Amazon. They make things SO easy!

 

Thanks but Chirs.j.lamb deserves all the credit for figuring everything out as well as everyone who has posted helpful comments on this thread.

Glad to hear it worked out for you. I went to fastenal to get stainless screws and a special drill bit for tapping those specific screws. Use a drop of medium loctite in the screws when you finalize.

 

Thanks, my fix is still working............

 

So is mine. And my wife's. Thanks again!