Ok so before I start I would point out that after this occurred I felt like a complete moron and I fully expect my Mini will try to kill me in my sleep tonight.

I don't normally get this worked up but something just got to me tonight and I slammed my car door shut. Apparently much harder than I thought I was going to. I had a really bad day at work and on my way out I backed the car up, and the boot lid had popped itself halfway unlatched again. I have had the dealer "fix" this problem twice now and it was just the last straw after a very frustrating night at work. I don't have anger issues; I'm just human. Sometimes things just stack up until you hit the ceiling if you don't have an outlet.

Anywho, the window was down so I didn't notice anything wrong at first. I hit up the gas station and then headed home. About 5 minutes down the road I go to roll the window up and hear a little grinding noise. I knew something was up and this is when I really started to feel bad. I also noticed some wind noise when the window was up. I pulled into the first well lit parking lot I could find, pull the outer door panel off, and the door lock rod (part with the **** on it) falls over. I'm not sure how that popped out or broke the clip just from slamming the door, but as soon as I removed it the grinding stopped. That's one problem down, but there is still a problem. I shut the door (which is still closing fine BTW) and notice something is causing the window bind a little. It's bowing just a little on the door jamb side which explains the wind noise, and it's moving a little slower than it should. I have to work the next 2 days and won't have time to pull the rest of it apart, so I guess I will have to go to the dealer on Monday and hope I haven't screwed myself. I know I wouldn't warranty someone's stupidity.

Has anyone ever done something similar in their Mini or had something like this happen? I have never seen the inside of the door so I really don't know what could have come lose to cause such a thing.

Also, I guess it's worth mentioning that whatever is causing the window to bow out did not tear or even scratch my window tint that I can tell. I know something is putting pressure on the window because the safety feature kicked in that puts the window back down if something is in the way.

 

Sounds like the window regulator is a little off kilter.

 

I'm no professional mechanic, but I am pretty mechanically inclined. Do you think it's something I should try to tackle myself? Do you think it would be broken or maybe something is just slipped out of place? I can't seem to find a diagram for any of the window or door lock systems on realoem. Know anywhere else I can look?

 

You can probably fix it, but in the process, you might muck it up more. You say the window is bowed out. Is the window drop working? Where is the window binding?

 

I forgot to mention that. The window drop is working just as it should. The bowing is just a little bit about halfway up on the side you would enter from. It still meets the rubber seal but doesn't sit 100% flush. As I said before just enough to get some wind noise. It doesn't seem to be binding in any certain position. It just seems a little slow all the way up. It's not terribly slow mind you, just enough to be noticeable. Something is causing it to roll back down sometimes when you are rolling it up as it would if you tried to push down on the window at the same time (simulating catching something in the window).

 

Thanks for the replies Beastmaster. Looks like I'm going to have to take a trip to the dealer on Monday. After checking it out in the daylight and thinking about it for a while the only thing that makes sense is the regulator being bent in some way. If there was anything pushing on the window it would have scratched the tint by now. For now I will just have to keep the window down in hopes that I am relieving some of the pressure on it. I will post up on Monday what they found in case someone else has a similar problem in the future.

 

Bump to the top in case anyone has any ideas. The car is going to the dealer tomorrow but I would appreciate any details anyone might be able to give on the regulator assembly or how slamming a door could cause this issue.

 

Just got back from the dealer. The tech tried adjusting the window/regulator but couldn't get rid of the gap so they replaced the regulator. All is well with the Mini now. Thank god the warranty covered it. I don't really have the $500 it would likely cost to have it replaced!

On a side note, when the detail guy gave me my key he complimented my car. That felt nice. It's gonna be a good day!

 

 

What Joanie said!

 

When these cars are under warranty, it is well worth just going to the dealer for 'most anything.

 

Considering they had the part in stock, it must be a frequently used item.

 

I thought the same thing. They also had a rear hatch latch in stock to try and fix the other problem I mentioned. It didn't work by the way; the hatch popped again yesterday.

 

The hatch problem has to be linked to the keyless entry, not a mechanical part. I bet if they unplug the actuator, your problem will vanish.