cooling system..is this normal

[stevetigersix]

Hi guys n gals need some advice,

ive got an 06 cooper cabrio in th elast few days ( when its been hotter outside ) ive noticed my fans staying on for 2-3 minutes after i switch off from going to work a journey that takes 30 mins of b road driving. This am ive started up the car on the drive and kept the revs at 2000 to get the temp up. The needle stays at midway on the temp gauge and the fans cut in every few minutes for about a 10 second burst the temp gauge doesnt move, ive unscrewed the bleed plug on the elbow piece hose that leads from the rad to engine and coolant water comes out, does this prove the pumps working ok? the fans continue to cut in every few minutes for 2-3 second bursts for ever, i assume this is correct? however whilst im driving i can sometimes hear the fans cut in similar to that when i get at work ie a 2-3 minute fan cycle every 10 minutes or so, is that commen in hot weather? I asked my local mini/bmw garage about it and they just ask me to book it in for a diagnostics but thats going to cost me £90 before they even do anything. btw its out of warrenty at the end of this month !
Am i being paranoid or is this behaivour normal for the cooling system?

many thanks for your help

[iain cooper]

if your not losing coolant and the temperature gauge is not in the red I wouldn't worry.

in the hot weather the engine fans do work a bit overtime, especially when idling.

[stevetigersix]

Quote: Originally Posted by iain cooper (original)

if your not losing coolant and the temperature gauge is not in the red I wouldn't worry.

in the hot weather the engine fans do work a bit overtime, especially when idling.

thanks for that i guess im being a bit paranoid then huh still ive booked it in with the garage to look at it for next friday as the warranty runs out at the end of th emonth then if they find something itll be covered

[iain cooper]

I've no doubt they will find something wrong, especially as it's still under warranty.

keep us posted on the outcome.

[stevetigersix]

ok as an update it went into stratstone maidenhead on friday and it has a leak from the thermostat area and the thermostat is on its way out they also found a slight leak from the power steering house so that all being done under warantee thank goodness, altough they did try to flog me new tyres all round and new front pads n discs meahhhhh

[nifreaky]

Quote: Originally Posted by stevetigersix (original)

ok as an update it went into stratstone maidenhead on friday and it has a leak from the thermostat area and the thermostat is on its way out they also found a slight leak from the power steering house so that all being done under warantee thank goodness, altough they did try to flog me new tyres all round and new front pads n discs meahhhhh

This sounds unbelievibly familiar to ours...
Feb '06 One Convertible. Only about 22.5k miles.
Was in Bavarian BMW(Belfast) today for its first proper TLC service. had a call at about 4pm saying that they had found a few things that needed attention...
1. Leak from the thermostat - £121
2. Leak from High Pressure power steering - £257.14
3. Front pads at 2mm - £104.34
4. 2 rear tyres need replaced - £65 x 2

It's warranty expired in March and it was in getting a washer bottle leak repaired at that time. It was only about 500 miles short of needing it's service and we asked if this could be done at the same time to save another trip etc. We were told "no", BMW would not allow it.

I understand that points 3 & 4 just have to be done by the owner but am annoyed that we have to pay about £380 for repairs that more than likely would have been picked up in March. The service assistant is going to see about a goodwill payment from BMW but says that it was 5 months ago, quite a long time!!!

We should know tomorrow but was looking for any advice from members here. I don't know if the steering is the known fault that BBC's Watchdog etc were involved in.

Thanks
Jonny

[DaFlake]

The thermostat is a pretty common fault. I believe that the newer ones have been changed to help slow the failures.

That being said, you can get a mechanic outside of MINI to do this for a lot cheaper.

[nifreaky]

I got a phone call today and was told that BMW would pay the following....
1. Thermostat - 100% parts & 80% labour = £26 + vat payable by me
2. PAS - 100% parts & 50% labour = £76 + vat payable by me

Not bad. Will be able to do the pads myself at a fraction of the cost and there is still about 6 months use out of the rear tyres.