My sincere apologies if this has been addressed in the past. I recently purchased a 2013 Cooper S. First month went fine, but saw an oil leak starting and took it into the Mini dealership for repair (fortunately man. warranty in effect until November). Diagnosed as bad water pump and solenoid. Replaced and took home. Next morning oil leak was even worse. Took in and determined oil filter gasket bad and service kept over weekend and a day. Picked up and they said that they also replaced temp sensor.

This brings me to my issue. Within minutes of driving off, high speed fan kicked on and just stayed on. Did not matter if I was in stand still traffic or in clean air going 70 on the interstate. It will cycle down to the low speed only after I turn the car off and wait approximately one minute. Low speed runs another minute and then silence.

I took it back in the next day and my service rep said that the high speed fan running like this was normal. I do not recall that the fan stayed on high speed before I took it in for all of the maintenance. It is obviously louder and actually subtly vibrates the car when sitting still.

My question to the experienced folks of the forum, is this normal? It just seems like to me that when you are going through clean air, that this should cool the engine at least to a degree that the high fan shouldn't be on. I am concerned that the high speed fan running from 30 seconds after starting the car until a minute after shutting it down is a recipe for burning out the fan motor. Perhaps the original temp sensor was bad and it should have been doing this all along.

Air temperature has varied from 60's at night to 80's during the day. Doesn't matter, same thing happens.

Thoughts and experiences are much appreciated.

 

It is not normal for the fan to run once you start the car early in the morning when it getting this cold now a days. the dealer basically got tired of you going to them! I suggest taking a look at your antifreeze level. if it is low, the fan will kick to compensate for the little amount heating up quicker. (my car did that when i was loosing antifreeze after a transmission swap. the ATF cooler was bad and leaking antifreeze. after the fix, the fan ran when it needed to). step two, after confirming coolant level, check temp senor they installed. get live data reading the coolant temp.

 

Antifreeze level looks fine. Got into the computer and the coolant temperature jumps to 108* C sometimes quickly (30 seconds) sometimes longer (5 minutes). Once it hits this temp the high speed fan comes on and does not go off until a minute or so after I turn off the engine. While driving it will then climb to 114* C and pretty much stays there, give or take 3*. Doesn't matter if I am in clean air or in bumper to bumper traffic. Oddly, when I go into Sport Mode, the running temp stays about 108*, the temp where the high speed fan turns on. I called another dealership and the said the the typical running temperature runs 88-94* C. I hear that fan going while I am driving and it gets my temperature hot.

 

After starting the car for few minutes, can you CAUTIOUSLY confirm pressure in the system? Is there any check engine light? Get a reading anyway for possible pending codes.