I just cannot catch a break with trying to sell my 2003 Cooper. I've got two people coming to see it tomorrow, and I drove it today for the first time in about a week, only to realize that there was half an inch of water in the driver's side footwell, and the thermometer is going nuts, jumping all over the place and reading anywhere between 22 and 47 F (it's 70 outside).

We did have a lot of rain here in the past couple of days, but windows and sunroof were all closed.

What the hell is going on?! Obviously I'll be bringing it to the dealer, but I'm just wondering what I might expect to find out.

 

Most likely the drain tube for the evaporater is clogged... Look under the car for a tube hanging down.. don't know exactly where it is on the mini... common problem on many cars.

 

I don't see a tube anywhere visible under the car. Anyone know where that might be?

There's no water on the seats, dash, parcel shelf, or anywhere other than the driver's side footwell.

 

Thermometer is now reading 16 F.

 

If you didn't have a leak before, its most likely the AC drain as I mentioned above... there is a tube or two that will be under the car or coming out of the firewall... it allows the water from the AC to exit the shelf by the evap.
Simple fix, but you have to find it first...

 

Do you know where the sensor is? It might be a bad connection, some corrosion possible... Had this on my last car... opened the connection to sensor, it had some rust.. cleaned all is well. The sensor is usually exposed to the elements and it can develop a bad connection over time

 

Mike, thanks for the help. Not sure if it would be the A/C drain, though, since I haven't driven the car all week. The water got in there somehow during the rain we've had here.

 

Ah.. OK.. you would have thought the leak would have showed up a long time ago... Good luck getting things fixed...

 

Chris, is the headliner wet at all? I had a lake in the passenger side footwell everytime it rained and finally traced it to the rubber drain tube on the sunroof drain. I had worked free of the drain fitting and the water was going down the inside of the A pillar cover, behind the dash and onto the floor. Geez did that smell bad when it hit 80 degrees!

 

The temperature sensor is behind the front bumper ... mine read screwy (-40f!) for a while after the JCW upgrade where all that stuff had to be removed; it is probably just water on the sensor or its connector and will likely dry off now the sun has finally returned, and the temperature will sort itself out.

As for the water inside the car, number one suspect is generally the drain tubes for the sunroof - assuming you have one. Number two suspect would be the windshield seal, if you have ever had it replaced?
[writing my post while Steve posted - a little repetition never hurt ]


I assume you were not driving through Bostons mega floods this week!

 

Temp is back to normal. I can see where the drains are for the sunroof, but I can't see how the tube is accessible in any way. Definitely a dealer fix, right?

Steve, the headliner is dry as far as I can tell, but it probably doesn't take long to dry, so the sunroof definitely could be the culprit..

 

To check the sunroof drains you need to partially remove the headliner. Remove the sunvisor and start prying. It's not difficult to access the drain tubes.

 

Dealer fix For the drain tubes around $500.00 they do take the carpets out to dry it all though .

 

My car is at the dealer for a week. They told me it would take until Thursday, but I'll be in South Carolina from Wednesday to Sunday, so I'll be picking it up next Monday.

Really wish I checked the mileage; I hate leaving my car at the dealer for that long...

At least I remembered the big hand-lettered NO WASH sign for the dash.

 

I had something like that happen to me, but mine was because I DID leave the windows open. One minute I am walking into Best Buy, nice sunny looking day, then POW sjy turns dark, power goes out, and we get like 5 inches of rain in under 20 minutes (OK not really, but it was hella alot really fast). Opened the drivers side door when I finally got back out there, and WOOSH water fall. Now everytime it rains there is this funny smell....

 

Oh man........this stinks....We'll be awaiting what the dealer does for you...

Donna
02' CR/W MCS (gone to MINI heaven - burned up)
05' Cool Blue MCSC "Ariel"
05' HB/W MCS "Gizmo"