Hi,

I am selling my son's 2005 mini cooper s. He lives in California now and the vehicle is in Ohio. The last guy to drive it said the power steering pump fan wasn't working. He pulled fuse F5 located under the hood and said it looked ok. He said he would buy it if I got the fan to work. I checked both sides of the fuse with a multimeter and read 13v with the A/C off and 12v with the A/C on. I disconnected the fan and measured around 1.5v at the fan connector on the car. The radiator cooling fan turns on when the A/C is turned on.

The pump fan has a manufacturing date of 06/03/12 on it. Am I correct in assuming this vehicle has the upgraded circuit for the power steering pump cooling fan? Is there a relay used in this circuit? Thanks for any advice.

Steve1987

 

The PS fan only comes on when the radiator fan goes on high speed.
The AC will only turn the fan on low speed, so you shouldn't expect the PS fan to come on with it.
You can check to see if it's working by pulling the high speed fan relay and shorting the terminals to turn it on.

 

Thanks very much mrbean, I will check that tomorrow and let you know.

 

Mrbean,
I am lost. I pulled the relay labeled R4 in the fuse box near the driver's strut. From the diagram on the side of the relay, it looks to me that lugs 85 and 86 energize the relay. And lugs 30 and 87 are the contacts. But when I checked the socket contacts first with a voltmeter I am getting 12volts across them. Am I on the wrong relay or am I not reading the relay diagram correctly? All of this is with the key out of the ignition switch and the engine warm to the touch. Thanks.
Steve1987

 

After reading up on automotive relays, I now have a better understanding. I jumped the contacts as mrbean suggested and the radiator cooling fan turned on. The PS fan did not. I checked continuity on the PS fan and it read 2.1 ohm. The fan blade is a little stiff but works when I connect it to a 12v source. Where should I look next. Thanks.
Steve1987

 

So the fan works, it's just not getting juice. Before you get too deep in the weeds, check the fuse for the PS fan. It should be in the fuse panel in the footwell; it's either #40 or #41 depending on the build date of the car.

I also want to make a correction to my original post- the PS fan should come on when the radiator fan is on low speed, I mis-read the wiring diagram. So maybe redo what you did on R3 too.
There is a separate relay just for the PS fan. When R3 is engaged it sends power to the coil of the PS relay which turns on the PS fan. Unfortunately it's buried behind the plastic trim in the driver side footwell, so make checking this the last thing you do.

 

The fuse in the kick panel was blown. Thanks so much for your help mrbean.
Steve1987