Expert: Sean Halliday - 8/18/2009

Question

Hiya

I have an N reg mini cooper who’s been playing up a tad. Whomever owned it before me did not put any anti-freeze in the radiator and the thermostat had rusted away. The engine had been overheating and I hoped it was just the thermostat that had gone but after changing that it turned out I needed to fit a new water pump as well. That’s all done and fine but the electric fan still won’t kick in, I figured it might need a new temperature sender (As the dial inside the car looks broken and registers engine cool when it obviously wasn’t!) But I can’t find where it is located under the bonnet to check…  Am I correct in thinking it’s a faulty temp sender that’s causing the electric fan not to kick in?


Answer
Could be the sender or fan itself.Test the fans before buying anything.Flush radiator also and the cooling system if you found rust on the thermostat.I would recommend you fix the gauge and the sender will be on the cylinder head close to the thermostat housing.