NO.. it goes between the thick and thiner wire you can cut the thin wire or some peaople leave it intact, it can be fitted any way round, make sure it is screwed to a meatal surface with compound between.

 

drozd is correct, the fan is fed by 3 wires, Brown is the common (ground), leave that alone, then there are 2 other wires color aside one is thinner, this one normally goes to a fan shroud mounted resistor then connects to the thicker one that goes to the fan. you are just creating that circuit where it can be reached without service mode disassembly...you can cut the thinner (green/red wire after the plug to preserve intergrity (if you ever had to replace the fan you can plug it in) I chose not to. If you shorted the thin wire to the larger, the fan would come on full power (if EMC was calling for it), but it would eventually blow a fuse due to the amperage since the thinner guage (14) wire is not capable of the amperage(current) of the thicker (12) GA wire. However if you put the proper.33 ohm resister inline, the fan will operate at about 1/3 power (hence slow speed)and the current will not exceed the smaller guage limits and work as designed. there are some decent posts in this thread with pictures and diagrams as well.

 

ok thanks, sorry not sure why I said that - I did a similar thing to a mk4 golf but someone was selling a kit for that.

I've read the complete thread but as you can imagine lots (and lots) of information in here gets too much sometimes - a handy install PDF is whats needed. Maybe I'll do one

So you could cut/connect it before or after the plug then - but after means if the fan was ever replaced then you've not done any harm.

in basics, cut thin wire, put into resistor, then from resister connect to thick wire - this is whats shown on a PDF further back in the thread.

Which resistor have you guys (if you've done it) used? I've found a 0R47 which I understand will spin the low speed a little less than stock but should be fine.

 

Mouser Electronics P/N 284-HS100-0.33 100 Watt capacity 0.33 Ohms resistance Arcol Wirewound Resisitor-Chassis mount- none in stock at the moment

http://www.mouser.com/ProductDetail/...XjsYM7uQ%3d%3d

Arcol's HS Series of aluminium housed power resistors are designed for direct heatsink mounting with thermal compound to achieve maximum performance. A special encapsulation material and process allow for high insulation levels with minimal thermal resistnace at the element. Arcol aluminium power resistors have a resistance range of R005 to 100KΩ, up to 600W, a tolerance from 0.5%, and high power-to-volume ratio.

 

I've managed to source a Tyco unit now - the HSC100R47J so that should do the trick.

Just need now some 10 or 12 gauge wire and a connector of some sort (scotchlock) and I should then be good to go. Assume this gauge wire is ok from past posts.

Just for information more than anything else, the unit I purchased and fitted to a Mk4 Golf which had this problem https://www.nime.co.uk/nimeshop/showitem.f?itm=2

Not cheap but cheaper than £500 for supply and install of some new fans!
Seems like a common fault on many cars. I also has a SEAT Leon a few years ago which in 4 years had 2 sets replaced.

 

I managed to get all the bits except some wire, looking at Chris' calculations it seems I need wire capable of 14.4A so wire rated to 20A would be suffice to do this?

 

Yes, but I fitted th thickest wire I could find in my garage that I could solder to, just in case.
BTW still working fine, no problems!

 

for anyone wanting a quick resistor test on a later model, go unplug the fan connector. on the fan side, you should have a black wire (ground) a thick red wire (full fan speed) and a thinner red wire (resistor fan speed).

hook the black wire to ground with a jumper wire and just touch it to the shock tower, or any exposed non-painted bolt. then hook up another wire to the thick red wire connection and hit the battery positive with it. the fan should spin up full speed.

now just move the wire from the thick red to the thin red. if the fan spins, your resistor is good. if it doesn't (like mine), then it's new resistor time!

 

Got my resistor today. Will be installing in the next 2 days.

did anyone put in a diode in series with the resistor to mimic the old setup? If so, what did you use?

 

I suppose if the high speed fan relay were to fail closed (on) the low speed resistor would back-feed that circuit which could potentially have issues. I hadn't considered it till now...anyone install one or post the size from a removed OEM?

