All:

I apologize if there has been a previous thread on this. I could not find it in my searches.

For about the last two weeks, my cooling fan has remained on after I turned the car off. After about five minutes, it goes off on it's own. This doesn't happen every time I drive; probably 1 in 3 times.

This past Saturday, for the first (and thus far only) time, the temperature gauge spiked momentarily while I was out driving. It hasn't happened since, maintaining right at the normal "middle" of the gauge reading.

What's even more confusing is that the weather here (even in southern VA) has been cold the past couple of weeks, so one would think that overheating should be the very least of my worries!

Any thoughts as to why this might be happening? If I need to have the dealer work on it, I'd like to go in armed with a good theory rather than just a "I've got a problem" shrug...

Thanks in advance for the help!

Dave

(2005 MCS with 22000 miles)

 

You have my sympathies! There are several possibilities; hopefully it's just the thermostat, but in my case I had a leaking head gasket. See https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ght=thermostat

 

Before you get all worked up, it is probably not as bad as stated above, Check to see if your low speed fan is working.

At drive up windows my temps would spike. Purchased a fan assembly on eBay made by TYC, has lifetime warranty and cured my temp issues.

Thread is here: https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-solution.html

To sum up, your cooling fan has two speeds, low and high. Typically the high comes on when ever your MINI is about to overheat, or when you turn on your A/C. Problem is that a resistor for the low speed fan eventually fries, so the low speed fan does not come on.

What I found out was the low speed fan should come on instantly upon start up. For those of you here who have been driving a car for last 30+ years remembers that we used to have what was called: a fan belt - it ran when the engine ran and served the same function. In an effort to conserve HP, and gain fuel mileage sometime in the early 80's most manufacturers started using electric fans triggered by electronic switches governed by temp sensors mounted in various places in the engine.

Our Club Mechanic installed a unit I purchased from an auto parts dealer on EBay. Excellent quality, free shipping and the part made my TYC was under 80 dollars. To install, the Mini has to be put into service mode - front tires, bumper has to be removed completely, as well as the front radiator, then the fan slips in behind it pretty snugly. Coolant loss is inevitable as the top radiator hose has to be removed and therefore it has to be bled as well.

 

Same here happened to me today in MD. Coolant level was low.......spiked at 240 F! Bad ju-ju

 

Uh-oh. Don't want to scare you, but it's a closed/sealed system, so if the coolant's low chances are there's a leak somewhere. Good luck!

 

Same here. Mine had a leak (I don't remember where), but they fixed it (covered by warranty). I was shocked to check the engine coolant to find hardly any in there.

 

most likely the thermostat, get that checked. Also, like raven said, check the fan and see if it working. but its more likely on the thermostat side, goodluck.
-Andrew

 

this very thing happened to my wife's 07 R52 See no leaks but the coolant is low. want to get some coolant for before I move it to get it jacked up (my jack is too tall for the lift pads) is any nitrate free phosphate free green coolant aOK for this? All I have the garage is toyota red coolant and pretty sure mixing not a good idea
thanks

 

Is there a place to get just the resistor (radiator fan relay kit) or do I need to get the entire radiator fan assembly?

 

Try checking this:
http://www.detroittuned.com/shop/?productID=530