Water in the footwell!

[elegantmini]

Help! Just after I got the Clubman last fall, I noticed moisture under the rubber mat on the drivers side. Figured one of us spilled a water bottle but once winter arrived I noticed frost forming in the same place. I thought snow from my boots must be the cause so I was very careful after that. No problem for the rest of the winter but, it's been raining like crazy for the past month and when I went to vacuum the car today the water is back. With the warmer weather it's starting to get moldy in there. Anybody know what's causing the problem and how to fix it?

[Benibiker]

Other people have had problems with either the windshield not being sealed correctly or the side wind seals... Do a search on this site...

[Minidrivr]

Do you have a sunroof? The drain tubes can come off and let water run down to the footwells.

[elegantmini]

No sunroof, and I don't think it's the windshield. A bad seal at the door sill? I thought I saw something about that here a while back but I haven't found the thread.

[bentyyc]

Depending on your production date, you probably don't have a "weatherstripping" door seal under the driver's door. All '08s and early '09s all have the rubber seal under the passenger's side door, but have it omitted on the driver's side. Someone correct me on this, but I think the "May production" '09s started showing up with this seal from the factory on the driver's side.

The installation holes are in the door and you can pick up the part from parts. Not sure of the price in the US, but it's about $32 CAD.

There's another thread suggesting that it would be better to leave the holes "open" so they can drain.

[elegantmini]

bentyyc,
Thanks this is very helpful, I'm going to check it out.

[bentyyc]

No prob elegantmini!

Let us know what you find out. I think the fact that the factory '09s now come with this would suggest it's worth having. Personally, I have noticed moisture on the driver's side when driving on really wet roads or thru a big rain storm...

[elegantmini]

bentyyc,
I checked and yes, there is a weather strip on the passenger side but not the drivers side. I'll get this taken care of when I go in for my first service. Thanks!!

[elegantmini]

Just took Pipra in for her first service and had them check the water problem. Much to my surprise, and without an explanation as to the cause, the proposed course of action is to replace the floor carpet in the entire car. It's covered under warranty and the concern I heard was that the electronics that run below could be compromised. I'd thought of mold, but I sure don't want to have an electrical problem either. Seems like a no brainer (except for the multiple days of my time to get it there and back, as I live three hours away) but this now seems like pretty invasive surgery and I'm wondering if the result will be as good as the factory carpet installation. Has anybody else had this happen??

[elegantmini]

Has anybody here replaced all of the carpeting because of a water problem? How did it turn out?

[MintJulep]

While it's great that Mini is stepping up to replace your carpet, unless they figure out where the water is coming from and fix the leak your new carpet will soon be wet and moldy too.

[elegantmini]

Okay, it's been a long time coming... but I finally consented to the proposed remedy and it's six weeks later and no leaks! I was very hesitant to have all the carpet replaced in the process, but thus far I see no problems and it looks great. The weather strip on the drivers door was added but the diagnosis was that the leak was from the roof rack. Although I'd checked the drains, the explanation was when driving at high speed the system wasn't working. The problem was intermittent and I don't drive at high way speed very often (especially in the rain) so this seemed a logical explanation. Yay! Let's hope there's no more to this story.

[Figfuggo]

Thanks for the updates and congrats on the fix!