I've had my 2010 MCS for almost a week now and it was raining hard today on the drive in. Just after I got off the freeway, I noticed steam coming from the hood scoop. My initial fear was a coolant leak, but then I realized that I bet a lot of rain got in there and this is the steam from it.

Has anyone else noticed this with rain?

I didn't pop the hood due to the torrential downpour. I did check the coolant temp with my Torque Android app and it showed 220.1.

Thanks.

 

I have a R53, sometimes when it rains hard of after I wash Scarlet, she steams when I'm at a light or stopped.

 

I don't remember this happening with rain but I do know the turbo is right underneath the hood scoop area so the hood scoop gets extremely hot. My 08 S scoop started cracking and warping due to the heat so there's definitely enough heat there to cause some steam. Probably nothing to worry about, if you want to reduce the heat on the hood scoop I think MINI made a heatshield that goes underneath the hood scoop area.

 

Yep, just heat. Not a big deal!

 

Awesome...didn't think it was an issue...but I'm so new to this car just wanted to check.



Thanks all.

 

is your scoop open?

when GEN2 came out the scoop was purely cosmetic and there was a plastic piece that closed the opening. While my 02 would sometime emit steam out of the (open) scoop, my 7 GEN2 did not. The heat built up was an issue for some and some removed the plastic opening the scoop .... which would be easier to vent some steam as well as admit water ....