Hope this isn't a duplicate post ...

My 2012 Countryman was out in heavy rain the other night. When I got in the next morning, I started driving and water was dripping from the rear view mirror and overhead controls for the sunroof. I looked at old threads and see others have had this issue. I did have my windshield replaced by the dealer, under warrantee about a year ago due to a stress fracture. When the dripping was happening, my electronic key wouldn't work though it's working again now. Also, there is a cargo box on the roof so the rain couldn't directly hit the sunroof.

Brought the car to the dealer - they want $2,700 to fix. Sounds excessive to me. Say it's not covered under the extended warrantee we just bought, either.

Any advice? Especially about how to fight the dealer on this one?

Risk of just ignoring it to see if it happens again? This is the first time.

Thanks much!
Lori

 

What did they say the 2700 would fix?

The reason the key didn't work is the antenna for said key is in the mirror. Now that it dried out it started to work

Possible entry points are. Windshield or roof antenna or third brake light or in your case sunroof drains. Believe it or not the glass panel in your roof is DESIGNED to let water into the car but in a very controlled manner using channels (think gutter on your house) that lead to drains in the sunroof assy. Then the water runs down the pillars in tubes and exits under the car Theses drains over time get clogged up with small debri like leaf particles and road grime when driving with sunroof open.

If it's clogged drains it's not too hard to fix. If drains came off the sunroof cassette under the headliner. Well a little more complicated to fix.

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What exactly will they be doing for $2700? Hard to advise without knowing what the fix is.

 

Ha beat you. But we're both on the same track. 2700 sounds like a lot went wrong

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They spoke to my husband and it was some clerk. I have a call into the service manager who is not there until Monday.

We NEVER drive with the sun roof open ever. I do park under pine trees so there are pine needles around but, as I said, the cargo box is on the roof with only the height of the roof rack clearance between the sunroof and the bottom of the box. It would be hard for anything to get in there.

 

The $2700 quote was without them doing anything yet or even opening anything. That's just the number they threw at me for the "estimated work" to solve the problem.

 

Saw your other post. ( you should delete that one and only keep one going ).

Ok as I suspected they said a channel was clogged but that still doesn't = 2700 unless they were going to replace the entire sunroof cassette. We need to know what = 2700 worth of repairs.

If you have access to a compress and a blow gun you can try clearing the drains yourself. If not you could probably go to a local repair shop and have them try it. Be carefull as to not blow the lines out with too much pressure. After the cleaning you can test the drain with a cup of water. Open roof locate channel pour water and watch it come out on the floor under the car.

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Clearly a tie based upon time stamp. However your post had a lot more info so you win.

I'd want the dealer to outline a plan of attack in fixing it. Then I'd go after the prior glass work, warranty issues, etc. You could also get out the garden hose and see if you can pinpoint the entry area.

btw - I have a 2011 and they would be fixing mine until the 4 years were up or I'd be in small claims court pressing the issue.

 

Ha.wow. That's pretty bold of them. You will need to speak with them and get a more clear definition of what will go on. They Shotgunned the repair estimate

I would do the following: If in fact the drain is clogged.

Remove the cargo box yourself as they are going to charge you to remove it to "test". It's probably in the way
Pour water in all 4 corners ( roof open) and confirm that one or more is clogged. On a hatch the rear drains exit the roof at the top of the body with the rear hatch open. You see 2 black circles in the body work
Open sunroof. Look for all the black channels and with a shop vac with the small brushe attachments try to get in all the nooks and crannies and suck up what ever debris you may find
Do as said before about blowing the drains clear or having some one do it for you.

Look at pic from an r56. ( similar idea all models )

Look at # 3. And also look at the little curved piece in the lower front corner. Those are the tubes that lead to the hoses that lead outside the car.





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Was the car parked on a flat surface? Or nose up or nose down.

Flat I would say sunroof drains or antenna
Nose down. Drains antenna or third brake light
Nose up windshield. Drains antenna.

Leaking windshield usually doesn't lead to a leak higher then the windshield itself ( gravity) Windshields usually leave wet carpets and puddles on the floor. Same holds true for lamp.
The only things above the mirror are drains and antenna.

As far as x warranty. They usually stipulate that water leaks or environmental conditions are not covered.

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I don't know which way it was parked - it was up in the country on a dirt circular driveway that slopes and I really didn't pay attention.

I will call service manager when he comes in on monday for clarification on what they plan to do. They can't remove the cargo box because I've got the key so have to go back anyway.

I am going to fight them on the windshield since they installed that.

I will try testing the drain channels but I'm not very mechanically inclined. Maybe I can get a local gas station to do it?

Thanks for your help. Will repost when I know more.

Lori

 

+1 on the drain Chanels hoses getting clogged ( dirt pine needles, leaves ) and then water overflowing in the sunroof ducting and coming down the headliner and off the center mirror , its happens in the older MINIs also. First I have heard it in the CM.

