My 2006 MCS has been showing signs of issues. It started with the power steering being stiff when starting up the car and beginning to turn. It quickly went back to normal. Also I noticed one day the air conditioning went warm while sitting at a stoplight. I looked into the low speed resistor on the radiator fan and it was in fact bad. I wired in a new resistor and the fan started working great and the car started running much better. I no longer had the stiff steering on startup. Fast forward 1 week and the stiff steering started to show up again and the car started to overheat just before I got to where I was going. Now this morning I looked into things and found the low speed fan isn't working and my steering is permanently stiff. The battery and check engine lights are one. It is throwing P1617, P0500, and P0130 codes. I checked all the fuses inside and underneath the engine fuse box. They are all good. I even installed new R1 (engine) and R3 (low speed fan) relays with no change. I checked the relevant fuses in the drivers side fuse box and all are good. I measured the voltage going into the radiator fan and got 0V on both the low and high. So the 12V for the low isn't being fed correctly. I know the high speed 12V will eventually come on because the high speed went on when I parked the car last night when it almost overheated. One other weird thing is I turned the car into accessory mode when the high speed fan was stuck on with the car off and then turned accessory mode back off and the fan turned off. What could my root cause be? I am not getting power to the low speed radiator fan or power steering.

 

You may have a few different issues at foot. Do you hear any noise from the p/s pump or see any signs of leakage under the vehicle? You may have an intermittent P/S failure. The power steering pump on the MINI is one of those items that seems to have a bad reputation. There was a recall sent out for them in October of last year, but I do not believe model year '06's were included in it. I'd also recommend checking out your p/s pump fan. Do you see it or notice it kick on when the AC is on? The battery light coming on makes me think it could be an alternator issue. This can cause some p/s issues. I'd check your alternator too to rule it out of the equation. You can check out our alternator replacement for testing info on our site under MINI > Tech Info (tab at top) > Electrical > Alternator Replacement.

P1617 Electronic Control Module H Bridge Controller
P0500 Vehicle Sped Sensor - some info here.

I have seen issues associated with these codes where a relay worked itself loose. I'd check over them and make sure they look good. Info here.

P0130 02 Sensor Circuit Malfunction (Bank I Sensor 1) - info here.

 

I would start with diagnosing why you had a battery light. Chances are that you need an alternator, if you're getting a battery light.

Other reasons for a battery light would be a failed crank pulley, slipping aftermarket SC pulley, or too large of a belt.

Weird things happen when you don't have proper power..

 

Issue ended up being a bad alternator. Power steering pump was sensing bad alternator so it wasn't kicking on. Probably not enough power to drive the relay for the low speed fan also. Replaced the alternator and replaced a leaking thermostat housing gasket while I was in there and now back up and running! Thanks for your help.