My car will run fine, and be fine at stop lights. But when i am parked with it running for a while at taco bell, the bank, or a train crossing it will overheat. i can shut it off, and when i am able to start driving again it will cool down but can anyone tell me what is wrong?

Thanks
rhcp4life

 

Does the radiator fan work? Sounds like that is broken and cannot draw enough air to keep the engine cool.

 

Mine goes up to 220 when parked for a while, but once the fans kick in it goes right down to 195.

 

Better make sure your fans are in fact running. I cooked up mine nicely at a stop light on the way to the dealer! What year? My 03 wiring harness was set up such that radiator fan was in same circuit-when power steering fan jammed with a pebble it actually melted the harness for both fans(no fuse blew!) and neither fan worked. Interestingly I must have driven like that for quite awhile (mostly hiway) before motor actually got in stop and go long enough to overheat, otherwise airflow kept it from blowing. When harness was replaced (after long nasty exchange with dealer and involving MINIUSA)
and the fan came on, I thought, "What's that noise?"

 

Same deal on my 2002 Cooper this summer.. Had the power steering fan replaced and the updated wiring harness installed. Test if the fan is running by kicking the A/C on.

 

As others have posted make sure your fans, both of them, are working.

One fan is for normal operation, low speed, the other, high speed, is for the A/C only.
When the A/C is on the high speed fan runs regardless of the temp.

Hope this helps...

 

I believe it is the radiator fan that is not working, and no fuses are blown, could i be able to turn on my a/c and would that supply enough air to cool my radiator?

it is an 03/S

 

Check fuses under hood - 3rd or 5th back, 5 amp I believe. If its blown then the ps fan is most likely jammed. Would then need to get under the car and free the ps fan.

No running the ac won't help. You can turn the ac on to see if the low speed fan is coming on.

Nik

 

Pretty simple....fan is broken if fuses are ok and it does not run on low speed....fix it before you crack or warp your head/blow a head gasket from overheating. Rock-auto sells a pretty decent non-oem replacement for less than $100.00. It will turn into a $2000.00+ problem if you wait very long. Having the low speed portion of the fan fail is very common.

 

the fuse was blown and i am have no problems as of now.
thank you everyone for your help.

 

Strongly suggest look into harness replacement, see my experience above. Dealers have upgrade usually in stock and know of problem whether or not will acknowledge it.

 

Yeah...when the power steering fan gets stuck on an unmodified MINI, the fuse will blow, stopping the BOTH fans. Mine was modified by MINI for free. If you are out of warranty, and they will not rewire it, you might want to find out the price to do it. Also if the fuse was blown, your Power Steering fan probably should be replaced (if it blew the fuse, it is likely stuck or full of crud and corroded, and it will happen again!!)....they can be found new for $130 or so....I got mine from www.waymotorworks.com, great folk. A very easy DIY job.

 

Mine did that last summer...overheat in a drive-thru...etc. The power steering fan was seized up and full of dirt. When it seized it took out the fuse to the engine fan as well. I was able to free the power steering fan and get it working again, but I know its only a temp. fix. What I want to know, is if I get the car back to the dealer, and it is out of warranty...but has the problem existing, will they foot the bill for the wiring fix? Any info would be appreciated.

 

So if you split the circuit so when the power steering fan locks up it blows a separate fuse, how do you know when your ps fan is jammed? What damage can happen to the ps system if the fan is not running for an extended time?

I regularly check my low speed fan operation by turning on the ac - if it comes on then fuse is good, and the pd fan is ok, if not, must be blown. If its blown the power steering fan must be jammed. Jack car up, free up fan - replace fuse - all good. Other than jacking up the car every few hundred miles, how can you tell if the ps fan is working?

Just a thought.

Nik

 

1)Turning on you A/C only test the high speed..but you know the fan fuse is not blown...

2)with the modified harness, the fuse will be blown in the footwell of the passenger compartment....also you can check anytime you want, and physically inspect the fan when you do oil changes, etc.....the PS fan runs in general, from what I have read, when the cooling fan is on HI, or the power-steering fan call for it to turn on!

3) if the PS fan is not running for an extended period of time...it is likely that the electric motor will run VERY HOT, especially if the car is in traffic with little or no airflow, thus severely reducing it life, resulting in the need for a new power-steering pump!! About $600 plus install. Many, Many people have been bitten by this. It is cheaper than a cracked/warped head, blown head-gasket, etc that can results from a car overheating, and that can result from a fan failure from a blown fuse.

I installed the OEM power steering duct kit from MINI...it should solve the problem of the $130-180 fans getting destroyed by road grime and failing. I got mine from MOSS, it was about $80.00. It probably already paid for itself, and it was a very easy install....I just had to drill 2 holes in the PS fan shroud/mounting plate to mount it...newer power steering fan shrouds/mounting plate with 2 unused holes on the side will not need this mod..... All other parts just snapped in. It is a very nice, sleek, well engineered fix. (I think it was a standard item on the 06+ cabrio's, and MAYBE the 06' S's....anybody know?)
http://www.mossmini.com/Shop/ViewPro...79&SortOrder=1


Most of the aftermarket fan shields are just meant to stop things like plastic bags from getting sucked into the fan and jamming it....they seem to do little or nothing to extend the life of the fan itself...as they do not shield the fan from road grime (Also newer fans ((05' + I think)), were sold with an grill preventing this from happening!!)

IF YOU PLAN ON KEEPING YOU CAR FOR A LONG TIME, I STRONGLY RECOMMEND DOING THIS!!!

Sorry about screaming, but it has been so overlooked, and it is a simple factory fix for a known problem!! The only negative, is if you do you own oil-changes, you must twist two clips one turn, and bend the duct out of the way to drain your oil. Takes about 10 seconds, really a non-factor IMO.

 

Thanks for the response. I have well over 212000 miles on my 03 now, and I have only had the fan seize up once. I do however keep a close eye on everything and do regular maintenance and checks. Thanks to having the scan gaugeII I know what the temperatures are doing.

From my understanding when you turn on the ac the low speed fans come on. Do I have this backwards?

Nik

 

I think this statement is more or less correct....the hi will run if the ac is on, or the low is not providing enough cooling and the water temp passes a predetermined threshhold.....I think low speed is 195, hi is 205. I think you can actually watch it with your scanguage!!