I know this has been covered a lot here, but there are some misdirections as to how the aux radiator fan should work. I am brand new to MINI's and just had the power steering pump fan replaced. MINI told me that my aux fan stage 1 wasnt working and that the stage 2 was working. I went out to my car and checked to see if they were telling me the truth and upon looking WITH THE A/C ON the fan would spin on low and then the high speed fan would cut on for about 5 seconds then cut off work a little and cut back on and it would keep repeating this. WITH THE A/C OFF it did not do this and the fan would not spin, i dont think it got hot enough to warrant the high speed fan coming on but the low speed fan was not coming on. would this be the resistor? or the whole fan?

 

Hi!

Just The Resistor.

 

If the fan goes on at low speed with the AC on, it's not the resistor. That it kicked over to high intermittently - that's strange. Haven't heard of that one.
It takes quite a while for the high speed to come on at idle - 234deg, IIRC.
So while your low speed is working (turning on with the AC proves that), something isn't right.

 

Just looked at it a little more and the fan actually doesn't stay on when the a/c is engaged but the high speed will kick in and out. However the p/s fan will only initially come on with the ac on. if I start the car with the ac off the ps fan will not engage until the ac is on. However once the ps fan is on. Turning the ac off doesn't affect it.....

 

High speed should only come on when it's really hot, and only after the low speed has been on for a while. If you DIY, I'd just replace the fan, but given you took it to MINI for the PS fan, probably not an option. It's a pain as you have to take off the bumper and various bits, but it's not terribly hard.
I'd recommend a good independent shop replace the fan - Rock Auto carries TYC and Dorman for under $70. But you might also try ECSTuning here on NAM.

 

The cars cooling system runs fine right around 93 Celsius for the cooling system when driving. The aux fan will come in for a second like it does and then turn off and repeat during a cold start. Only thing I can figure is the fans trying to work like stage 1 as a fail safe. But with the stage ten fan.

 

Buy a new radiator fan....$100 fix (was actually $85 with free shipping when i did mine) and a hour or two in the driveway....
Or a couple minutes longer for $24-50 for a resistor mod....just hope the motor is good....
My move...change it all out. Going on 5+ years, no issues.
Tyc brand fan, from rockauto.com...exact fit.

 

P.S.
When the high speed is cycling on and off, the motor is running MUCH HOTTER than it should be and the PSI in the ac System is very high due to lack of airflow if on...
Many folks find the fan is the problem when the must spend $500-1200 to fix a bad ac compressor...they are usually the next item to fail...it is working very hard...harder than it should due to no low speed fan....
You can logic out..it seems OK..etc all day...if it was meant to run that way from the factory, the engineers would have made it run that way....it doesn't for a reason....

 

Just ordered the tyc fan for my car. So replacing that should fix my problem or is there another problem? Also can someone explain why the p/s fan only
Comes on with the ac on..... But will stay on when you turn the ac off

 

I haven't heard of that problem, but I'd start with the fan. Don't know the specifics of the PS fan, but it could be tied to (and screwed up by) a faulty radiator fan and signals from it. If you replace the PS fan, that shouldn't be a problem, so it's something upstream. Given that your rad fan isn't acting normally, that's the next step.

Zippy, if his fan is cycling high just after starting with AC on, sounds more like a signal fault than a high temp fault. Possibly a temp sensor issue?

 

The radiator fan will cycle on/off due to the PSI switch in the ac system....airflows allows gas to condensate (you need airflow across the condensor...either driving or a fan) allowing the psi to drop.. . Fan goes off...ac needs to be running to have the psi switch active....the most telling failure of the low speed resistor is the short cycling with the ac on....
Fan radiator fan SHOULD run on low with the ac on...
But when psi becomes excessive...like no low speed fan or crazy hi temp, , there is a psi switch to turn on the fan to hi....
Short cycling hi (of the radiator fan)is pretty classic failed low speed resistor when the ac is on....
The PS fan is wired differently depending on the year....
But since the radiator is in the circuit on the PRE JAN2005 unmodified ones....not sure the outcome...but post jan2005 and modified (no PS fan plug on the radiator harness..the 2 wire connector) has the power off a fuse in the drivers footwell....
IF NOBODY ever checked the PS fan...it may be full of grit....they fail pretty regularly, and can get stuck, blowing a fuse that renders the radiator fan inop in the prejan2005 production wiring (the one with a 2 prong fan power plug used by the radiator) unless it was modified...
Typically the PS fan plug is but off or left dangling on the radiator side if the wiring was modified bybmini....the car side plug was reused from the harness when making the new circirut. At one point the instructions on how to modify the PS wiring was included with new fans from some vendors...waymotorworks sent me a copy years ago when I bought a ps fan...

 

Hi there. I'm having an issue with my AC pressure going up & down. Fan cutting on & off. Could you please read my post and check the youtube link and let me know if you feel this is the low speed resistor?

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ure-issue.html

Thank You