This was comical.

Mini's in the garage. Kids and I get in, open the door, start the car, drive forward, and the hatch unlatches - "boonk" - as I idle forward through the open garage door. Just as if I'd pushed the rubber button above the license plate... only I wasn't pushing the button, I was driving. Unlatched before the doors even auto-locked.

I get out, close the garage door, and shut the hatch. It latches. I move forward... "boonk".

Stop car, pull hatch up (it's unlatched), shut it. Turn to walk away... "boonk"

Shut hatch. Seems to stick, one-onethousand two-onethou "boonk".

Shut hatch again, hear it latch, seems to be OK, begin to walk to drive the car "boonk".

shut, immediate "boonk".

Say "the heck with it, I'm only going to the corner store" and hear the latch clicking about once every second or two.

SO.....

Disassemble interior trim, no apparent issues, missing or crossed wires, etc. Disassemble license plate trim from hatch, no moisture, disconnected wires, etc. I traced the wires from the latch to the right side fender well and can't find any pinches, crosses, or moisture. I'm headed for the dealer Monday morning as next week is crazy. I'm thinking some salty water or a short somewhere, but didn't see any in the latch or button, and coudn't replicate the problem by wiggling things (wires to hatch, etc.) while the car was stopped, running or not.

I've now unplugged the electrical connector at the latch so it stays hooked.
My remote now doesn't work.

Anybody have a theory? I'm stumped. Thank God (and Mini) for warranties...

 

Might not be in the latch. Might be in the key. Speaking of which, where was your spare key? Any practical jokers around? I hope not, that would be really not nice.

 

No - the key "enables" the latch; it still takes pushing that rubber button above the license plate to make it go "boonk"... but I did watch my kids' hands while the hatch boonked - they didn't do it!

Good suggestion tho - that was my first thought but when I checked, the spare key was safely on the key ring in the house, and my key was in the ignition, neither touching anything else... I think there's something in the (ulp) computer... ugh.

 

how would someone be pressing the spare key on the way to the store lol

 

Time to wake up and join the party. This all happened in his driveway.

 

really?

pwn.

read before you post please.

dont try to pwn me just becuase im a noob.

 

PLEASE don't let this forum, or this post, go where the Honda and VW forums have gone... into senseless flaming.

Most of this happened in the driveway, but believe me, I was thinking on my way to the store how easily someone could be pushing the buttons on the spare remote... but in a Mini the remote only enables the latch, not pops it.

boonk

next...

 

Gotcha. My bad.
Good luck getting it sorted out.

 

It was water getting in through the rear wiper hole and shorting the microswitch on the hatch latch.

Other related issues (seen by my SA) are water getting in through the sunroof if one of the drain tubes is blocked, letting water into the body control computer... or water getting into the actuator itself and shorting there.

Mini got it sorted and had me on my way quickly. Great car and service.

 

I had the same issue. Either the hatch would release on its own, or wouldn't release at all. Water was getting into the hatch release switch housing due to a poor gasket seal. Once the dealer replaced the release and housing (under warranty) the problem went away. Unfortunately, the exterior of the housing had to be painted to match the car, so this added several days to the repair.

 

I'm actually thinking of getting the housing off (when it's good and dry) and applying a waterproof bag over the switch so it doesn't happen again!

I've now also disabled the "open the sunroof and windows with the remote" option since I came back to the car a few times to find that a bump on the remote had opened the windows and sunroof a crack - just enough if it's raining hard to let water in... thankfully hadn't gotten water in that way but it was just a matter of time... now it won't happen. Can still open/close everything by twisting the key, only can't do it from 20 feet away. I'm OK with that.

 

Fixed it - here:

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ighlight=boonk