2003S R53 model - had mine all plugged up. There are four drain holes - one at each corner of the sunroof. Tree stuff and dirt gets in there and clogs them up. Result it water builds up and leaks into headliner - and you get dripping water coming from your clock.

Front ones - tried to clear out using compressed air - succeeded in blowing tubing off of metal drain hole - had to partially dissassemble sun roof liner and get in there with needle nose pliers to reattach.

Followed suggestion posted somewhere to use yard trimmer line to fish down hole - great suggestion but did not work in my case though I was able to feed almost three feet successfull in with some work. Tried to find where drain holes were down below but could find no posts so used trimmer line depth to see more or less where the clog would be. Finally located where front drains come out - they are behind front fenders immediately beyond the doors. Only visible if you are half way into car with door open 75% and you look just beyond the upper black rubber boot by hinges. There is a little nub of body color tubing sticking out from a rubber grommet. I was able to twist a paperclick and using my needle nose pliers again to shove it in there. It worked great since that is where the gunk had accumulated - in that last 90 degree bend -and a bunch of water came out.

Rear holes were easy - they drain out into the boot area so you work them from that side - open your hatch and there are two rubber grommet holes in upper corners - feed some trim line up them and work it back and forth until all the gunk comes out - helps if you have someone else pouring water into the sunroof rails at the same time.

Anyhow, hope this helps others with the sunroof drains that dont work!

 

Great idea. Hope this works on a R56 also. My headliner was dripping water from the front sun roof today.

 

Wow, thanks a bunch for sharing this. I knew of the rear outlets, but assumed all the drains fed to those. I have noticed no leaks or smell in my car, but I do have evidence of prior water stain on headliner, and which point the original owner must have cleared the drains. Now I know how to fully keep it clean as part of my preventative maintenance.

 

I'm with you on this one. My '04 MCS has had soaked carpets twice this spring. Had to remove the whole interior (twice) to get it dried out. After snaking the drains with light gauge welding wire, I thought I was good to go. Nope; leaked again. Blew it out with compressed air. Leaked again. Finally took down the headliner, removed the drain connectors and found them jammed with pine needles. Cleared them out and had an idea...I put a little piece of a stainless scrubby pad (like brillo) just in front of the drain outlet in the sunroof frame to filter the junk before it goes down the drain. It's not in the drain, but in front of it. Stuck it down with a dab of rubber cement. I'll let you know how it works. If it doesn't, I'll be cutting down some pine trees.

 

I was thinking of putting some mesh over the front holes but the stuff that falls out of my trees is almost microscopic - like pollen almost - so it wouldn't help. Would like to cut down the tree but it is a protected species. I might have to "accidentally" start emptying my oil near that tree by mistake.

 

wow, that write-up is exactly the info I was hoping to find when I started googling. I set up an account just to thank you! it's been years since you posted so you may not read it, but here it is. My roof drains are clogged and I've got a lot of standing water in them. Luckily there don't appear to be any interior leaks yet so I'm pretty sure the drains are just clogged and not disconnected. I'll go looking for some heavy gauge trimmer string and give it a go. thanks so much.

 

I only posted because I had such a hard time finding any info on it either. Glad that its still out there for others that are in similar straits to find.

Cheers!

 

Good info the way to fish out and clean the drains and water in the battery box issue for other leak locations in the trunk.

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-problems.html

 

Be sure to check over everything to ensure you don't start seeing water inside your MINI. Go over everything in this NAM thread HERE.

 

Hey hope someone can send me a video or pics, I still can’t seem to locate the end of the drain holes in my Mini Cooper s r53. Can someone help please?

 

font or rear, sir?

follow links above for video

 

cant seem to find the links, it’s the front drains I’m looking for the ends to.

 

https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...-footwell.html

this post should help.

 

hey thanks for your reply. But I still can’t seem to understand where the other end of the drain ends in the front of the car? Is it under the car? If so where is it located? I want to try and access the drain on that end as I can’t clear it from the sunroof end.

 

Ahhh I gotcha. It runs down behind the door frame/hinges. I don't think I ever needed to find that end but here's a video on YouTube (go to the very end) showing the water coming out right behind the front wheel. Might have to pull the wheel liner to find it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q9Hg...ature=youtu.be

 

hey thank you. I will give it a look over. 🤞🏽

 

in the end I installed some of my own drains, connecting some fuel pipe to the drains under the roof lining, down the side pillars and through the under body by drilling a hole straight through. I know people will say drilling holes through the under body will weaken the car, and I totally get that, but I had just about enough of drying my carpets every time it rained. I just couldn’t clear out the blockage no matter what I tried! So therefore went down the road of a couple of holes and own drain pipes.

 

Thank you so much for posting this. I've never had leaks inside my 2006 R50, but after a rain all the collected water in the gutters would slosh down the sides of my car which was really irritating! Also I couldn't open either the windows or the sunroof before all the water sloshed out or I would get water in the car. Twice I didn't realize there was collected water, opened the sunroof and after turning a corner ended up with a dripping headliner which I'm pretty sure messed up some of the electronics. I've been googling this for years and saw other posts about using string trimmer wire so could regularly clear the front draings, but was never able to find the rear drain holes until now. Considering how long this has been going on, I'm irrationally happy to finally know what to do. The drains are all clear and I keep pouring water into the gutters just to enjoy watching it all come out as intended. Yea! and thanks again.

 

Once you get things cleaned out, pull the carpets and dry things up. Some people zip tie the hoses and then keep the sunroof clean rails clean. Dont part under pine trees as the needles tend to clog thing up.