Ok so I was driving home in traffics top and go traffic today when I noticed my coolant gauge was in the red. not sure how long it was hot, but I immediately pulled over and turned it off. Then a little bit of smoke came outta the hood, maybe for about ten seconds. The fan never turned on during any of this. It cooled down after a while and rush hour ended so I was able to drive home. I checked the fuse, F41 I think it was and it was not blown. I let the car idle to see if the fan would kick on and it never did and began to overheat again so I killed it. After a bit of research I've gathered that it is the fan. However I do not believe the low speed fan or the power steering pump fan has ever worked. I know the high speed fan did work before though as I've heard it many times. I just wanted to get some advice about if it actually is the fan or maybe a relay instead? And how do I tell if overheating did any damage to the head or the head gasket at all?

 

On pre2005 gen1 mini's, the ps fan can blow the fuse it shares with the radiator fan, rendering BOTH inop....
check your coolant level...and not sure off hand which fuse, nut check the ones bothunder the hood, and by the interior drivers side.
Overheating can cause a blown headgasket, a cracked head, etc..
The standard non chrono pack guages are idiot ones...they stay in the middle till it is too late....mostly there for looks....the real temp guage came in the chrono pack option.

 

Coolant level was fine. And no fuses were blown. Does that mean the radiator fan is bad?

As long as I'm moving it doesn't overheat and it took a while to start overheating while sitting on my driveway idling. So I know the pump is fine and the thermostat works cuz its Only overheated while not moving anywhere. It was about 75 degrees outside in traffic today.

Is there any way to tell if the head gasket is beginning to fail?

 

By the way I notice what you mean by the standard gauges... Once the needle moves above that middle line it flies

 

My 2003 mini (base model) is experiencing something similar. In stop and go traffic the gauge goes red hot but once moving the temp goes back to normal. I had the thermostat replaced and the issue went away but now it's back. Now I'm afraid it's the water pump as the coolant level is fine with no leaks. My car has 156K miles so it's probably time for a new pump anyways. Anyone else experiencing this?

 

Court4075. I had a similar problem. After rebuilding fan resistor, and installing new thermostat with system flush, it turned out to be a bad pressure cap on my radiator fluid bottle. I put the car's computer in the H20 temp mode and noted that the bottle would boil over right at 105c (?) as the fan kicked on. Replacing the cap solved the boilover's. The cap has to hold a certain amount of PSI or it will let the fluid boil out. Also check the seam around the fluid container which is noted for high failure.


HEAD GASKET FAILURE QUESTION? Check carefully for H20 on your dipstick, and check for oil in your radiator and/or bottle. Often you can spot pressure surges in the radiator bottle as well. I doubt if you hurt the head gasket unless it ran hot for an extended amount of time. My low speed fan was out for several years. I now suspect that my PS fan is not working when the high speed fan kicks on.

 

JRhea, Thanks for the info. There is no oil in my coolant and no coolant in my oil. What was causing your low speed fan to not work? Could my fan issue be the radiator cap? When it gets hot sometimes I can hear a squeeling noise coming from the cap as if air is just barely escaping from the cap.

Court4075, how long did replacing the thermostat fix your issue the first time? And do you know if the fan was kicking on or not when you were overheating the first time?

 

Hi Michael and JRhea.

The issue turned out to be a faulty relay. Thermostat was good and water pump is good. Big relief. Did you guys resolve your issues?