Every time I press the Auto defrost button the thing blows full power. When I try to reduce the fan power it just cuts off. Is that normal?

Is there a way I can adjust the fan power? I certainly don't need full force hurricane style defrost 100% of the time.

 

Yes, you can do what you want.
Rather than just pressing the Auto Defrost button quckly (which puts it into high blower mode for quick defrost), if you instead press and hold that button for 3-4 seconds it will direct the air flow to the windscreen but not change the fan speed (you can then adjust fan speed independently). This is covered on page 72 of the Owners Manual if you still have that.

 

+1
Simple thing...
Funny how there are multi page rants of folks complaing about this...lol...
Idea is once the window starts fogging up....you want to defogg it asap since you are moving...so one touch, full blast!! Then a second touch as it starts to work to "tone it down".... Amazing how much info is in the book...

 

PDF versions of the owners manuel for most years are available in many places....great to have one around!
Hopefully the car is doing better than it was few weeks ago for ya!!

 

Didn't get a user manual with the car. Didn't know there was a .pdf. In any case this route was quicker than digging through the manual.

If the answers to people's questions are going to be RTFM, then really what's the point in having a forum?

In any case, the thing comes on full blast with one touch, then with the second touch it's off. Logically, using the fan dial would turn it down, but it turns it off. I haven't needed the defrost since it's been warm the last few days, so I haven't tried the push and hold technique, but thanks for the info.

The car has been good for the last week, but I was just on my way somewhere and one of the coolant system hoses broke. I think it runs to the thermostat maybe? It's a "T" that's clamped into a hose about the size of the one that runs to the t-stat. It's right under the oil fill cap. Pretty easy to get to. Luckily I pulled over next to a fire station when I saw it redlining. I located the leak and the EMS guys gave me some "head tape" (the stuff they use to strap people's heads down when they're on the board) and I taped it up. It was good enough to get me home. Time to figure out what hose that is and figure out a fix.

 

Naww...
Feel free to ask!!
So many things on the mini should be easier....

A search for the user manual will get you the competing site many of us split on time on...think they have almost every gen1 year in pdf...motoring.....aliπ©€
We just mention it cause if you glance through it, you might say "heck, I didn't know I could do that" , or "that's why it does x that way...I've been doing it backwards"...
Some things like a emergency trunk release or emergency gas cap lid release (yup, there is one)are well known, others, less so...

Check realoem.com...
They have good skematics, and the part numbers and "suggested" pricing for parts, so even if you ho yo a vendor or rockauto.com for parts, you will know the suggested OEM pricing and the OEM part number to cross reference.
Good to hear you kind of got lucky this time....some folks have had zero luck with their cars...
In a couple weeks I will be celebrateing 10 years with mine....heck almost nothing but minor issues...knock on wood!!