#2 , one on each side. #3 is the rear which goes to the top of the trunk gasket area. Roll the sunroof back if it works and check those drains in the corners.



Parked car noise pointing down, get more water.

Pull the front of the headliner down and the A-pillar to expose those little hoses. They might have slid off also, but then it drips down into the footwell.

 

I haven't logged on to the forums in some time but I had to do some research after going through this exact issue.
Here's my experience...
- My CM is usually parked outside in my driveway with the nose facing down.
- Water has been leaking into the car, coming through rear view mirror.
- After a couple of months of this happening on and off based on rainfall amounts etc. my door locks stopped working and key remote would not function either.
- Dealer suspected a leaky windshield. Had to have Safelite Glass do a test on the seals from a replacement they did 2 years ago. I watched the tests, both high pressure water jets and air pressure and foam tests. No water intrusion through the seals at all. Windshield was tight as a button.
- Went back to dealership, and they covered the cost of replacement of the entire mirror assembly and associated electronics (approx. $1800) under their "Goodwill program". They also disassembled the front pillars and completely cleaned out the drains coming from the sunroof.
- Picked the car up yesterday. This morning I get in and guess what... drip, drip from the rearview mirror.
- Will call dealer back today. Stay tuned!

 

Might be the seal on the body to sunroof cassette. Most of the time its clogged drain tubes.

Face the noise up in your driveway for time being and check the body seal on the roof. And the sunroof cassette itself.

 

So if it is a seal between body and cassette.......how hard is that to fix?

 

You have to take out the headliner and the cassette, its a big job , but it you are a DIY'r it would just take time.

 

The $2700 is based on mostly labor. They have to drop A,B,C,and D pillar covers, upper seat belt mounting points, headliner, then while having two guys lay on their back, feed the complete sunroof assembly through the rear hatch. It's very time consuming.

They give estimates without a lot of inspection because they're the dealer. All they work on is Mini, so they know what to look for and what causes it.

Not saying it's guaranteed they looked at the proper symptoms first, but that's what the breakdown in price is.

 

What if you have drips but no sunroof? Windshield? My remote is nonfunctional as well.

 

Windshield, yep. I would check the top upper seal on the windshield and contact the last place that replaced it, most of the time they come with a lifetime warranty from the glass company who installed it. ie safelite.

 

What ECS said is MOST probable. Also check roof antenna gasket Water has the most amazing abilities too enter in one place and find low spot 5 feet away. Remember water does not run UP generally only down. So look or test with a hose higher then the mirror inside the car.

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I just bought the car, but as far as I know the windshield is OEM. It is a Pilkington and looks just like what was in my '11 R55. I'm taking it in to have the non-functioning Comfort Access and the first thing they asked was of the windshield was original. I looked at the antenna seal and it looks good. I'm hoping that everything is original and that Mini will cover any repairs since by the time I get to the dealer that's 200 miles away I'll be just over 200 miles out of warranty.
Then again, I paid $2k under book for it so I can't complain TOO much.

 

+1 on checking that seal. The glass could have been replaced with dealership glass / Genuine MINI , safelite and others do that when some glass like the rain sensor glass is not in stock with there provider.

 

I just got my replacement cowls and while swapping them out there was a lot of urethane on the bottom edge. If the incorrect windshield in installed will it keep CA and keyless entry from working at all?

I looked at my antenna gasket and it looks fine. No marks on it at all, BUT it looks like the PO or the dealership ran it through an automatic car wash and it ripped the antenna, and the threaded part it screws into, completely off. I can see into the antenna base from where the antenna goes. I know it's a small hole, but is there a path from there to the CA module?

I'm going to drop the headliner and check things out as best I can before my dealer visit. Maybe I'll get lucky.

Lastly, what fuse is related to the CA module? I didn't get the manual and the pictograms on the fuse covers are worse than useless.

Thanks for all the help!

 

There was a water stain about the size of my hand under the antenna so I think the missing guts is the culprit. I've already ordered a new antenna base. A couple of small water stains by the a-pillars so I'm thinking that's where the water was making a turn to the windshield or possibly getting in if a high pressure hose was used.

On another note, anyone ever get an airbag light from taking the headliner out? Other than the a-pillars and the stuff by the mirror, everything else had already been out of the car before with no issues. The car wasn't started while I was taking the headliner out. Ideas?

 

So the glass WAS replaced and apparently not very well. Small leak 3 or 4 inches left of the mirror even with low pressure water. Looking into replacing it now. Comfort access is working, (changed both remote batteries) but the range is REALLY bad. I'm not too worried since I rarely have a need to open the car when I'm not next to it. After the windshield I MAY change the mirror to see if it helps but $400 for a maybe is a lot.
I was told there are receivers in the side mirrors as well, that's news to me.