So for the last couple weeks my mini has been acting strange, I would come to a stop and my ac light would blink and it would start blowing hot air. Then two weeks after that I noticed whenever I would come to a stop my temp guage would be in the red. Then one day it overheated blowing steam and coolant everywhere. Checked all the fuses and they were good.

I took it to a shop and they said I needed a new thermostat, thermostat housing, radiator fan, power steering fan, and a new wiring harness. Apparently my power steering fan went out and it took out my radiator fan. They also said I had a leak at the thermostat housing. Well the quote they gave was WAY too high so I took the mini home and did all the work myself. Bought new everything and installed today.

My car is still exactly the same as it was before, no radiator fan at any speed, no powersteering fan even when ac is turned on. I'm super frustrated right now and don't know where else to look. I have exhausted all of my resources and now think that the shop was ripping me off and didn't really inspect anything, just thought it would be easier and they could bill more to replace everything.

Any ideas? My car has been out of commission for a week now and I need it running asap.

 

Fuses check out ok ?

 

yep, unless there are related ones underneath the fusebox for the high amp fuses

 

Ok when I got up this morning I pulled the relay and jumped it to see if the fan worked. It definitely turned on with power applied. Turned the car on to warm it up and it just kept running and running with the temp needle staying in the middle and the fans never came on. Turned on the ac to recirculate and max and it blew cold for a second then started flashing and went warm...still no fans. I'm out of ideas now. Please help.

 

They said you needed a new wiring harness....Did you replace it?!
If the wires leading to the fan from the sensor or the fuses are bad...they will never turn on.

 

The wiring harness was just to separate the ps fan from the radiator fan and put them on different circuits. I could not find a place online that sold it and just replaced everything as it came from the factory.

 

Dumb question...did you check both fuse boxes...under the hood, and inside?

 

The dealer did that modification on my car shortly after it was delivered to prevent future problems. You can also buy a power steering fan duct kit, and retrofit fit it to the earlier cars...it will fit all "S"'s and costs about 85$ from moss mini for the oem kit...it will prevent the ps fan from getting jammed, and blowing the fuse again....but you need to get it all working first.

 

Ok finally got some good luck! Pulled the battery cable to reset the eu, found a blown 5amp fuse in the engine compartment that doest seem to affect the fans (replaced anyways) and played relay musical chairs and one of those worked, because everything is perfect now.

 

For my information, where did you buy your wiring harness? I can't find any online?

 

The harness did not get replaced....
In general, an item made by MINI, for themselves, is a dealer only part....while other items that are branded (denso, bosh, ngk, spaal, etc) are avalable through the orgional manfactures of those parts, and commonly found online in various non-dealer scources.

 

Good to hear it is working...so many systems on these cars are interconnected in ways that only a engineer could explain...it just shows the importance of having everything working/checked out in a modern car.