MINI Cooper 2002 Fan/Radiator Not Working

zudecke

Hi,

I even made a thread about the loud radiator/fan on my 2002 Mini Cooper (Auto), that would buzz after long'ish periods of driving and often buzz for about 2 minutes after the car was turned off.

I got used to that and took it as norm.

Now however, the fan/radiator doesn't come on at all and it's causing the engine to over heat massively! Yesterday, before I realised the fan must be out, the engine got so hot that the coolant overflowed and bubbles were splashing on the hot engine.

I have one assumption. And its dumb. I put one of those tree air freshners on the indicator knob and tucked the actual tree into one of the grooves of dash. When I tried to remove the tree, the thread broke and the tree got stuck in the car and I'm GUESSING that it may have got sucked into the fan/radiator and possibly broken it? Reason for assumption is, the fan and everything else was working perfectly before the losing of the tree incident!

Is this possible and what sort of resolution am I looking at and cost wise?

Cheers as always guys!

TD

vikingaero

The radiator fan is just a fan in the engine compartment and blows air onto the radiator. It is in no way connected to the magic tree air freshener! That's just coincidence. It's an 8 year old car and MINIs of this era weren't great for build quality. At best you'll need a new fan, but hopefully you haven't damaged the engine by driving for long with it overheating.

zudecke

So how do you know the air freshening tree didn't get sucked and broke the fan??

Either way, what d'ya reckon is broken - the fan or the radiator?

Thanks again!

TD

hartcjhart

how would an airfreshener tree or otherwise work its way from the dashboard to the radiator coolant fan ?? unless its very clever and agile,

sounds like the fan motor is kaput or if lucky the fuse has gone,

but with the excess overheating be prepared for poss head gasket problems

vikingaero

zudecke wrote: »

So how do you know the air freshening tree didn't get sucked and broke the fan??

Either way, what d'ya reckon is broken - the fan or the radiator?

Thanks again!

TD

It's unlikely the magic tree would get sucked in and disabled even the ventilation fan deep in the dashboard.

If the car is overheating then it's the radiator fan that has a problem. The coolant is pumped around the engine/radiator/heat exchanger and the radiator (in the engine bay) is cooled by an external radiator fan than only cools the radiator and has no direct link to the ventilation system.

zudecke

Damn.. Thanks for your replies guys!

Can anyone submit some ballpark figures along with some of the possible fixes for the problem? I know it's impossible to tell, but estimations, given the problem means there are a finite number of problems/repairs.

Also, if anyone knows of a good BMW/Mini garage/mechanic in London, that'd be great too !

zudecke

anyone?????

motorguy

zudecke wrote: »

anyone?????

You are at severe risk of damaging the engine by driving it when the fan isnt working if you havent done so already.

Check out a LOCAL independent garage to you and have them take a look. It neednt be a BMW / MINI specialist.

Also, i dont think asking for an area as wide as london as a search area is going to help you very much - i wouldnt want to drive that car more than 2-3 miles, much less in heavy traffic.

It could be a fan switch which would cost a matter of £'s. It could be a fan, which is probably £100+, OR if you're really unlucky, you've damaged the engine itself by running it while hot, then you could be into £500+

Please dont waste any more time on forums rather than getting this repaired.

zudecke

shiiiiiiiiiiiiiiitcrap!

im gonna be so screwed.

thanks anyway for your help.

zudecke

hi all,

update: the car has been in the garage since Monday and I phoned them today for an update. He said the electric fan IS working.. so suggested a circuitry issue..??? He's ordered a new "fan switch", which is about a tenner apparently. He also spoke about a piece in the circuit that he was having difficulty accessing (physically), but I forgot what he said it was exactly.

Does this all sound about right? Any other tips?

zudecke

Guys,

Bad news for me .

Yesterday the mechanic told me the fan WAS working!

Today he tells me that it actually isn't at that the "control unit", which is connected to the fan (and apparently part of the fan assembly unit) is broken and that basically I need a whole new fan assembly unit !

He said he tried replacing the "relay", but no joy.

And apparently has to take the front of the car apart (almost), like the bumper etc to get to the unit to replace it.

Does this add up?? How can one minute he says the fan is ok and the next its not?

Any ideas??

Thanks guys,

Z