Here's an update on my cooling fan problem. Since I received quite a few helpful suggestions both on and off forum, (thanks for the replies, guys!) I thought I'd report back as to what happened.
First of all, my data was flawed. I did have a blown fuse. I made the mistake of looking at the car when we were on vacation, and I have almost no tools at our place on Cape Cod. I didn't pull all the fuses to look and see if they were OK. I looked at the larger ones (10 amp or greater) but figured a fan would almost surely need at least that much amperage to work. My mistake - the blown fuse was 5A (fuse number F5, buy the way, in the under-hood fuse box next to the air intake.) A bit of research disclosed that not only the radiator fan is supplied by this 5A fuse, but also the power steering cooling fan! Sure sounds like a lot of fans to be run with
5A, but hey, it works.I checked the fuses before I installed the new fan unit, and upon finding the blown 5amper, I just replaced it to see what would happen. After starting the car, the radiator fan worked for maybe 20 or 30 seconds, and then stopped. A check of the 5A fuse revealed it had blown again. I plugged the new fan unit (which was sitting on the garage floor) in the harness, in place of the unit still in the car, replaced the 5A fuse again, and started the car. New fan ran for 20 seconds, and stopped - 5A fuse blew again. That's when I did my research to see what else ran off that fuse. Upon finding out it was the power steering cooling fan, I removed that unit and found it would not turn. Gravel or sand or some other form of small road debris had gotten into the fan unit. I had a hard job moving it with a screw driver! I turned it over and blew it out with compressed air, which seemed to free it up. I hot-wired it to a 12V source, and the fan ran fine. I re-installed that fan, replaced the 5A fuse -again- and started the car. That was around 9:00 this morning, and as of now, it's still working fine.
As the owner of another BMW product (a 1999 540iA) I've had ample chance to scratch my head and wonder What Were They Thinking, with regard to the Engineering Groups who design these cars. Looking at it from my standpoint, I think I would have said "Let's see - the power steering cooling fan is on the bottom of the car, and constantly being barraged by dirt, water, road debris, etc., etc. If the fan gets stuck, it's gonna take out the fuse, which will save the wiring from burning up." I don't think I also would have said "Let's also put the engine cooling fan on the same fuse, so that when the power steering cooling fan takes it out, the engine cooling fan will stop as well." I would rather risk burning out a $500.00 pump unit than risk over-heating the engine, and possibly have to replace it for many thousands of dollars. As I understand it, BMW/MINI changed the whole p/s cooling fan and circuitry as of the December, 2002 build date. Naturally, my car is a November 2002 build!
That's my story, and I'm stuck with it ;-)
Tim/