About a week ago it was raining pretty hard here. I was on my way to work and near the end of my commute I stopped at a red light. The car next to me honked his horn and pointed to my bonnet. He was pointing at the steam coming from my scoop.

I never noticed it before then, but it was definitely visible. I think he thought I was getting ready to blow a radiator or something.

 

its no problem. its steaming off the radiator or the intercooler in your case. mine does it every time it raind, minis have alot more of the radiator exposed than most other cars, so its more evident in our cars.

 

I notice mine most in the winter. I think it looks pretty sweet when I'm sitting at red lights. I looks like an exhale depending on how the wind is blowing.

 

Figured it was from the supercharger's intercooler, and wasn't too worried about it. Was just the first and only time someone was concerned enough to point it out to me. :smile: And the first time I noticed it as well.

 

Yeah, my MC steams like crazy right when I come out of a brushless car wash- The jets just dump water into the grill- usually lasts about a min or so.

That must look cool coming out of the scoop!

 

It happens to me all the time, especially when it snows.

 

Very normal, dude dont worry mine does the same thing .guru

 

I think someone on here referred to it as the "dragon snort". That's what I always think of when I see it.

 

Ever since I read that "dragon" post a few weeks ago I have to smile when it makes that smoke at a light.

 

It does appear to be a dragon snort. Love it.

Right after I drove the car off the lot brand new, I pulled over for a second, because I saw steam coming from the hood, and was worried! They had just washed the car for me, so it was the high pressurized water that got up on the intercooler.

If I start seeing dragon flames coming out, I may be a little more concerned though.

 

Everytime I wash my car and then drive around, other motorists point to my bonnet and yell "Hey, your engine is on fire!". I just smile and yell back "No, but it does smoke!"

 

I was told by an insurance adjuster a few days ago that he had handled claims for 3 MCS in the SoCal area whose engines had seized up. He said that all 3 cars' owners had said they were on a rainy highway following large trucks throwing up large amounts of water and apparently the water entered the hood intake and seized up the engines.
He thought the first one might've been a freak, but after seeing 3 MCS with exactly the same issues he gave me a friendly piece of advice to keep my distance in the wet from truck "rooster tails" of water. Though such occurences may be rare, it can happen. I guess that's what happens when you try to drown the dragon's fire.

 

Seems like there might be more to the story. The hood scoop only goes to the IC, no internal engine parts. Even the CAI (at least alta) doen't get wet in heavy rains/ rooster tails. Standing water seems to be more of a threat. (at least from what I've read in the past)

Nik

 

There may be more to the story, but that's what I was told. Futher, he said that driving through large puddles or standing water didn't appear to cause any problem because the water is washed around the sides of the car, not over the hood. I guess we can always experiment by driving a MCS down a boat ramp and see what happens. Anybody want to volunteer their MINI?

 

Actually I don't totally disagree with that Adjuster. But I don't think the water came in through the "nostril" to drown the engine.

The intake pickup itself at the front of the engine compartment could have ingested some water. I took all the intake components apart the other day and was looking around and noticed there is a trap for water as it enters the intake. So any water should fall into the trap and drip out onto the ground (albeit at a slow pace). But if that tube were to fill up (it's only about 4-6" tall) from a rooster tail of water let's say... the water would go on down to the intake filter box. It would take quite a bit of water directly at the intake duct to get through the filter and be ingested into the engine itself, but it is not impossible.

 

I'm all for experiments but..........NO

Nik