 

It would "feed-back" to the same 12v source, and thus not be a problem. Remember, this modification is with the high-current side of the relays, and not on the low-current coil (computer) side.

If the high speed fan relay would fail closed, the entire low speed circuit would stop doing anything useful (be functionally bypassed) and the fan would run continuous at high speed.

In reading this, and the other, long thread, it appears that the original resistor is a BMW/MINI "semi-custom" part and you can't buy the exact same part in the open market. The replacement resistor from Mouser, is an electrical equivalent, but not a mechanical equipment. That's actually good in that it is has better heat sinking/cooling possibilities when mounting in an alternate location.

 

In reading thru this thread, I am left wondering if the original resistor is failing due to "failed design", or as the unexplored possibility is that the fan motor itself is starting to fail, drawing more current (though not over 30amps quite yet) and the original resistor fails due to that higher current draw? Yea, possibly the original resistor should have be designed to work all the way up to the 30amp permitted by the fuse, but I could envision a jr engineer picking a resistor that is adequate to only handle the "new fan" actual current draw.

Yea, this is just my paranoid side thinking out loud that replacing just the resistor, and not the entire fan assembly, is only buying you some time until the fan motor completely fails (or starts to draw more than 30amps).

Has anyone measured the low-speed current draw of a brand new fan, vs. an older fan with a replaced resistor?

 

Resistor install complete! It works great. I can't believe how hot it gets, even when heatsinked to the aluminum engine mount. Slow fan speed works great though, so I'm satisfied.

I also took out my spal power steering fan that I installed 1 year ago, which is already full of grit (grrrrrr). I can't seem to take it apart but I got it lubed with some motorcycle chain lube and at least it runs now. I believe the duct kit will be next on the list. I need to fab up some warning light system that comes on when the fan is supposed to be running but is not.

Also, while testing the car, I found a new rattle, coming from the alternator.

When it rains, it pours

 

I got a MINI oem fan assembly for my Feb 2003 MINI Cooper part number 17101475577 and did a little testing
on the resistor and the fan. I got the whole thing as I didn't want to mess with putting a new resistor in the old one at this moment.
The resistor is labeled R30 and seems to be a 0.30 ohm resistor.
It's hard to test low values like this directly with an ohm-meter, so I hooked up the resistor in series with a 1 ohm resistor and measured
the voltage drop across each one individually when connected to a 1.5 V D cell.

I got a value of 0.29 ohm for the resistor.

I also tested the fan in series with a 1 ohm resistor and got a value of 0.33 ohm for the fan.

Based on this, at 13.5 V, the fan on high should draw about 550 watts at 40.5 amps, and the fan on low should draw about 155 watts
and the resistor should dissipate about 135 watts (21.67 amps through each). For a 0.33 ohm resistor, would calculate to about
137W each for the fan and the resistor (20.3 amps).
If there's a little voltage drop through the wiring and the relay, the power consumption would be a little lower.
at 12 V that would be about 430W on high and 122W fan/107W resistor on low with a 0.29 ohm resistor,
or about 125W each with a 0.33 ohm resistor.

 

The 17101475577 part I got has a 3 pin connector and a 2-pin connector.
Was told this was the correct part for my build date and VIN when I ordered it, and RealOem said so too.
The high speed needs the relay on (powered by the 2-pin connector) to send
+12V to the fan via one of the pins on the 3-pin connector.
My car's fan assembly (build date 2/28/2010 VIN ...TC44243) has only a 3 pin connector
and sends +12V directly to the fan by the high speed pin.
Should I have gotten the later model (17117541092) which I believe only has
a 3-pin connector?

 

The fan changed at build date 3/2003 (According to this thread) before that date the fan relay was in the fan assembly after that date its in the relay box under the bonnet. the later one only has one 3pin plug... yours should have been the earlier one 2/03 but only by one day (possibly) so could be one of the first with the late assembly, its a no brainer though you have to replace like for like so you need the one for the later model.

 

Thanks. For others with similar build dates: check which you have before
getting the part rather than depend on the dealer or RealOem to have the
correct info. The part number is not visible without removing the fan, but
the connectors are easy to spot when you know what to look for.

