OK, here's the deal: this past weekend I went camping. My '02 MCS was sitting all day and night for 3 days (75 degree days, 45 degree nights, very little rain). After departing for home, stopped at a rest area, left the MINI idling while friends gassed up.

After about 5 minutes the temp gauge began rising and was quickly to the red overheat light indicator. Turned off the car, waited for it to cool, opened the coolant tank, level looked OK (but it was hard to tell--the coolant was rather dark, and the tank itself was difficult to see thru). A fluke, I thought. Turned on the car, waited a few minutes, same thing happened. Turned off the car. Got frustrated because it was Labor Day, I was on the New York State thruway and would have to get towed off the Thruway before MINI roadside would come for me (beware those restricted access toll roads!) Knowing that even after I got off the Thruway I would be towed to a dealer that was closed which was 7+ hours away from home (D.C.) I decided to follow the manual and top off with water, drive slowly and evenly to get myself off the Thruway.

Much to my surprise the MINI didn't overheat at all and I made it off the Thruway no problem. I decided at that point to drive south as far as I could so that if I was going to have a tow, the nearest dealer would be Philly, Baltimore, etc, something a little easier to deal with from D.C.

I made it all the way home with no incidents at all. Never left the middle of the temp gauge. Great, I thought, it was a fluke. Well...

Yesterday I went to pick up my wife from Yoga class, and while waiting for her to come out, sitting at idle in front of the studio, 5 minutes goes by, and wouldn't you know, the needle begins to creep toward the overheat indicator. Off goes the car, gets a little rest, wife comes out, car goes back on, drive home with the needle dead-center on the temp gauge...

So what gives? Your amateur and/or expert diagnosis is appreciated.

 

coolant fan... sounds like you might have a blown fuse..

 

^^^ wat he said. radiator fan's not working correctly

 

Be sure your power steering fan spins freely, looks like a ecu fan under the back of the engine. It's likely that you caught a rock or something in it making it lock up and causing the fuse to blow.

 

or an animal...

 

 

Check fuse F05 in the underhood fuse box, most likely it's blown. This is caused by failure or blockage of the power steering cooling fan under the car. It's a 5 amp fuse (the only 5amp fuse there). Run the car with the air conditioning on. The fan should run. Pop in a spare fuse (a spare can be found in the under dash fuse box; spares are arranged vertically along the edge of the fuse panel) and see if the fan starts. In many cases it will, but if the fuse blows immediately once again, the fan for the power steering has experienced a complete failure.

This is a known, ongoing problem with MINIs. Even the redesigned fan that was installed in '04 and later cars and is used as a replacement is not immune. A screen was added to prevent picking up certain objects, but the fan still suffers from water and dirt damage, depending on driving conditions.

 

Check to see if you are using small amounts of coolant, say if you have to fill the coolant tank every week. Then you may have a bad water pump. How do I know this. I had the same problem about a year or so ago right after the JCW install, turns out that one of the water pump seals were defective, car would over heat whenever its not moving would be normal when moving. The other cause could be the power steering fan has blown a fuse.

 

Had the same problem with my 02 Cooper. Turned out to be a first year design flaw. The coolant fan was on the same circuit as another fan, I think it was the power steering fan or something, hell, I dont remember. Well the other fan went out, blew a fuse, which killed the coolant fan. Had to have the car towed to the dealer to put the fans on separate circuits. I know little about cars, but that seems like silly engineering to me.

 

If the fuse was blown, wouldn't the power steering be out? I can still hear the whine of the PS fan and turning the wheel is normal.

Are we talking about the PS fan or the coolant fan here? Isn't it the coolant pump and the PS fan on the same circuit? Is the radiator fan another circuit? Which on is F05 (as suggested by Greatbear)

I haven't touched the coolant tank or added anything myself in the 3 years I've owned the car. The coolant tank has been replaced (as were most leaky tanks on the '02 models). Why all of a sudden would this happen that the coolant level was suddenly too low--do the seals degrade over time?

I haven't checked to see if the "circuit-split" recall has been done yet (where they add wiring to move the PS fan and Coolant onto separate fuses). I haven't requested it, but the dealer may have done it on their own.

Is the screen over the PS fan a dealer-instructed recall/fix/upgrade, or has that been left up to the '02 owners without them?

Thanks y'all

 

Just double checked, the coolant fan and the power steering fan are on the same circuit. If the power steering fan goes out the power steering could still work OK, but this causes the shared fuse to blow which is why the coolant fan wasnt working. NWMini said that this is not just an 02 problem.

 

So last evening I checked the engine compartment fuse #5 and it was indeed blown. I replaced it with the spare fuse from the interior fuse box, jacked up the MINI and cleared out the PS fan (little bit of chewed up paper seemed to be blocking it), let her down nice and easy, head off to go out to dinner...

After parking at dinner I turned off the car and -- whirrrrrrrr, the radiator fan comes on!

I have an appointment schedule at the dealer anyway in 2 weeks. I'll have the circuit split recall done then. Anything else I should ask for? New PS fan/cover? Maybe a coolant system flush and fill?

Thanks to you all for your help on this one!

 

WHATEVER YOU - DO NOT LET THEM FLASH YOUR ECU WITH CURRENT SOFTWARE. Not knowing the history of your '02 MCS it sounds like it may not have been in for any recalls. So you may still be running the v32 software which allows your MSC to scream! If they flash with the latest sfw you'll lose all that fire breathing performance.

They probably won't replace your power steering fan cuz it isn't broke. If that is the case then check out my gallery for a photo of a Sun server muffin fan screen that I removed from a scrap server and was a direct bolt on cover for your fan.

Get them to replace the coolant can with one that doesn't leak and have them replace that hatch latch that rattles like crazy.

But whatever you do - DO NOT LET THEM FLASH YOUR ECU for the emmissions recall.

Wow. I can't believe I said all that.

...Les

 

Had the exact same problem with my 02 MC. The fuse in the engine compartment, I think #5, a 5 amp fuse blew because of the power steering fan which crapped out. I had to unplug the PS fan and put in a new fuse. All is good now. I still have to get a new PS fan but it seems kind of wimpy anyway.

 

yep it is the power steering fan just fixed my power steering fan, had it happin twice and had to fix it twice

for now if your not under warranty just unpluge the power steering fan and you wont have any more overheating episodes

just replace the fuse and get a new fan

both the cooling fan and the power steering fan run on the same circuit

i ran all summer without a power steering fan and have been ok, dont expect it to last much longer but i didnt have the money for the fan just then

espeacially if you went camping prolly got something in their !!!

anywho hope you get it resolved

 

oh i should have kept reading, great to here you fixed it

 

betta ya they do it whether u tell them to do it or not cuz recall mandated by law they must do before it leaves

 

not really a good idea to keep your p/s fan unplugged may not cuz a problem now but if u keep overheating the p/s motor that will cost alot more than the fan