The other day when I opened the boot on my '06 MCS coupe, I noticed that the carpet was soaked as were the towel and rag that I keep in there. Today, I checked it out again, and looked under the boot carpet. The was water in the battery well, nearly up to the top of the battery! Literally, it was within 2" of the top of the battery. Quite frightening. I used a small wet/dry vac to get the water out. However, the larger issue is how did the water get in there?

I didn't investigate when I first noticed it, because I was going to work and we have been having a LOT of rain lately. I did go through a car wash about 2 weeks ago (I know, don't take your MINI through the car wash, but it was covered in road salt and grime.) and had used the boot since then and didn't notice a problem. The sunroof was not left open, I can assure you. As I stated, it has been raining a lot and we have had very heavy downpours. But that has happened before.

Obviously this is more than a small leak. I've checked everything I can think of. The seal appears to be intact and in place. I'm really baffled. Has anyone had this problem or does anyone have any ideas? A trip to the dealership is pretty much out of the question, since its 3 1/2 hrs., away, and might cost a small fortune to diagnose, if they could ever duplicate the problem.

Thanks for any help you can provide.

 

The culprit seems to be the third brake light.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...mpartment.html

 

I pulled the 3rd brake light, cleaned around the seal and put silicone on it before reinstalling. As soon as I finished, it started raining hard again. After about an hour of fairly hard rain, it stopped and I checked the car. There is a small amount of water in the battery compartment. It seems to be coming from under the right side of the plastic that covers the rear of the boot. The piece that covers where the latch is. I can't figure how to remove the plastic, so I can see where the water is coming from. I did remove the weather stripping on the right side and couldn't find any evidence of water ubder it. Any suggestions of getting the plastic off?

 

this happened on my old integra and it was the tail lights. i never fixed the problem, sold it as is.... but i was going to do exactly what you did with your 3rd brake light. you should try the same thing with the tail lights and see what happens.

 

Is this a MINI specific thing or just because of potential scratches? I thought brushless/touchless car washes were fine...

 

Touchless is ok, but it still uses some harsh detergents and a lot of pressure.

 

Its the handle that opens up the rear hatch, lousy design! You can either tighten the four torx screws or take it off and silicone the foam pad like crazy and then torque down the screws.