It's been raining here for a couple of days. Yesterday afternoon, after my MCSCa sat in the parking lot of my work for 8 hours, I backed out of my parking space and heard the most unnerving sound...running water. Now, I assume it could have been water running off of the top as the angle of the car changed considerably as I backed out, but it was loud...and I swear it sounded like someone pouring water into a bucket. I didn't see any evidence of water inside the car or the in the boot. Has anyone else heard this?

 

You are most likely hearing engine coolant going thru the heater hoses.... I hear this in my car during warm up.. rain or shine... it sounds as you described...

 

Funny, I heard this very sound for the first time today! I was picking my MCSc up from the dealer where it had sat overnight. I started the car and backed it out of its spot and I heard this sound. I stopped the car and the sound stopped. When I started moving again, I heard it a little more but eventually it stopped.

Now normally, when I park at home I back into my spot, so when I restart the car later I never have to back up - I just drive off. So perhaps it has something to do with backing up - and/or the angle at which you were parked. Maybe there are some "gutters" or something for the cabrio that channel water out of the car that may collect water if your car is at a certain angle.

 

I've heard running water many times when I first move the Mini right after it rains. It has never worried me. I just figure it's water running off some horizontal surface that hasn't had a chance to evaporate yet

 

I figure it's something to do with the rain running off of the car somewhere...it was just oddly loud as the MINI rag-top is actually pretty quiet. With other people hearing similar things, I'm not going to worry about it...I just wished I knew where it was exactly.

 

OMG I hear the same noise and it sounds like water has been sitting on the back drivers side wheel well and when I pull out it all disperses. I mentioned it to the dealer once and they said they couldn't find anything.
But if you look at the chrome molding around where the roof meets the car you will see a space in it (where water could get in) and I think that has something to do with it.

 

On a cabrio, this MIGHT BE water that's sitting in the "track" above the boot door. If you open it up and take a look, it looks like that thing could hold some rainwater and would only drain when the car had some lateral force... I haven't noticed this myself yet - and haven't tested it with the hose... Just a theory

 

meg, I also noticed the gap that you are speaking of. It looks like it definitely was put there on purpose, so let's hope that the engineers took drainage into consideration when designing the thing.

 

The MINI, like some other cabrio's I've had, has an internal rain rail. Water can collect in there, and then slosh about when you move. I don't know where it drains on the MINI, but if you park under trees, you should check the drain(s) for debris.


I hope so too!

 

Wow, thats a new one on me....I'll have to listen for it.

 

Wow, I gave my car it's first bath this weekend, and that rubber channel was full of suds. You can only see it with the boot open, so I had to wipe it out by hand. I guess I should have been able to point the hose directly at the top of the the boot to run water through this channel, but there's no guarentee that it would run out of both sides...hmmm.