 

For those of you with older cars like my 2003 MINI, you might want to check out the fan before
replacing just the resistor. My old fan seemed a little slow on high speed
(low speed was out due to a failed resistor) when I compared it to high speed
on a new fan, and I measured about 1.8 ohms on my old fan, whereas
two new fans both measured about 0.35 ohms. I had two to check because
the first one I bought was the wrong one.

BTW just replaced my fan assembly today.

 

That is my worry too.

That the resistor blowing out is just an early symptom that the fan motor itself is about to fail. Basically, the fan motor just before failure starts to pull excessive current and overheats the resistor.

 

So how do you fix that? Is there a way to manufacture a fan that won't ever need replacing? The bearings have to wear, right?

 

Hi folks,

2006 MCS with 67k miles checking in. I started the car in the garage, turned on the A/C, and only heard the high speed fan going on and off. I decided to test without turning on the A/C, sure enough the temp went pretty high on the chrono pack gauge before the high speed fan came on. Therefore, I ordered up the .33 ohm 100 watt resistor (10 were available) and will install it soon. I haven't checked with the multimeter yet but I imagine I will find an open circuit on the low speed side.

Surprisingly, it seems my power steering fan still works! I just wanted to clarify one thing--it is tied in with the radiator fan relay, right? So it should not turn on until the radiator fan is requested to come on? For some reason I thought it was always running, but it clicked on when I imagine the low speed fan was supposed to come on, and was definitely on when the high speed came on.

As an aside, dumping 100 watts of heat into a resistor seems like an incredibly silly way to generate low speed on a fan. Having it air cooled, when it will most likely be needed while the car is sitting still, is the icing on the silly.

Geoff

 

Got the ARCOL resistor from RS Electronics after 3 days and installed as per above in 15 min. Works fine, Thanks! Only found out it wasn't working when doing an a/c regas & apparently its more important to the a/c system to have it working than for the water temp. Not running the low speed leads to increased pressure and reduced compressor life.

Thanks Again
Dion

 

Hey gang,

Re: '06 MCSc (build date Jan. 2006)

As a routine check on the low speed (Stage 1) fan operation, I turned ON the AC and wait for the fan to kick in. Both fan and AC are dead. The high speed (Stage 2) is still working. Please advise...

I'm tracking down which of the components (resistor, relay) is faulty... OR both.

First... Relay (in fuse box) - how do you test it?

Second... According to this post, you can direct wire the fan to test both Stage 1 & 2. Since my is an '06 model, the wire colors are different but still 3 wires. Does this method apply to the '06 model?

Thanks!

 

2006 MCSa.

No low speed fan. Burned resistor. Local guy wants $500 to fix it. $330 for the OEM fan. I say screw that.

Read post by Chris Lamb. Bought the resistor from mouser electronic following the link posted by one of the guys in this forum.

Just installed it today.
There are three wires in a plug next to the hood latch.
Unplugged it, easy enough can be done with ur hand.
Brown-ground (dont do anything)
Blue&red big one- high speed (dont do anything)
blue&red smaller one- low speed.

Cut the smaller one, connect the end coming from the car to one end of the resistor.
get a new thick wire, connect to the other end of the resistor and tap the new thick wire to the Blue&red big one(high speed) using scotchblock.

Put the plug back to its housing.

Start ur car and turn on the AC to the lowest setting.

Low speed fan will turn. but ur resistor will get very hot very soon. Maybe consider getting some heat sink and mount it next to the intercooler or inside your cold air intake box if u have one.

In mine i just screw it next to the plug. Will come up with a plan soon on the mounting.

But glad, just save lots of $$ resistor cost only $20 vs replacing OEM fan $330 or even rockauto fan still cost $80 before labor.
Work time= 15 mins.
No need to take anything apart from the car. Just got to cut some wires and get some wire connector, a crimper, black tape and wire stripper.

 

The resistor is designed to be mounted to a heat sink, here is how I mounted mine, don't forget to use some compound between the two.