Everbody,

I know somebody posted something similar, but do check the back floorboards of your MINI for water after it rains. Son of a (*&^%$%#@!!!

2008 MC hardtop with 460 miles on it currently; we had rain last night and the back seat floor board is...WET . That's ridiculous for a second-year production car. Unbelievable.

Greg

 

I just read that thread yesterday, and I thought it only affected the early 07 models. The problem should have been fixed for later productions. Oh man, this is not a good news.

 

Yeah, I saw that post and that's what spurred me to check this morning. You would think that would have been ironed out by now. I just sent an email to MINIUSA as well, but probably won't receive more than a "sorry".

Things like this just make me feel sick. On an 8 year-old car, fine, but a new one???...*&^%$#@!!! I've got that and a couple smaller items to have addressed, but I'd be fine trading to keep the other items and not have to deal with water coming inside. Son of a...

Oh, man, I just double-checked and the passenger-side front is wet as well - if I push on the carpet, water comes up as well. And the car is parked slanted very slightly uphill and slanted towards the passenger side.

Greg

 

Come on guys, dont be so dramatic. The fix is easy, just bring it back to the dealer.

 

I wish I were as confident as you in anybody's ability to find and fix leaks. They're not always straightforward to figure out. LIke I said, I'd trade a leak for rattles and other little niggly things anytime.
Greg

 

Which is? There was another thread about Mini giving one person a new car and taking the leaking one back to the factory to try to find the source of the leak. The dealer never could.

 

My rear floorboards were getting wet. It ended up being a seal around the ac drain in the engine bay. It was messed up and let water come in the car and pool in the back floorboards. It took the dealer 2 times to find but they replaced my carpet for free.

 

I'd accept a replacement without going any further - I'm just feeling bitter, cheated, and robbed. (Hey, somebody had asked for some drama, didn't they??? Hang on tight ). I doubt it's an AC problem cause this occurred afer some heavy rain. It's always amusing when things go wrong, though; one MINI employee said, "Oh, I bet a lot of cars leaked in that rain." Really, how about checking them all in the parking lot and we can test to see if that was just as stupid a statement as it sounded. Funny how none of my other cars of various brands and ages never leaked, even after many years of heavy rains and snow.

In my opinion, Congress should do something useful like pass a law that requires dealers to have a 30-day guarantee exchange or refund. I'd expect that would tighten up some quality control efforts. Think of almost anything else you buy; just about anything can be returned and exchanged or refunded. Makes sense to me. How about it?
Soap box is yours...
Greg

 

I worked on an airplane for a while that leaked every time it rained. The instruments in the flight station would be soaked after a rainstorm on the flightline. I don't know if they ever figured out where the water was coming from.


On another note. There is the possibility that it was an a/c related issue. If you were using the a/c or the defogger on the day that there was a huge rainstorm then there would have been a large amount of water vapor in the air which will lead to a larger than normal production of condensate by the a/c.

 

HAVE THEY REPLACED THE DOOR SEALS? THEY DO HAVE UPDATED DOOR SEALS. ALSO PULL THE DOOR PANEL OFF AND CHECK THE VAPOR BARRIER'S, HAVE ALSO SEEN THESE LEAK.

 

Still no word on the brand new leaking mini now that week 1 has passed with it still in the shop. The dealer called early on to ask for more guidance. Guidance? The mini interior is ~ 4 square feet; feel around the floor and when you feel something wet, start there. I'm ready to request a new vehicle, although I'm naively holding out thinking they'll stand up and offer a replacement because it's the absolutely right thing to do. Call me optimistically stupid, but I thought I paid for a brand new car expecting it to be water-tight. At the very least, at this point, I feel some concessions need to be made, such as an extended warranty and service period at least.
Greg

 

I would feel the same way. I'd want a new car if they can't solve it.

 

Glad to have our new mini home, but somewhat unhappy b/c it "couldn't be duplicated". So, now it's wait and see and check after rain and running the air conditioning. We'll see...

 

I *had* a 2005 JCW mini cooper with all options installed. 6 months after its last repair visit to mini (timing adjustment and nav DVD update), the electrical started misbehaving. I noticed rear passenger carpeting was damp and smelled musty soon after returning from detailing. First the rear brake light went out and by the time it got back to Mini service the nav had failed. Car had a leak "somewhere" which made its way to the wiring harness. There was *a lot* of water in the bottom.

The dealer quoted +$16,000 USD to replace the NAV and the wiring harness, which effectively totaled the car.

The odd thing is that this mini was extremely well-cared for: there wasn't a scratch or nick on it, it had regular maintainance, was parked in a garage a great deal of the time when not in use. There was no noise from the water. And regular service from the local authorized dealer failed to catch the issue, even when they were poking in the Nav unit six months prior to replace the DVD.

Although the leak was never determined I suspect it is due to a design flaw with the sunroof drains. There are enough postings on the web from mini owners with similar symptoms (although not to the extreme of totalling the vehical) one wonders why it hasn't spurred a chain of class action lawsuits.

 

Looks like GregO's MINI never leaked again?

Sorry to hear about your 2005 JCW, but that's 1st Gen.

Any other 2nd Gen MINIs with serious rain leaks? My 2007 MCS (no sunroof) has never been parked overnight in the rain, but no leaks from driving in the rain, or being parked for short periods. Also, no leaks from hosing it down while washing (sideways rain).

If there were going to be any class action suits, I'd expect to see them about the timing chain rattle on cars out of warranty -- depending on how MINI handles them. I'm surprised that issue hasn't make it to recall status. Perhaps it will, eventually.

 

robin - funny you should mention the timing chain, that's what took me into the repair six months prior. service replaced the supercharger and then when that didn't fix the problem, they adjusted the timing chain.

 

Just pick up my wife’s 2002 Mini from the Vancouver dealer. The problem, leaks they claim were a result of the door seals causing water to get into the electronics in the floor. I say poorly designed door seals that they should have had a recall on. The water damage fried the tachometer and the passenger door window motor. We live in a rainforest. We can’t run for cover at any sign of rain. Why has there not been any warning of the problem by Mini? Our repair bill was $2,000. The service department said the same problem damage has been worse for others. We would have liked to have spent that money elsewhere. Would we buy another Mini or recommend them? No.

 

A little late , but no, no more leak after we lemoned the car after several other problems cropped up.
Greg