Do you have any thoughts on an issue I’ve been having with my 2003 Mini Cooper S with around 60,000 miles on it.
For the past two summers, the air conditioning has been intermittent. The lights for the fan and temperature remain on but no airblows – cold or hot. Sometimes it goes back on by itself after a few minutes of driving. Sometimes slapping the passenger side of the middle column (where the controls and radio are) makes it come back on. And sometimes it stays off for a day or two before spontaneously coming back to life. Our local supermarket speed bumps sometimes turn it on if you hit them just right, too. Since the dealership is 100 miles away in San Antonio, taking it there is no use since it turns with no warning and we can’t leave it there overnight. Besides, we took it there twice while it was still under warranty and they couldn’t find anything wrong with it. The Mini dealership is going to open in Austin this year, but not till August.
Summer is coming and Austin gets HOT. My husband and I HATE driving our beloved mini from May till October and we hate that.
Thanks.
I’m pretty sure that it isn’t your A/C that works intermittently - its just you blower motor (which then has the same effect as far as you’re concerned).
It just sounds like you have either a loose connection at the motor or at the switch, or maybe that you need a new switch (probably whichever switch controls the fan speed). I’ve never looked around inside or a Mini, but the blower motor connections may be somewhat easily accessed up underneath the dash on the passenger’s side (very common). To get at the switch, you’d need to do some dash disassembly. Start by just cleaning up all of the connections, checking for damaged wiring & plugs & making sure the connections are tight.