wow, germans really think of everything! i noticed as stain on back seat, and felt it was damp. opened the trunk and the carpet was wet. took out the battery cover, and noticed that the battery compartment was full of water!!!! water cooled battery compartment, seems kinda weird to me though. just saying.



you can see the compartment is half full ( or half empty) on the sides.

 

Wow. I would not mess around waiting to fix that. You risk major damage the longer you wait.

 

I guess that makes it a marine battery.....guess you will need to go to a boat dealer for a new one!! Lol.
in all honesty....dry it out asap...
fix the leak....
and that box, sitting adjacent to the battery is rlthe emergency battery disconnect...if the airbagblows, it blows too...cutting off power to the starter....the box can carrode in water...leading to starting issues.

 

so is there a channel drain of some sort around the convertible top that is clogged?

 

the funny part is that i'm trying to fix a coolant leak and find water in battery compartment. coolant lines dont run to the trunk do they????

 

I had the same issue. There are some sort of rubber plugs in the bottom if the box beneath the battery. I found that mine had decomposed to a point that when I poked one with my finger it opened a hole big enough for a quarter to fall through.

I used a rubber bike patch to cover the hole. Using gorilla glue two part epoxy I sealed all around the top of the rubber as well as getting underneath the car and sealing it from there.

There is another hole in the box towards the front if the car. I placed a piece of duct tape over the hole.

I have not had any trouble with water being in my box since and I live in the wet northwest.

 

so you think the water was coming from under the car and filling the battery compartment. if anything i would think that the hole would be "open" to let water like this drain out.

 

I can't say for certain exactly how it was getting in. All I know is that I have not had any trouble in months. At one point I did have an issue of water leaking through the rear door but that has not been around in a while. Looking at your pictures my box looked exactly the same.

 

to add to the story, my mini has been sitting in the drive way for a month. this is probably rain water.

 

I had a water infiltration on mine, water was running INSIDE the antenna and dripping in the car from the box thingy on the headliner. The stock antennas are in two pieces and where both parts meets, it was not so sealed anymore. I have a plug in the antenna hole since then (3 years, but I'm not listening to fm radio anyway). You can also make sure that your drains for the sunroof aren't clogged (if you have one).

 

THIS IS JUST EFF'ING GREAT!!!!!!!!! I put it all back together, and now my convertible top wont go up!!!!!! why cant it ever be SIMPLE?!?!?!?

 

The rear battery compartment should look like this.


There is a rubber grommet in the corner. See which one it is and there see if it has a slit in it.




Battery Cable Fuse Module With B+ Wire located on the side in picture above:


http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/61131508927/ES164915/

Do you have a pic?

There are a couple places the top can leak and cause water to trickle in from the top.

First check the rails on the interior where water collect. If you have the top in sunroof or up postion, unltach the two latches and prop up like in the picture below. Inspect the drain rails that set in the cavity on the left and right. Make sure there is no debris or build up in those metal cavities that would block the side drains to the trunk seem.

There are rubber gasket blocks that are part of the trunk lower gasket, lift them up and make sure the water drains under them. #2 in diagram below.







Inspect the full gasket for fitment or tears.


Here is the part number for the gasket if you find damage. Part #2 in diagram.


http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/51767178288/



"I put it all back together, and now my convertible top wont go up"

The top is closed and will not got back to open or will not close?

So the battery is back in place and you have the electronics working? Just not the top.

Thanks

 

"I put it all back together, and now my convertible top wont go up"

The top is closed and will not got back to open or will not close?

So the battery is back in place and you have the electronics working? Just not the top.


the top was down while i was working on the car. i removed the battery, and removed all the water, dried it out well, then put everything back together. the car started fine, but then the top would not go up. it was move about 1-2" then go back down. i did a search, and found that sometimes the computer needs a "reset". I cant remember exactly what i did, but it involved holding the door lock switch, and the one of the convertible top switches. either way, i guess it reset, and the top ended up working.

i will have to remove the battery again and look for those grommets, thank you so much ECS for the instructions, pictures, diagrams, and recommendations.

 

You are welcome,

Hope you can narrow down the leak with what I mentioned above. Glad you got the top back up and working.