Hi Folks....
Love my Mini. 4th Mini. 2017 with 22k miles. Out of warranty. Daily driver in NYC.

But, a whole lot of rain the last months. Discovered a bunch of water in my passenger side footwell. Also water in the lower trunk hatch. Could not get a quick appt with dealer, so I put the car in a garage.
Appt. is tmo, so I went to get the car and discovered mold and that some of my electrical systems are wacky.

My windows were not open, so to my way of thinking ...this is a design defect.

Any thoughts on: 1) how to get the dealer to cover this on their dime? , or 2) if I use my comprehensive insururance, will this affect my carfax and resale value?

Appreciate any help.

Chuck

 

Hi Chuck,
I too own a ‘17 CM, great cars.

I am fairly new to mini but long time BMW owner. In my experience, the water in the floor and trunk are from the sunroof drains being clogged (leaf debris, pine needles, etc). The water will back up into the car if they aren’t cleared. Historically we dealt with this by blowing compressed air down the line, the chasing it with water to flush it out.
I hope you have luck with the dealer but as this is out of warranty and what they would probably consider a maintenance issue, I don’t think they will be too sympathetic.
As for the mold, get on this fast! Turn off your AC system so it doesn’t get into the vents and spray down all surfaces (seats, carpets, everything) with a 50/50 mix of white vinegar and water,
wipe down well, shop-vac with a filter to get all spores - then leave the windows open to air out in the sun- I know, not easy to do in an urban environment. But it’s imperative you get in it fast.
Best of luck.

 

Hey jwrosenthal....

Long time BMW owner well !! 1972 e9 cs, 1989 e30 M3, 1989 e30 325i mtec.

I've parked my 17 CM in the same place as my last 3 Mini's. For each of those cars, they were traded in for new models, before the warranty expired. All with sunroofs, but no rain leak issue.

When I first noticed the water in the '17 CM, I checked the sunroof. No visible issues with seals. No water build up in the sunroof area. No evidence even of any sunroof drains or channels that I could recognize.
The only difference is that rather than trading in the 17 CM in before warranty, I've kept it.

As such, I can't imagine how this could be an owner maintenance issue, rather than a design flaw. This issue has not been part of published regular maintenance items that owners have been alerted to follow and observe.

When you say "Historically we dealt with this by blowing compressed air down the line, the chasing it with water to flush it out.", are you referring to your personal experiences as an owner, or as a dealer or maintenance shop? T

In any event, I'll be looking for the dealer to, at the very least illustrate & document how this happens, and how an owner can participate in any preventive maintenance.

Given the circumstances I've described, this will be an interesting case.

And as a repeat customer, even while out of warranty for this car, I don't think that responsible dealer reciprocity for this problem, is an unreasonable expectation.

I'll be sure to keep the forum posted.

I hope all are being safe and staying healthy!!

 

When I said “we” I meant older BMW owners (e3,e9, e28, ,e30 and still have the e34 M5). The sunroof drain clogs were a common malady although never mentioned by the dealerships as part of routine maintenance. In the same way they wouldn’t mention that the plastic impellers in water pumps implode, so replace them every 60k wether they need it or not.

I hope the dealer gives you the answers you seek, but I implore you to deal with the mold sooner than later. If they offer to have the interior “detailed” there is no guarantee they will remediate the mold properly (vinegar, fresh air and UV) as opposed to just shampooing the rugs- which wont kill the mold. So I would push to know who will be doing the cleaning and what techniques they will use. I would also push for a fresh cabin filter on their dime after the remediation is done.

 

Good thinking and thanks. I’ve never had this issue in 35 years of ownership, so I appreciate the tip.

The car goes in tmo morning.

For better and worse, more will be revealed!!

 

Another source of leak on the passenger floor was heater core or A/C- but that doesn’t account for the leak in the back.

 

The sunroof drains can be a problem. It's not just the Mini's that have this. Person at work with a RAV4 had water pouring out on them one morning...I opened the sunroof, found the drain in the front corner (just like the Mini's), and removed a leaf that was covering that drain. Problem solved.

In the older Mini's, I understand that the rubber connector of the drain would work off of the metal opening, so, those would leak water down the A-pillar regardless of any foreign material plugging them. The fix was to re-connect and put a zip-tie around it to hold it more snugly.

If THAT was your problem, you have a better case. If it's just clogged due to grime and/or a leaf, I don't know if you'll get very far with help. I had a big leak (which caused me to look into sunroof leak problems, since I thought that was my issue), but, it was due to an improper installation of a new windshield by Safelite. Ended up costing the insurance company an additional 3000.00, as they not only paid Mini to install an OEM windshield correctly, they had to replace the camera and electronics in the rear-view mirror, and some other parts/pieces that the faulty replacement caused to be damaged.

Best of wishes in getting satisfaction for your particular issue.