I wanted to share a very horrible experience that happened to me and my R56 on Thursday evening.

That night, while driving home from work, we had very heavy rains in the area that I live in. The rains were coming down very quickly and I was concerned about the potential for flash floods.

Well, my fear was realized. While on a local road, I suddenly felt as if I was driving through some amount of water. I never saw it because there was water everywhere. The car stalled. I could not get it restarted. I opened my door. I was in about four or five inches of water. I got out and pushed my MINI out of the water.

I called roadside assistance. I was told it would be under an hour. After an I hour, I called and was told that it could be 3 or 4 more hours. I waited a few more hours and called again. By now four hours had passed. Still no estimate about when help would come. Finally, I just had my wife come and pick me up.

The next morning, I called roadside assistance again. I was told it would be "under an hour" and that I had to be with the car. I drove the half hour to the car. Roadside assistance called and told me that they could not find anyone to take my car to the dealership. I complained. Finally, I was told that someone would come and that I would not have to remain with the car. Six hours wasted and still more bad news to come.

The dealer got around to looking at my car on Saturday. They tell me that water got sucked in through the air intake of the engine and that I would need a new engine. To make matters worse, it is not covered under warranty. My car has only 3000 miles on it!

I am shocked that this kind of damage requiring a new engine could be caused by driving through so little water. It seems that the air intake on the R56 is not on the top of the engine but draws air in from much lower down. This seems to make MINIs much more vulnerable to this than other cars.

So everyone, be careful and don't drive through any water if you can help it.
I never saw this coming and was even concerned about flooding, but that didn't help me to avoid this.

Here is hoping that I am the only one this has happened to!

Good Luck.

 

You are not paying for that without a fight first are you ?Sounds like a design flaw to me .

 

WOW! Thanks for the post. I'm sure it will help other R56 owners think about an alternative intake system. Time to pull the engine and ship it out to a tuner for a rebuild (balanced and blueprinted!). Consider it a forced upgrade.

 

NOT UNDER WARRANTY!? I would defintely fight it. I mean, it's not like you were off road and went through a big water puddle. You were driving under 'normal' driving conditions. What are you supposed to do, pull over and wait every time it's raining out? Get on the phone with MINIUSA. Call a lawyer. Something. I mean jeez, that sounds like so much BS!

Let us know what happens. Good Luck!

 

page77 of the 07 Hardtop manual.

Driving through water
Drive through water on the road only if it is
not deeper than 1 ft/30 cm, and then only
at walking speed at the most. Otherwise, the
vehicle's engine, the electrical systems and the
transmission may be damaged.<


mabey you can use this to argue yourself a new engine.

 

Sorry to hear of your problem - this is the first report of water ingestation on the R56 that I have heard of.

 

Lucky me.

 

The R56 intake parts of the normally-aspirated Cooper and the turbocharged Cooper S are quite different from one another. Which model was involved in this case? (Not to say that one should't take heed of the manual's warning for both.)

 

So it wasnt coming in the door when you openecd it it wasn't a foor deep !
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Yeah, I don't get that. The S's intake is on top on the engine right? The Cooper is different? If its not, I don't see how you could suck in water from down low unless you have an uncovered aftermarket intake and it was sucking water near the bonnet.

 

It does not surprise me that it is not covered under warranty. Most cars will have similar problems if you drive them into water--it's just a question of how deep the water is.

However, you should be able to make an insurance claim for the damage. My brother-in-law had a similar problem with his Volvo V70, and his insurance covered the damage.

 

I have a regular Cooper. It has not been modified in any way.

I was probably traveling about 20 mph when I entered the water. I think that this kicked up the water.

I am amazed that this has happened because the water was really not that deep.

 

This seems a little unfair from the dealership, definately fight it.
Just for future referance; is the intake on the R56 "S" on top?

I have driven through at least 6" of standng water before, I better rethink that strategy next tme..

 

Well, it's called flood damage from your insurance company. You can just call your insurance and it should be covered. Your insurance shouldn't go up because of this one incident.

I really don't think it's your intake, but it could be your exhaust. Water might be over your exhaust tips and at the time, you released the gas pedal, which will suck water into your engine.

 

On MCS, the hood vent at the very top of the bonnet is mostly decoration, although it has some openings to help the engine cool down after a drive. The intake is the bottom grid (below the "main" grill, which is used for AC). That's what I understand from my MA when I picked up my MCS.

 

Flood damage will not cover this. You were driving too fast for the conditions.

Thru the exhaust.........HAHAHAHA Geez hard to do when the engine is running.

 

yeah, the engine would have to have been running backwards for water to get into the engine through the exhaust...it's called "exhaust" and not "intake" for a reason.

Talk to your insurance...see if they'll do anything.

 

Huh? you can try to call your insurance and ask them about the flood damage. I did that one time with my bmw, and water was not as deep as you tho.

You think so? You are welcomed to do some tests

 

Years ago, I saw that very thing down the hill from Mac Court at the University of Oregon. It rained five inches that day and there was water everywhere.

A car went through standing water of between two and three feet and as long as the driver kept going, he was OK. But he let up on the gas and water got sucked up into the exhaust. The car died and it sat for days in a parking lot at Hayward FIeld.

 

That's what I was saying...

 

Water can only get into the engine from the exhaust if the water pressure is greater than the exhaust pressure. Try plugging the exhaust of a car when it is at idle, hard to do. You would have to be under quite a bit of water to have enough pressure to overcome the "air pump" of the engine. http://auto.howstuffworks.com/what-i...underwater.htm

Sowellman..........it had to be from some other cause.

 

Sorry to hear that! I unfortunately have had this problem as well, not in a MINI though. In a JEEP of all things! You would be surprised how low the intake is routed on that too! I also had to have the engine replaced, though I am a little surprised they can't removed the water from your engine, maybe consider getting a second opinion. The only reason my block broke in the Jeep is because after the engine seized, I tried taking the water out on my own and didn't get in all, then when I started it, one of the rods went right through the block when it hit a little water I missed. Your engine should have stalled before tooo much damage was done.

I was also on a city road in a flood, water about half way up stock tires, <5mph, this WAS covered by my insurance at the time, about 13-14 years ago. Just be sure you understand what voids insurance before you tell your insurance company what happen, not saying make up a different story, but you don't want to say one wrong thing and have them say "Oh, sorry, can't help ya".

 

My guess would be, he was driving through and as soon as a little water began getting sucked into the intake and engine, it started to stall and slow (which could look like he let off the gas), then began to sputter and die. Would have looked the same if he floored it or let off the gas. By that time it's too late.

 

The phenomenon is called hydrolock. According to Wikipedia,

Presumably the car could 'stall' and come to a sudden halt when enough water is sucked in that a compression stroke effectively destroys the engine.

 

IMO this is not a design defect. It is increasingly common to have the air come in the bottom of the engine so as to make the hood lower and more stylish. Mini will not pay for this kind of damage. However, a long time ago we had a Honda Accord that my wife drove into three feet of water and this was paid for by insurance after the engine hydrolocked and was destroyed. Basically what happen is that wanter gets into the cylinder. Since water is not compressible, it bends the connecting rods and pistons and pretty much destroys the motor. This is why, I avoid puddles and wet spots wherever possible and go through any kind of puddle very slowly so as not to kick up waves.